The essence and the importance of health in tourism in Poland

The aim of this publication is to briefly characterise and to emphasize the importance of health tourism, as well as to present selected, most important health resorts in Poland and show them as attractive tourist destinations. This publication consists of four parts. The first is a preface which constitutes an introduction to the main content. The second part, entitled 'The organisation, functions and the purposes of health resorts', encompasses the most important information concerning the legal and organisational status of health resorts, its purpose and performed functions. The third part, entitled 'The presentation of selected health resorts', constitutes a description of main Polish health resorts and their significance for tourism. The fourth part is an afterword which includes a summary of the publication, as well as comments and conclusions that emerged while working on the subject of health tourism