1095 The inclusion of “Wieliczka” on the UNESCO list obviously contributed to an increase in interest in this monument and to an increase in tourist traffic. As early as 1966, when the mine opened its modernized Tourist Route to visitors, the site was visited by over 512,000 tourists, mainly from Poland. This marked the beginning of mass tourism in the mine – almost every school and industrial plant in Poland sent organized trips here. Delegations of labor leaders and politicians from socialist “brother countries” also arrived. After the political change in Poland in 1989, the country became a popular tourist destination for foreign visitors, including those from Western Europe and other continents. This marked the beginning of a real boom, which continues to this day. In 2025, 72% of visitors are individual tourists, and only 38% are organized (coach trips). In addition, 65% of visitors are foreigners from almost 200 countries. This is a very positive factor, as individual tourists spend more time in Wieliczka – apart from the mine, they also visit our other attractions, walk around the town, and use local restaurants, cafes, hotels, and shops. They do not appear and disappear as quickly as is the case with coaches belonging to travel agencies. However, the “Wieliczka” mine is a tourist phenomenon. There are many reasons for such a large number of tourists, which in summer even causes “overtourism”: high recognition of the place, a tourist brand built over several decades, its recognition among the most important world-class monuments, the length and attractiveness of the underground route, the beauty of the salt excavations, which has been even more heavily advertised in recent years thanks to social media. The proximity of Krakow, a very popular tourist destination in recent years, and good transport links (rail, motorway, international airport) are also of great importance. The „Wieliczka” Salt Mine is open to tourists all year round, every day of the week. It can only be visited with guides (in many languages) in various options. The most popular Tourist Route, approx. 2.5 km long, leads through levels I-II-III of the mine, and the tour lasts approx. 2 hours. With the same ticket, tourists can visit the above-mentioned mining exhibition of the Cracow Saltworks Museum, which extends the visit by another hour or even two and another 1.5 km. It is also possible to visit the Mining Route in the mine, which leads through leading through geologically interesting excavations that are undeveloped for tourism (3 hours). On the surface, tourists can visit the recently built Salt Graduation Tower and, above all, the Saltworks Castle – the former seat of the saltworks authorities and now the seat of the Cracow Saltworks Museum. Currently, two independent entities operate in the Wieliczka mine: the former state-owned mining company, which provides commercial tourist services and performs the necessary mining safety works, and the Crakow Saltworks Museum, a national museum which, in addition to its museum functions, supervises the conservation of the salt mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia, which are protected as historical monuments. It is worth mentioning that since the 1960s, the mine has also served as a health resort, and in separate chambers on the third level, there is an underground sanatorium that treats allergies and respiratory diseases in a healthy, salty microclimate. A number of chambers have gained new functions: conference, catering and restaurant, commercial (souvenir shops) and cultural (concerts, performances). For centuries, there have also been sacred spaces in the mine – historic chapels and an underground church – the most beautifully decorated in the mine is the 19th-century “St. Kinga's Chapel.” The above case clearly shows that Poland was a pioneer in the creation of mining museums in mines and in the tourist transformation of mining facilities. It is worth noting that in Poland, the possibility of recognizing mine workings as monuments was already mentioned in the 1928 Act! The first mine in Poland to be recognized as a legally protected monument in 1945 was the Neolithic flint mine in Krzemionki. As already mentioned, “Wieliczka” was the first technical monument to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Currently, the list, which includes nearly 1,250 entries, contains 31 sites related to mining. Initially, individual objects were entered on the List - namely mines, as cultural objects. Then there was a tendency to prepare applications for inscription that also included post-mining complexes of above-ground facilities, ore processing plants, water management systems, mining landscapes, spoil heaps and tailings ponds, as well as towns that owed their development and prosperity to mining, such as the German mines in Rammelsberg and the Upper Harz Water Management System. Some of these entries sought to include or did include entire mining regions in given countries, such as the mining towns and coal
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