Poland Wants Film Superstars to Promote Tourism

Polish tourist agencies intend to invite film superstars Harrison Ford, Sandra Bullock and Antonio Banderas to headline an advertising campaign to convince Europeans to spend their holidays in Poland. Ford, who recently starred in the thriller "What Lies Beneath", could soon be featured in the campaign, "Poland, an adventure with a happy end." Polish tour operators want Bullock, star of the 1999 film "Forces of Nature", to promote Poland as a destination for outdoor sports among the 20-45 age group. The media campaign, which is to include television spots on international channels such as CNN or Discovery, as well as advertisements in European journals and on websites, is slated to begin in 2002, according to Mateusz Zmyslony, one of the authors of the project. The government is to finance half of the cost of the project, expected to cost some eight million dollars (9.2 million euros), with the rest paid for by travel companies and institutions like Polish public television.