As much as 47 percent of Poles have completely given up visiting the cinema or theater. The same percentage of customers are less likely to visit big shopping centers, and 46 percent do not attend restaurants as frequently as previously according to a study for the BIG InfoMonitor Debtors Register.
The pandemic has caused the most radical changes in everyday habits in the approach to entertainment activities, such as going to the cinema or theater. The study found that 47 percent have completely given up attending shows and performances (of those who had visited such places before), and 35 percent now visit cinemas and theaters less frequently than before the pandemic
The possible cause for such results may be the holiday period. According to the Polish Film Institute, after reopening in June, just over 3 percent of cinemas were visited by the amount of attendees recorded a year ago, although the situation improved later. According to estimates however, in August it was still no more than 10-15 percent, relative to August 2019.
During the lockdown, viewers used streaming platforms that provide online content much more often. And although some of them began to look for other entertainment along with the lifting of restrictions, during the year, between August 2019 and August 2020, the most popular service of this type, Netflix, gained 2.16 million users, which means an increase by 74.3 percent.
The question is if we have changed our cinema habits for the long term or will we go back to old habits? Only time will tell.
