AI in the service of heritage: Droplabs Dynamic Pricing and attendance prediction in shaping sustainable tourist behavior in Tatra National Park
Context
For Poles, Tatra National Park (TPN) is much more than just a park. It is of crucial natural, cultural, and symbolic importance. The Park protects the unique flora and fauna of the high mountains, including iconic species such as the Tatra chamois and the brown bear. TPN actively conducts scientific research and educational programs (e.g., the “Tatra Academy”) aimed at raising ecological awareness and commitment to nature conservation. Millions of tourists come to Tatra National Park every year (5 million in 2024!) in search of natural beauty, relaxation, and mountain challenges.
This huge popularity makes TPN the largest ticketed tourist attraction in Poland. Such a record number of visits poses enormous challenges for the Park: managing tourist traffic effectively while protecting the fragile mountain ecosystem.
The challenge
In 2023, Tatra National Park implemented what was then a pioneering solution in Poland: the Droplabs Dynamic Pricing system at the Palenica Białczańska parking lot. It was a direct response to the growing problem of traffic congestion and infrastructure overload.
The main problem was the limited capacity of the parking lot at the key starting point of the trail to Morskie Oko. Tourists arriving without booking a space in advance caused traffic jams on the access road. As a result, they blocked access to the parking lot for people who had bought a ticket in advance and had a guaranteed space waiting for them.
In addition, the lack of predictability regarding traffic in the coming days made it difficult for the Park to plan its communication with tourists and the required intensity of Park Service patrols.
Over nearly three years of using Dynamic Pricing, Tatra National Park has consistently set and achieved new goals in response to the challenges of mass tourism.
Let's now look at the concrete results TPN's staff and management achieved, and how, with the support of the Droplabs online ticketing system with Dynamic Pricing and Attendance Prediction.
Solution
- Part 1 looks at attendance prediction.
- Part 2 explores the technology behind the AI solutions used at TPN.
- Part 3 shows how Droplabs Dynamic Pricing helps shape visitor behavior.
- Part 4 explains how professional data monitoring can help an organization achieve its goals.
- Part 5 describes how vehicle handling at the parking lot was sped up.
Final conclusions
Thanks to the work of the Tatra National Park team using modern AI-based solutions, the Park is effectively changing tourist behavior. These changes directly contribute to protecting the fragile ecosystem and increasing visitors' comfort and safety.
Until a few years ago, solutions such as intelligent pricing to shape tourist behavior or attendance prediction were out of reach for the tourist attractions industry, and the online channel was a marginal, additional one. Back then, a sales system's complexity was often defined by handling online transactions, on-site sales, and full on-site visitor service all at once, while the accounting system has long been treated as a separate block.
Today, TPN, the largest ticketed attraction in Poland, proves that the online channel can be the dominant source of sales (with a share of up to 90%), and that a comprehensive analytics and sales block combines an efficient online sales platform, an AI-based pricing engine, and an attendance prediction module. This advanced block works independently but, where there is a business case, it can be precisely integrated with, for example, an on-site sales system, a parking management system, or an accounting system.
Results in numbers
July-August 2025 (summer holidays)
- 91% of tourists bought their parking ticket online.
- 83% bought their parking ticket before arriving (at least 15 minutes before entry was registered at the barrier or by parking staff).
- 80% bought their parking ticket at least one day before their trip.
- 22% bought their parking ticket at least four days in advance!
- Scale: about 60,000 cars with parking tickets over the two summer months.
- 27% of tourists bought their Park entrance ticket online.
Twelve full months: October 2024 - September 2025
- 81% of tourists bought their parking ticket online.
- 74% bought their parking ticket before arriving (at least 15 minutes before entry was registered at the barrier or by parking staff).
- 65% bought their parking ticket at least one day before their trip.
- 15% bought their parking ticket at least four days in advance.
- Additional revenue from price surpluses above minimum prices, generated by the Droplabs Dynamic Pricing strategy in the online channel for TPN parking: PLN 2 million.
- Refunds: 1.9% of online parking ticket purchases.
- Date changes: 0.1% of online parking ticket purchases.
- Scale: about 200,000 cars with parking tickets per year.
- 25% of tourists bought their Park entrance ticket online.
Additionally, over six months (mid-April to mid-October 2025):
- Almost 100,000 marketing consents, giving a potential communication reach of up to 335,000 tourists.
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