Orbis

Orbis is the oldest travel agency in Poland, founded in 1920 in Lwow. Currently, it is the largest hotel group in Poland and Central Europe, and parent company of Orbis S.A. Capital Group, which has nine subsidiaries. Its name comes from a Latin language word Orbis, which means world. Polish Travel Office was opened in 1920 in Lwow, and among its founders are bankers Ernest Adam, Maksymilian Liptay and Józef Radoszewski, as well as politician Wladyslaw Keslowicz, Count Aleksander Skarbek, and lawyer Ozjasz Wasser. Their target was to create a travel office with international standards of service, which would provide services for the citizens of the newly created Second Polish Republic. Orbis quickly developed, and by the year 1925 it had as many as 28 offices. In 1928 it was granted the status of a national travel agency, and in 1933, after its shares had been purchased by PKO Bank Polski, main office was moved to Warsaw. Orbis continued to prosper, by 1939 it had 136 offices in Poland and 19 abroad. It employed app. 500 travel agents, and had four hotels with 360 rooms.