Design and development of touristic products

A very important group of the tourism products, having a very good position on the international tourism market, are products made from the special characteristics of a space. In case of the so-called space-specific tourism products, the character of both the attraction and the infrastructure and suprastructure elements allowing the exploration and marketing of the attraction are closely linked to the space where the attraction originates from. The characteristic image of the spaces, they way the houses, streets and squares are constructed and located, the way they are filled with life as a result of the social division of labour and the abstract images that live in people’s mind concerning the given space and its historical past – these together make the attraction of tourism forms belonging to the category of space-specific tourism products, i.e. urban (city tourism) and rural (agro-, farm, village tourism). In addition, tourism products originating from the basically natural endowments of the surface, i.e. waterside and mountain tourism, also belong here. The former appears in connection with all kinds of waters, so it is possible to differentiate lake tourism, marine or coastal tourism and river tourism, while in the latter case (mountain tourism) the product is less differentiated. In our approach, ecotourism is also discussed among the space-specific tourism products, because the nature protection areas that ecotourism is focused on are space-oriented, beyond any doubt.

In tourism theory approach those groups are in the focus of product development which represent a demand significant internationally and feature more or less the same needs. The members of the so-called macro-groups of society (in a sociological sense) can have access, due to their belonging to the group, to economic, social and symbolic goods which they would get with more difficulties on their own, or they would not be able to acquire. Tourism industry soon realised the arrangement of needs along certain group-forming characteristics, and reacted by creating its supply to satisfy these needs. Experts dealing with the development of tourism products approach some groups in a social approach, others on pure business grounds, but a mixed approach is not rare, either. Among the group-specific tourism products, a lead position is held by the sets of services meant to satisfy the youngest and the oldest generations of society, so both for juniors and seniors a reception capacity adapted to the demand specific of their generations is created. In their case, product development is considerably promoted by the state intention to provide allowances in their tourism activities to these groups that are in a disadvantaged situation coming from their age-specific features. This way both the youth and the senior citizens enjoy a state contribution to their travel costs. The group-specific characteristics of the tourism products can be seen in their constituent services (price, quality) and programmes. Especially the latter, i.e. the total of the supply elements built on attractions can be seen in the case of groups whose judgement by society is often burdened with challenges, so the satisfaction of the needs of nudist or gay people presupposes a group-specific approach in product development.

Despite the fact that each tourism product bears in them the activity of their potential consumers manifested in mobility, night residence, eating, participation in programmes, spending etc., there are several products in the focus of which we find the characteristics of the tourist activity taking place during the use of the product. While in the case of space-specific and group-specific tourism products the relationship between motivation and tourist activity is more indirect, in the case of activity-oriented tourism products motivation has a much more definite role. In urban, village, eco-, waterside and mountain tourism, space is a kind of framework, an organising principle of the activities that tourists of the given location pursue; at group-specific products motivations coming from the age or sexual orientation of the participants are melted away during the activity in most of the cases. From the activity of a tourist participating in an urban sightseeing or another one spending vacation in a holiday complex reserved for gay persons it is not easy to conclude to the motivations behind the consumption of the given product. On the other hand, in the case of activity-specific products – like active tourism forms such as cycling tourism, equestrian tourism, water tourism or hunting tourism, and also shopping tourism, conference and health tourism – the relation between activity and motivation is more than evident.

As ancient civilisations were crystallised in settlements of urban character, most travels took place into or across the cities, so urban tourism can actually be called the archetype of tourism. Similarly to the cities of later times, ancient settlements too created recreational establishments for the entertainment of the local population, to allow them to pass their time – and these facilities were popular with the visitors as well. In Athens or Rome we can still see buildings that were constructed to amuse the inhabitants. Stadiums, Greek theatres and Roman amphitheatres were suitable to seat thousands of people, and those coming from a distance were accommodated and catered by the institution of mutual friendship or the boarding houses already operating at that time.

Medieval cities became the destinations of travellers mainly bacause of their trading functions, clerical life and the closely related educational functions. The medieval cities offered complex security, similarly to that of today’s plazas, to the tired travellers entering the former city gates, while they also tried to satisfy the leisure time demands of the local inhabitants. Cities protected people from the harassment of robbers, city inns and pubs, and the city marketplaces offered the thrill of social life to the travellers. Citites that held fairs of European recognition (e.g. Champagne) were often visited by merchants from faraway places, and the same was typical of port cities (e.g. Hamburg, Genova), whose traffic required the development of catering and accommodations. Pilgrimages oriented at or moving through cities due to the spreading Christianity also generated significant turnover for the cities involved (e.g. Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela). Church did not only contribute to the maintenance of the holy places but also the organisation of education, so student mobility to the first European university cities (e.g. Bologna, Paris, Oxford) also had a religious touch.

  The movement starting in the early 17th century and fading away in the middle of the 19th century, the Grand Tour that mostly concerned the children of the British aristocracy, also touched a number of European cities. The “Great Journey” lasting for three years on the average, with educational and cultural motivation in the first place, started from and returned to London, it touched Paris, and, depending on the route, Marseilles or Turin, Florence, Rome, Naples and Venice, and the return route was across the Alps and along the Rhine River. Special care was taken that Easter or Christmas should find the visitors in Rome, where, around the Piazza di Spagna, a whole tourism industry was built to satisfy the demand of those participating in the grand tours.

The birth of modern urban tourism – in the present sense of the word – only became possible with the coming of the age of the industrial revolutions. A parallel process to industrial revolution was urbanisation. A growing share of the rapidly increasing population became urban citizens, and in the late 19th century there were at least 16 cities in Europe with population in excess of one million. The characteristics of modern manufacturing industry and of urbanisation, especially the monotony of work and the crowdedness of the big cities were off-putting for the inhabitants who longed for spending their holidays far from the cities, preferably in nature. Productivity led to the increase of wages, and the savings of the people allowed them to leave the city, even though for only a short time in the beginning. All this was allowed by the penetration of the railway transport; regular railway lines were in operation between Liverpool and Manchester from 1830 on. Parallel to the centrifugal force making urban dwellers leave the city there was another force, one attracting people to the developing and modernising big cities; people visiting the cities became co-consumers of the urban leisure and cultural facilities that were meanwhile established. The financers of the city hotels in good transportation locations, often next to the railway stations were just the railway companies in the beginning, as they were interested in the increase of the usage of the railway lines by the provision of accommodation. The recreational sector made for the servicing of the ever growing population of the cities and the extremely rapid industrialisation were further factors promoting leisure and business travels, so most cities were not only the source but also the destination of those seeking recreation and business opportunities. World expos organised regularly after 1851 and the millions of visitors who came to see them were the proofs of the attraction of big cities

Table 1. Locations of the world expos organised between 1981 and 1900 in Europe. Source: www.wikipedia.org

The process is similar to that of the construction of the first American amusement parks, which were built by the companies operating city tram lines in the vicinity of the destinations of the lines (courtesy of Rátz, Tamara).

Urban tourism starting to unfurl in the 19th century reached maturity in the 20th century. The explosive development of travel devices culminates in the cities, railway and coach stations, highways and later motorway junctions; airports mediate masses of interested tourists who are served by the more and more international hotel and catering industry. Casino cities appear (e.g. Monte Carlo), as do holiday resorts (e.g. Nice), bathing resorts (e.g. Karlovy Vary). The cultural development of the cities, theatres, cinemas, exhibition halls, venues suitable for the organisation of conferences, the appreciated supply of baths would all focus attention to the cities that in the second half of the century were engaged in a sharp competition to win the favour of the domestic, the European and the overseas tourists. By the 20th century big cities became capable of fully satisfying tourists’ needs, the gradually declining manufacturing activity of the cities are replaced by leisure services, factories and manufacturing facilities are replaced by parks and shopping centres.

To be able to answer why tourists are so keen on visiting cities, we have to understand the reasons behind. Tourism is a deconcentration phenomenon, people involved in it run away from the crowdedness of urban life, as urban existence in itself spurs the desire for dispersion. Nevertheless some authors see the significance of big city areas in the fact that in such zones entertainment facilities and sight of interest, satisfying the needs of both tourists and local inhabitants, are geographically concentrated. Tourists are attracted to the cities by those special functions and services which are offered for high quality leisure time entertainment. In our opinion, the diversity and versatility of urban zones is a motivation of travel in itself. Cities are of different nature, they are diverse and versatile as regards their size, image, geographical endowments, roles, or cultural heritage.

In summary, cities are:

•      places of high population density, with a high probability that visiting friends and relatives will motivate travel and generate consumption,

•      junctions and destinations of tourists flows, with a gateway function to arriving and leaving travellers, so the number of guests arriving at the cities can stabilise at a high level out of tourism season as well,

•      industrial, commercial and financial concentrations and also the scenes of quality services, so many visits are related to work in the city (business trips, conferences, exhibitions etc.),

•      settlements with a broad cultural offer for guests, accordingly they attract tourists interested in culture.

Experts agree that cities are visited by tourists primarily for the diverse supply of leisure time products and services, compared to the supply of other settlements or regions, by which the most varied market demands can be satisfied. Cities thus are areas where tourists, despite the fact that they have arrived with one single purpose, will carry out unplanned activities as a consequence of the large-scale concentration of leisure time services.

Infrastructure utilised in urban tourism is closely intertwined with the leisure facilities of the local inhabitants and is geographically integrated into the regions with residential function. In urban tourism dynamic and static infrastructure are equally important. The former category consist of facilities architecturally fixed to a location – regarding their function they are mostly buildings –, while the latter means special transport tools that allow the access to the attraction and to get to know the city as a whole.

Among the static elements of urban infrastructure a special emphasis should be placed on the tourism facilities connected to culture in the broad sense, to health, sports, and business and academic life. As cities are the number one destinations of cultural tourism, the different facilities in their territory – exhibition places (museums, exhibition halls), performance and event venues (theatres, concert halls of popular and classical music), holy places (cathedrals, synagogues) – will allow a very broad circle of tourists to consume the attractions (e.g. British Museum, Pompidou Centre, Milano Scala, Palace of Arts in Budapest). Medicinal and thermal spas are pilgrimage places of medical tourism in Europe, medical waters in the cities concerned become utilisable by the bathing facilities (e.g. Vichy, Baden, Spa, Budapest, Karlovy Vary). Several cities boast of excellent sports facilities that allow(ed) the organisation of prestigious international events including world championships or even Olympic games (e.g. London, Paris, Athens, Stockholm, Berlin, Munich, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Rome, Moscow, Barcelona). Cities are venues of business and scientific events, in their congress centres meetings on the most varied topics are held.

Special means of transport categorised as dynamic infrastructure secure access to the hardly accessible part of the cities, and also allow visitors to see the whole city as a single attraction. In the case of riverside or coastal cities such tools are cruise and excursion ships that take tourists to farther points, to an island, or maybe give them a wonderful view over the respective city. Beauties of the landscape are shown by the chairlifts, funiculars, lifts that offer a view over the city from a higher elevation. Also, such elements are special buses that allow seeing the whole of the city within a relatively short time (hop on – hop off).

Tourism suprastucture safeguarding the accommodation and catering of guests and the satisfaction of their miscellaneous needs shows a very much heterogeneous picture, albeit showing some regularities as well. The urban characteristics of hotel and catering industry making the primary suprastructure can be seen in luxury and in the satisfaction of more short-term demands. As regards retail trade seen as secondary suprastructure, it is elegance and complexity that should be highlighted.

Some of the international hotel chains definitely seek busy big cities for the operation of their units, among which there are many hotels in the luxury category. Such a hotel chain in e.g. Ritz(Carlton), with units in only a few of the European capital cities: Berlin, Moscow, London and Madrid, but the chain called Four Seasons is also positioned in this category, with five-star hotels in Budapest, Prague, London, Paris, Dublin and Lisbon. When talking about the primary suprastucture of city tourism, we must mention airport hotels located within the administrative boundaries but far from the centres of the cities. Typical big city units of catering industry are fast food chains (McDonald’s, Burger King etc.), whose operational feature is that they require relatively large markets for an economical business.

A typical leisure activity of guests arriving at big cities is shopping, which typically used to take place in scenic shopping streets or in luxury department stores (like Lafayette, Harrods, KaDeWe), but in modern times plazas, shopping centres offering all services in one single spot, have entered the market and now serve tourists with souvenirs. We must not forget the marketplaces of the big cities, either, it is especially second hand markets that are popular with tourists.

The urbanisation processes starting parallel to industrial revolution are still going on, as indicated by the continuous growth in the number of settlements that are towns and cities in legal sense and in the proportion of people living in them. Seventy per cent of the European population lives in towns and cities. As a consequence of this, the majority of potential travellers who are the demand are urban citizens themselves, so they have daily routine in how to use urban community spaces, how to consume the city. The impact of urbanisation on tourism can also be seen in the (qualitative) urbanisation of settlements, i.e. in settlements trying to be like cities as much as possible in their image, functions and services, as a result of which the urban dwellers find themselves surrounded by a more and more urbanised supply of services in the settlements. The space where urban travellers do not come across towns or cities is shrinking. Parallel to this, urbanisation is impacted by globalisation, visible not in the morphology of the settlements in the first place, rather in the functions and the supply of services. As consumption habits are becoming uniform, travellers come across representatives of international brands not only in the so-called global cities, the economic, financial and innovation centres of the world, but also in any simple big city. Roads running from the airports to the city centres are the best evidence that cities cannot avoid globalisation; we see also abroad giant signs advertising the same products, we can see the same hypermarkets, the logistic centres of the same brands, the same hotel chains etc. In fact, globalisation has reached by now the city centres (McDonaldisation), and even the cultural and historical attractions (Disneyfication). In maintaining the demand, a dominant role is played by the demonstration of the local values and interests that manage to overcome the fight between the global and the local.

A special feature of the demand of city tourism is that it is difficult to define those groups and their characteristics that would allow the exploration of the motivation of people with a definite intention to travel to the city. A closely related issue is the attractivity of the cities, i.e. the traits of city tourists and the character of the attractions of the cities have similar roots. As the intention to travel is rapidly growing, and the cities securing the receptive capacity of tourism are developing, it is obvious that most tourists are channelled into the cities. This is a fact even though we can see a parallel phenomenon: today’s travellers are keen on having extra-urban experiences – nevertheless every now and then they still have to touch the urbanised environment that they want to avoid.

While it is relatively easy to explore the motivations behind medical tourism, shopping tourism or conference tourism, it is hardly possible to outline the motivations of city tourism, just because of the diversity of cities, their complex supply, cultural variety, the generation, ethnic and social differences of the urban inhabitants, the diversity of urban architecture etc. A fact further complicating the situation is that cities are concentrations of economic and political power, the centres of science, so in addition to the motivations of leisure travels we also have to take the demand of MICE tourists into consideration. MICE tourists, using the leisure opportunities offered by the cities, may arrive, besides their original motivation, with a second or third motivation, which makes the theoretical clarification of motivations of travellers visiting cities problematic. The diverse motivational backgrounds of the city tourists are further enhanced by passers-by who, using the transport connections (possibilities to change), temporarily consume the city, but this temporariness is enough to see the major attractions and use some of the catering facilities (it is especially airport transfers and delays that allow passers by to have up to 6-8 hours for sightseeing).

  Regarding that monofunctional cities in the touristic sense of the word are less and less frequent, it is very difficult to filter out those arriving with an individual motivation. Exceptions are cities with a single medical tourism attraction (Spa), or utilising some unique cultural asset (Salzburg), organising international sport events (Innsbruck) or annually recurring festivals (Bayreuth), having educational institution of international recognition (Oxford), accommodating manufacturing facility of some unique product (Meissen) or functioning as a holy city (Fatima). The majority of tourists visiting these cities travel to the destination for the tangible supply or to experience the associations related to the city, and they less typically have second or third motivations. Expert also point out, however, that these cities have less visitors that regional centres or other commercial centres, industrial and port cities that may lack such characteristic attractions.

The touristic behaviour of the city tourists, i.e. their activity in the destination visited has several special characteristics. City tourists consume a space that is the most intensively used living space of the local inhabitants and the commuters from the agglomeration (the countryside); these are spaces where hundreds of thousands or even millions of people work or pass their time daily. Consequently city tourists do not move in an isolated space, their activity is difficult to separate from the everyday lives of the locals. Another very important element of the behaviour of city tourists is related to time, which partly comes from seasonality and partly the duration of stay. Seasonality is hardly palpable in urban tourism, as the majority of cities can be taken as products consumable at any time of the year. If seasonality appears in cities, this does not necessarily come from weather or the connection of some services to a particular season, it is much more due to holidaymaking habits. As regards the duration of the use of urban spaces, we can say that city tourism is one of the tourism products generating the shortest length of stay. As opposed to holiday tourism often reaching 6 to 7 nights, in cities guests rarely spend more than 2 or 3 nights, but stays of less than one day are also typical. Tourists involved in the latter category are often called hyper-tourists by some experts, as they practically rush across the cities of their choice (which of course is also generated by the very high price level typical in the respective city, in Venice e.g. both catering and hotel facilities are rather expensive). To sum it up, four characteristic features of the touristic use of the city must be highlighted, namely

·      selectivity;

·      fastness;

·      repetition; and

caprice.

The success or the failure of urban tourism is significantly influenced by the factors that have impact on the development and modernisation of the cities, the development of supply, on the one hand, and the ones that affect motivations, income positions, leisure time of visitors, i.e. the appearance of the demand, on the other hand. Urbanisation that has been mentioned several times in this study is definitely to be mentioned among the trends supporting the development of urban tourism, not because of the increase in the number of settlements that are towns and cities administratively, in the first place, but due to the improvement of the already existing basic and touristic infrastructure of the cities. The modernisation of railway stations and airports, the building out of state-of-the-art, telecommunication supported car parking system, the construction of motorway junctions, the enlargement of the areas involved in community transport and the ICT developments are all investments promoting the access of the big cities and encouraging consumption. We must not forget, either, that the new investments of service and leisure time industry and the quaternary sector (research and development) also have an inclination to settle in big city locations, where the economies of scale and the supply of labour force are secured. These facilities are of course utilised not only by the local inhabitants but also by those visiting the city, so the modernisation of the cities is a factor promoting tourism as well.

  Among the trends impacting the demand of city tourisms, demography, health consciousness and the role of leisure time should be selectively discussed, together with the increased demand for culture and security. It is especially the European travel trends that suggest a growing market share of the elder generations who demand comfortable and enjoyable tours, so instead of longer and tiresome journeys they will seek shorter, more comfortable and more varied programmes, and in this segment cities have a competitive edge. A consequence of health consciousness is that travellers think twice before they expose themselves to harmful sunshine, which might decrease the interest in holidaymaking; some of the tourists will seek protection offered by buildings and parks in the cities. The decrease in the number of population will bring about the preference of more frequent but shorter holidays, which will strengthen the positions of cities offering such experiences and cheaply accessible by low-cost airlines. The increasing schooling of the population and the spread of the principle of lifelong learning will be coupled with the desire to have cultural experiences, so cities as the headquarters of culture will become even more popular as a result of this trend. The highly regulated character of the city life, the keeping of the conventions safeguarding the coexistence of masses of people will guarantee in itself safety in the cities.

The successful operation of urban tourism is indicated by the existence of the touristic suprastructure, primarily the quantitative and qualitative indices of commercial accommodations on the one hand, and their utilisation, i.e. the number of guest nights, on the other hand. Of course tourists arriving at cities can spend the nights at other accommodations, and in many cases they spend less than one day in the destination, which makes exact the assessment of the turnover difficult. Because the market for urban tourism is based on the use of commercial accommodations in the first place, especially hotels, this is the index that we take into consideration.

Figure 1. Number of guest nights in the capital cities of Europe, 2008

In a European dimension London is the most visited tourist city, followed by Paris and Rome. On the basis of the number of guest nights registered at the commercial accommodations of the European capital cities three sharply different settlement groups can be distinguished: settlements with tens of million, with millions and with hundreds of thousands of guest nights. In 2008 there were only 7 capital cities with at least ten million guest nights (in addition to the already mentioned capital cities of Great Britain, France and Italy, these cities were Berlin, Madrid, Prague and Vienna), most capital cities fall into the category of millions of guest nights, while only some of them have a few hundreds of thousands of guest nights (Bern, Luxembourg and Ljubljana). In most cases the capital city is also the city with the largest number of guest nights in the respective country, but it happens sometimes that the administrative centre is not the most visited touristic destination (like in Spain or Switzerland). In the majority of the capital cities of Europe it is international tourism that prevails, while in countries with traditionally strong internal demand the administrative centre is also visited by domestic tourists in the largest numbers. Accordingly, in Berlin, Oslo and Stockholm it is domestic, in Brussels, Ljubljana and Luxembourg foreign tourists who are dominant (international demand is over 90% in the latter capital cities).

Cities, especially the capital city have outstanding positions in the tourism of Hungary. Budapest has been the most visited Hungarian tourism destination for decades, but the bulk of the guest nights registered are generated by international demand.

Table 2 Most popular Hungarian cities on the basis of the guest nights registered, 2005–2009 (Domestic/International guest nights, 1000) Source: HCSO

Besides the capital city of Hungary it is usually bathing resorts (Hévíz, Hajdúszoboszló, Bük, Zalakaros, Sárvár), Siófok as the number one destination of holidaymakers, and cities showing the signs of urban tourism – Eger, Sopron and Debrecen – that are the most popular touristic destinations.

When exploring the impact of tourism on the quality of life, big cities should be comprehended as an environment where the use of the space by the tourists and the local society, and the vector of the related spiritual processes are all connected to the basic functions of the settlements. When we start from the categories used in the model by Partsch, the provision of the space of residence, work, leisure, supply, education, transportation and communication is the number one function of the big cities. Successful tourist cities devote enormous energy to operating the basic functions in a way that gives maximum satisfaction to both local inhabitants and the visitors to the respective settlements. While each of the basic functions of the big cities in themselves may have dominant role in the quality of life of the local population, it is usually their complexity that impact spiritual processes. This difference is basically due to the consumption of the settlement with different motivations and intensity: big cities are relatively stable living place for the local society, but only a temporary place of residence for the tourists. Consequently tourists are much more likely to relate to the total of the basic functions of the big cities rather than to the individual functions.

Among the most liveable cities of the world, we find European cities on the top of the list. On the ground of an indexation that takes New York as the basis, among the top ten cities there are three from Switzerland (Zurich, Geneva and Bern), three from Germany (Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich) and one from Austria (Vienna), which definitely shows the correlations between liveability and order in the good sense of the word (functioning settlements with efficient self-governance, made by a community accepting and enforcing the rules). In the first 50 positions of the list comprising of 215 settlements, 23 can be found in Europe, without one single settlement from a former socialist country. It is also worth mentioning that in Europe it is not always the capital city that shows the most liveable character, it is often smaller regional centres (Zurich in Switzerland; Düsseldorf in Germany; Barcelona in Spain). It is also striking that the majority of the liveable cities are very popular tourism destination as well, so the increased interest of the foreigners in the respective cities is a blessing and a curse at the same time for the local society.

The social, economic and infrastructure environment of urban tourism is reflected in the quality of life of tourists and the local inhabitants as well. Among the elements making the market of urban tourism it is politics that seems to be the factor capable of influencing other elements, including the product itself. A characteristic feature of urban tourism is that, unlike in the case of other tourism products, national policy is less able to impact its successful operation, while local policy has a much stronger impact on that. While e.g. the development of medical tourism can hardly take place without the active role of the state, the investments promoting the competitiveness of urban tourism are affordable by the city governments. The individual development needs do not allow and do not require, either, the intervention of national policy. Exceptions from this are capital cities and regional centres that have a gateway role in the tourism of the given state or region, so they play a role not only in the management of tourist flows but also in shaping the touristic image. Other exceptions from this rule are cities with international or universal attractions, especially the ones with world heritage title or temporarily serving as the location of some events of international relevance (e.g. European Capital of Culture, Olympic Games). National governments or regional management in such unique cases can contribute to the desirable growth of the number and spending of tourists by the development of infrastructure and suprastructure in the respective city and the promotion of its marketing communication.

If local policy recognises the opportunities lying in urban tourism, it can promote the realisation of the diverse activities of tourists arriving at the destination by the complex development of tourism supply. Beyond the political will it can also be assisted by the positive attitude of the local entrepreneurs and the local community (inhabitants, professional and non-governmental organisations). Doe the complexity of urban tourism, product development can only become successful with a single political background, because the individual attractions and the tourism infrastructure built on them must be constructed – or adjusted to the needs of the demand – in a balanced way, in accordance with the local interests. If the political elite of a city implements a single-pole product development in which one of the attractions enjoys a long-term priority, it may lead to a single-theme supply (bathing city, cultural city etc.) and decreases the chances of the creation of a diverse urban tourism sector.

In Hungary’s tourism policy urban tourism enjoys priority inasmuch as Budapest is one of the leading destinations, and the development of the touristic supply of the capital city is the interest of the national government. The Hungarian National Tourism Development Strategy emphasises that Budapest is a destination of international attraction whose development is a tourism policy priority, so the tourism destination management organisation of Budapest must be created on the basis of the Tourism Office of Budapest Non-for-profit Ltd. in the first place. As regards Budapest, objectives of selected importance include The touristic use of the world heritage sites; Creation of the bathing city image; The increase of the recognition of Budapest as a congress venue and Implementation of a fizzy cultural life. Hungarian tourism policy sees, in addition to the capital city, the small towns accommodating attractive scenes of cultural heritage as the places to be developed in urban tourism, small towns where visitors find historical city centres, cultural world heritage sites, major museums, groups of buildings of monument value, selected festival and conference venues and other sights of interest that can be organised into networks.

Tourism taking place in an urban environment presupposes the co-existence of several products. Although cities, coming from their central roles, try to offer as wide a range of services as possible, this will always have limits. The competition of urban destinations requires of each settlement to create their own products and to build their names and image on this individual endowment, the USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

When discussing the primary motivation of urban tourists, within leisure tourism it is medical tourism, shopping tourism, cultural tourism and active tourism that come first; looking at business tourism it is conference tourism, and tours made with business and learning/educational purposes that are the most important. The identification of culture as a factor of development is a several times proven fact, supported by cultural tourism in the broader sense of the word, cultural tourism experienced in the urban space. This type of product includes branches of traditional culture such as heritage (monuments, built heritage, memories from the past) and arts (fine and performing arts, literature, contemporary architecture) and also activities related to lifestyle (legends, traditions, gastronomy, folklore) and creative industries (fashion, graphics, design, media, entertainment) (WTO-ETC 2004).

For the ageing European (and Hungarian) population medical tourism, quality medical services and the development of the conditions of regeneration are of special importance. Health consciousness, the growing awareness of the preservation of wellbeing and the prevention of diseases is a more and more typical phenomenon, enlarging the target group of medical tourism services. Prevention is given a bigger emphasis. In addition to active employees it is the pensioners who are dominant, but the range of services used and the length of use are different. The elder generation usually prefers smaller towns with less visitors, they like travelling in pre- and post-season and prefer medical hotels (or accommodations close to the medical spas). The accessibility by public transportation is of vital importance for them (coaches or trains), as are the provision of transfer and the existence and look of parks and walking paths. In Hungary such destinations are Hévíz, Zalakaros, Hajdúszoboszló and Gyula; popular bathing resorts in the Czech Republic are Karlovy Vary/Karlsbad, Mariánské Lázně/Marienbad and Františkovy Lázně/Franzesbad; but there are several Austrian and Italian bathing reports of this type as well.

Active employees are more interested in wellness tourism satisfying the needs of conference tourism, and these venues are splendid destinations for company (further) trainings as well. Those who use this kind of service usually spend a weekday or two (at conferences and further trainings) or a longer weekend, maybe a brief holiday (leisure tourism) in wellness hotels. There is a demand for attractions other than medical tourism services to contribute to the pleasant stay of the guests; so cultural attractions offered by the cities, especially if they are easily accessibly on foot (Vienna, Prague, Dubrovnik, Porto or some Hungarian venues like Balatonfüred, Siófok, Sopron, Eger, Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen) are ideal complements for medical tourism.

In urban environment medical tourism is a special type of supply, which includes non-hospital treatments (e.g. surgeries, dental treatments, and beauty surgeries, laser treatments), but these services can only be categorised here if they are accompanied by the use of touristic services such as accommodation or catering. Middle and big cities can basically join in the competition by the continuous development of complex medical tourism services (hospitals, special surgeries and outpatient treatments), the keeping of well-trained physicians and – in addition to rapid accessibility – the low level of the price of the treatment (price advantage). In Hungary good examples for dental tourism are, in addition to the capital city, Sopron, Mosonmagyaróvár and Veszprém; one-day surgeries are concentrated in Budapest.

Urban spaces can also be taken as cultural junctions where built heritage and cultural events are the most important attractions. Although there is a constantly growing interest in the visits to events with international attraction, it is still sights of interests, monuments and museums that are the most popular among the cultural activities, together with city sightseeing tours, the “experience of the atmosphere” of the destination, the tasting of local food and beverage specialities and shopping. The award of the “European Capital of Culture” (Pécs, Linz) or “world heritage” title (Brugge, Lisbon, St. Petersburg) will further increase the number of visitors and strengthen the image of the cities. Several (European) cities have used this title to renew their cultural life and make themselves known all across Europe.

The whole world in a festival – as the saying goes, and indeed, cities concerned devote significant efforts to increase the popularity of the festivals and enhance the efficiency of their communication (Budapest – Sziget Fesztivál, Salzburgerfestspiele). There is a fierce competition for the organisation of international (sport) events, Olympic Games (Beijing, London), and a successful event will also result in total renewal of the touristic infrastructure.

Guests of the conferences are the lead representatives of their professions, so this kind of tourism generates the development of other branches as well. A conference will increase the recognition, the fame of the respective city; in addition, MICE tourism usually takes place outside the main tourism season. Besides higher spending, another advantage is that conference guests usually participate in optional programmes (visiting cultural attractions) or will return to the same destination as leisure tourists. Trends show that it is physicians’ and engineers’ conferences whose number is increasing. The most popular conference cities of the world (IUA 2007) are Singapore, Paris, Vienna, Brussels, Geneva, Barcelona, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Amsterdam. The evaluation of Budapest (with position 21 in this rank) is good, but the absence of a competitive congress centre is a frequently mentioned problem.

Although the explosive spread and development of communication and informatics tools has resulted in many cases in the decrease of the number of business trips, personal encounters and exchanges of experience are still needed, as are the maintenance of the business relations and trust. Business meetings are usually organised in the hotels and restaurants of (capital) cities and regional centres; also, more and more frequently in the own office of the company (organisation). In the case of incentive tours organised into cities of special atmosphere, organisers mix the speciality of cultural endowments with high level services (Venice, Barcelona).

The rapid access of cities (in domestic relation by car, coach or train; in the case of inbound tourism by plane) is a key issue. In order to decrease travel time from the areas of origin as much as possible, regional projects are needed to promote the establishment of reception facilities with a substantial capital investment (roads, airports, railway terminals, accommodations). Within the (inner) city, on the other hand, all efforts must be made to promote the use of advanced (alternative) means of transport at the greatest possible level (bicycle, walking, motorised mini-car). Transport tools meeting the ‘genius loci’, the local spirit (e.g. horse carriage, old trams, chairlifts or tourist trains) are important sources of experience especially in the historical cities.

Within monument buildings it is often problematic to allow the movement of the physically handicapped, the elder people and families with small children. In each case, even at the cost of the preservation of the original shape of the building in justified cases, the expectations of the modern times must be met, not last because the ever growing share of the ageing population and the tourists will demand the use of elevators and wheelchair ramps designed and implemented aesthetically and functionally.

A key to the success of settlement marketing is to have those formal and informal spaces of community life where the local citizens, non-governmental organisations and stakeholders themselves can intervene into the solution of the problems concerning the local communities. The “maturing” of the local society is a prerequisite for bottom-up organisation, for the birth of communities that are able to learn, open and receptive. An important issue is the creation of communication channels, the measurement and evaluation of the feedbacks from the target groups addressed by settlement marketing.

Tourism marketing realised within settlement marketing has paid most of its attention so far on (potential) tourists, but this approach seems to be worth reconsidering, research findings suggest. Among the motivations of domestic leisure travels concerning the cities, visiting friends and relatives is a more and more important one, also, the recommendations of friends, relatives and acquaintances and the opinions read at community websites are appreciated when making travel decisions on destinations to visit. It is obvious then that for settlements with tourism development ambitions, communication with the local inhabitants will be very important, in order to allow the advertising of the elements of tourism supply and strengthen visitor-friendly behaviour.

During the selling of tourist cities, more and more frequently used tools are the cards offering reduced prices for tourists. The establishment of the card system takes into consideration the average length of stay of tourists (cards valid for 24, 48 or 72 hours), supports the use of community transport and inspires tourists with sales promotions to visit the sights of interest offered by the city. A further benefit of this card system is the increase of the number of visitors to attractions that are parts of the built heritage of the city; the actual movements of tourists in the respective destination become measurable, and the system also promotes spending and the use of other services in the settlements. In Hungary a good example for such a benefit card system is Budapest, in Austria it is Salzburg that should be mentioned.

The hunger for information of cultural tourism visible in the cities can be fed e.g. by the Intelligent City Guide System. It is designed to give the travellers basic information, with the use of the Internet, right at the planning phase of the tour, in order to allow them to make decisions on the destination of their travels. The system assists those individual tourists in the first place who couple the joy of experience and exploration with organisation made by themselves.

An essential part of hospitality is the provision of touristic information, including personal client services (in buildings reminiscent of the age of the attraction, or in modern buildings but with a central location); information signposts (in a style matching the image and the historical atmosphere of the city: brass signs, coats of arms and wrought iron holders); and visitor centres located in the vicinity of the attractions generating considerable traffic. When establishing a visitor centre, efforts must be made to create interactivity and have tailor-made products (linguistic diversity; segmentation by age and cultural background). The high quality of experience can be secured by stimulating as many senses as possible (besides sight, hearing, touching, smelling or tasting should also be targeted), relying on the active cooperation of the visitor an interesting island of knowledge can be created (good examples for which are the visitor centres of Herend, Kőszeg or Pannonhalma).

The use of the sources of information in 24 hours of the day is assisted by a number of new technical devices. In addition to information signposts located at traffic junctions (touchscreen terminals), the free access to internet in public spaces (public institutions, during festivals) is becoming more and more popular. By the development of the touristic sites (easily comprehendible menus, information in different languages, route planning, online accommodation booking, and downloadable publications), tourists will feel themselves more informed and safe.

The use of the historical city cores as community spaces is a great challenge; it is partly connected to the regeneration of (Hungarian) inner cities, which raises issues for transportation, traffic management, the construction of a single cityscape and also functional issues. The problem of the emptying inner cities is not only an economic or real estate management issue, so it should be integrated with community development, and the satisfaction of the demand of local social groups (youth, family persons). Inner cities are excellent locations for the reception of culture in the broad sense of the word (see the section on the comprehensive interpretation of culture). Interactive museums or exhibitions (in a changed role); attractive events, festivals; parks, playgrounds, restaurants, cafés suitable for stopping, having a conversation or recreation can appear as events or programmes for consumers (both local inhabitants and tourists).

The quality of the experience of visitors is basically determined by the quality level of the services, so attention must be paid during product development to the satisfaction of the visitors. Visitor friendly behaviour, cordial and polite servicing, helpful attitude are fundamental requirements against all those who get in touch with the guests. Tourism management has a vested interest in paying attention to the information and encouragement of the local society and the employees in tourism and to working out special (client communication) training programmes.

In the case of cities, joint efforts, thinking in networks and partnership are issues especially appreciated. In addition to the development of the attractions special attention must be paid to logistics issues (transport facilities and car parking places), the quality of urban environment (transport safety, parks, walking paths, cleanliness) and the adequate supply of recreation zones (entertainment, shopping, active leisure programmes).

Already before World War II, organised rural tourism operated in Hungary. Holidaymaking with full board was possible in several villages. The National Hungarian Weekend Association was established in 1929 (and it was reorganised in 1932). The national catalogue of summer rural tourism opportunities called the “Utas Könyve” (Book of the Traveller) was published, including the organised offer of 127 villages. In 1936 the National Hungarian Tourism Society (Országos Magyar Vendégforgalmi Szövetség, OMVESZ) was founded, as an organisation operating 29 county directorates.

After World War II, the system or rural tourism that had been systematically built out since the 1930s was liquidated. The organisation operating before the War had assisted rural tourism by the increase and promotion of the demand, by a professional propaganda and promotion of accommodations. The establishment of accommodations was achieved by the integration of villages into the system, the preparation of the hosts and making them interested in the development of their own settlements.

Rural tourism – village tourism

There was a change of scenario in the development of tourism in Hungary in the 1970s, the most important consequences of which can be measured in efforts made to make tourism territorially more balanced in the country by the exploration of new destinations and the creation of new attractions. Rural areas practically untouched by tourism before now were in the focus of attention. In these regions the interests of tourism and of spatial development in the broad sense of the word can be integrated. Their joint product is the kind of tourism called “Landtourismus” (“rural tourism”) in German speaking areas. This is a collective notion that includes, on the one hand, all those methods by which tourism can be relocated into rural areas outside touristic centres and zones that have spontaneously developed; on the other hand, it integrates those tourism activities that are capable of the utilisation of the explored endowments. In Hungary the equivalent of this concept is ‘village tourism’, but the use of the specification rural tourism that provides a broader approach would be reasonable.

From tourism product development and rural development aspects, rural tourism means unique services typical of the respective receiving farms. Its characteristic features are as follows:

-          they are built on local and micro-regional attractions;

-          in most cases the hosts and the guests live in the same house, the same farm;

-          guests can become participants in the homely, friendly way of living following local traditions, and in events;

-          this activity can be pursued both without licences, in non-business form or as a business with licences, as a full-time living;

-          rural tourism increases job opportunities, improves the living of the local inhabitant as a supplementary source of income;

-          it creates demand for local services, products, the natural and cultural values;

-          it mediates culture between hosts and guests;

-          it contributes to strengthening cooperation and joint identity of inhabitants of the region;

-          it may contribute to the creation of the complex system of tourism services in the settlement or region;

-          it is sustainable and not mass tourism;

-          it usually recycles the incomes generated;

-          rural tourism is utilisation of the complex tourism supply of the villages;

-          rural tourism offers at the same time village living conditions, local habits, culture and agriculture – where there is agriculture.

Interpretation of rural tourism from legal regulations:

Looking form the side of development, rural tourism means all hosting activities pursued in non-selected medical or holiday resorts, provided that the location and the character of the activity meets the following criteria:

-          Existence of a harmonic natural and built environment, taking the needs of the local inhabitants and the guests into consideration.

-          Preservation or creation of the special supply and image built on the landscape and the specific local features in each settlement, micro-region and ethnographic region. Creation of product packages on the basis of a list attractions, in community cooperation.

-          Hosts and other service providers of the village or micro-region cooperate in an organised form (association etc.), and a marketing organisation will help them accede the market.

-          The local municipal governments or the association of the municipal governments participate as active supporters in the development of rural tourism.

-          Village host participating in rural tourism accept participating in trainings and further trainings, and also the qualification of their homes in accordance with a jointly defined and approved system of quality criteria.

According to the Government Decree No. 239/2009 (20 October) in effect for rural tourism, rural accommodations are accommodations outside the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton and medical resorts, located in settlements with less than 5000 inhabitants and in areas with a population density below 100 persons/km², provided that they were created in order to demonstrate village living conditions, local rural traditions and culture, with auxiliary services, if necessary.

Of course accommodation is only one part of rural tourism, but a dominant part, also coming from the legal regulations.

The concept of ‘village tourism’ well-known in Hungary does not clearly define any type of tourism product. Its specific feature is more in its complexity, its character integrating other tourism products. Rural tourism, in addition to the reception of guests at village accommodations (i.e. accommodations established in the place where the host lives), may involve

-          cultural supply (local traditions, holidays, events and folklore),

-          gastronomy (hosts treat their guests to their own meals, home made wine, brandy, or fruit juice etc., creating a connection to agrotourism),

-          wine tourism (hosts offer their own wines in their on cellars),

-          hiking in nature (with visits to nature protection protected),

-          medical tourism (using the nearby medical spas, or the special local climate),

-          equestrian tourism (integrating the local horse riding facilities in the supply),

-          camps for children.

The definition based on the elements of supply can be made more exact by the definition of the concept itself: „satisfaction of the wide range of demand of domestic and foreign guests for leisure services in extra-urban, well-kept village or rural environment with local and regional attractions, on business ground, and in the cooperation of local institutions and service providers organising the activity” (Jenkei L. 2002).

Within rural tourism, village tourism is tourism in areas

-          where attractions are scattered and not strong enough in themselves;

-          where progress depends upon the self-organisation and joint efforts of the local community;

-          and where tourism development and rural development, as a special applied form of spatial development go hand in hand, mutually reinforcing each other to bring results.

The concept used by the Association of Hungarian Rural and Agrotourism (Falusi és Agroturizmus Országos Szövetsége, FATOSZ) is as follows:

Satisfaction of the wide range of demand of domestic and foreign guests for leisure services in extra-urban, well-kept village or rural environment with local and regional attractions, on business ground, and in the cooperation of local institutions and service providers organising the activity. It is a way of passing leisure time that is built exclusively on the consumption and utilisation of village tourism goods.

The new area of village tourism starting from the late 1980s has individual characteristics and important experiences.

-          The revival of traditions is supplemented by significant community cooperation and the birth of non-governmental organisations and local associations that have been given support from the municipalities and the micro-regions. Such micro-region and local associations active in rural tourism have been created and function excellently in the regions and counties. We can say that the success of rural tourism also proves the successful operation of these organisations.

-          In order to support hosts and represent their interests, in 1990s a national body was founded with a county level organisational structure established later. In the initiation of the national body, Baranya county had a pioneer role, as it was the seat of Baranya county, Pécs where in 1992 the organisation called “Association for village tourism” was founded for the support of the community development of rural tourism. The Association had members from each major rural tourism area of Hungary. The interest representation activity was handed over in 1994 to the Association of Hungarian Rural Tourism then founded on the initiative of 32 organisations, now operating as a professional interest representation body called Association of Hungarian Rural and Agrotourism (FATOSZ).

-          FATOSZ operates as an umbrella organisation, with 19 county associations as members in it. It operates a national centre and a Tourinform office and is responsible for interest representation of rural tourism at the national level. County organisations have as members, in addition to private hosts, entrepreneurs and businesses and also municipal governments interested in rural tourism, as well as local and regional rural tourism organisations.

-          For the qualification and quality assurance of rural tourism, with the support of the national tourism administration (Hungarian National Tourism Board) FATOSZ worked out by 1997 the system of criteria relevant for the qualification of the accommodations. These criteria were included in the Government Decree No. 110/1997 (later replaced by the already mentioned Government Decree No. 239/2009).

-          For the implementation of qualifications and professional consulting, FATOSZ trained and created, with the assistance of the ministry for agriculture, its own network of experts. The network of trained and qualified rural tourism consultants has more than 60 members by now.

-          The effective marketing activities of rural tourism were also born by the end of the 1990s. County, regional and national catalogues are regularly published. FATOSZ and its member organisations in the counties are regular exhibitors at national and regional tourism fairs. The rural tourism organisations have made sure that their members are featured on the large internet-based accommodation registers and they also have their own websites connected to the central site of FATOSZ.

An important characteristic of rural tourism is that its attractions can be categorised into three major groups:

Proximity of nature, naturalness. Villages and village people are actually mediators between urbanised city population – remote from nature – and rural areas that more or less still preserve their naturalness. The proximity of nature is an attraction for rural tourism, hiking, cycling or ecotourism activities.

Preserved traditions. Villages – partly coming from their belated development – have preserved a lot from the material and intellectual culture formerly typical of the Hungarian countryside. This can be seen in the village monument buildings, on the one hand, and in the material remains of the traditional way of farming and also in the traditional handicraft or agricultural products, on the other hand. This category also involves the (visual) attraction and folk costumes, folk traditions and traditional holidays.

Village hospitality, family-like atmosphere as an attraction is of outstanding significance. Hospitality in villages is more advanced in this respect than any other tourism supply. The kindness of the host, the warm reception of the guests, family atmosphere is the strength of rural tourism that is most acknowledged by the guests.

Accommodations of rural tourism gained their qualification in the qualification system worked out by the national interest representation body, the FATOSZ in 1997, acknowledged in the special legal regulation concerning the activity (Government Decree No. 110/1997). The “sunflower” qualification system lives on as a National Qualification Trademark since 2011, in accordance with the Government Decree No. 239/2009 on the commercial and private accommodations. The qualification system awards 1 to 4 sunflowers to the village accommodations, depending on the comfort level and the equipment of the accommodation.

A four-sunflower accommodation has a separate apartment with a bathroom and a toilet, with a well-equipped room, dining room, living room; also, in this accommodation a kitchen and a garden with furniture are at the disposal of the guests who also have car parking facility. These can be called as village accommodations with full amenities.

Accommodations with three-sunflower qualification are village homes that have a bathroom and a toilet separate for the guests, who have access to a dining room, a kitchen and a garden and car parking facility.

Two sunflowers are the marking for lower quality accommodations where the bathroom, toilet, dining room and kitchen are used jointly with the hosts’ family. Car parking facility is provided even in this case.

Simply equipped accommodations without amenities, basic camping facilities for tents, with car parking facility are locations marked with one sunflower.

The definition of the place and role of village tourism and agrotourism within rural tourism can happen by using national capacity and turnover figures and by the evaluation of territorial dimensions. The databases of the assessment are partly from the data registered by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO), as a supplement, the qualification database of the Central Office of the FATOSZ was used.

The overall situation of village tourism in Hungary

The Government Decree No. 110/1997 on private accommodations defined the system of the registration, and the collection of capacity and turnover figures of village hosts. This was partly amended by the above-mentioned Government Decree No. 239/2009, where village accommodations were listed among the ‘other accommodations’. With the assistance of the notaries, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office summaries the annual data of rural tourism, creating thereby the basis for comprehensive analyses.

Data on the number and accommodation capacity of registered village hosts have been available since 1998. The number and capacity of accommodations and beds continuously and significantly increased between 1998 and 2009, the number of registered hosts in the whole of Hungary grew from 4,893 to 7,534 (Figure 1, Table 1). This expansion was accompanied by the growth in the capacity as well. In 2009 a total of 49,327 beds were registered in Hungary.

Figure 1

Source: HCSO

Rural tourism accommodations in larger numbers can be found in North Hungary, West Transdanubia and South Transdanubia in the first place, these regions concentrate almost 60% of all capacities. The biggest number of village hosts and accommodations – 39% of hosts and 41% of accommodation, respectively – were registered in North Hungary. The number of village accommodations was the lowest in Central Hungary, with only 2% of all such accommodations in the country (Figure 2).

Table 1

Capacity of village accommodations within ‘other’ (until 2009: private) accommodations, in 2009 and on 31 December 2010

Source: HCSO

As a consequence of the introduction of volume limit for village accommodations (see Government Decree No. 209/2009), the capacity of village accommodations was almost halved (Table 1). The intensity of decrease, however, varied across the regions. In Central Hungary and Middle Transdanubia the number of settlements falling out of the circle of rural tourism for administrative reasons after the “limits” introduced is smaller, while in North Hungary and in the Great Hungarian Plain the difference is considerable. This also means that, besides a decreased capacity and number of guests, the positions of Central Hungary and Middle Transdanubia in rural tourism decreased by 2010 in the new composition. The volume limit set in the legal regulation (239/2009) meant that in 2010 beds in settlements with over 5,000 population, including Great Plain towns with scattered farms on their outskirts, or rural parts of Transdanubian small towns, were no longer registered as village accommodations. Due too this volume limit village tourism can only be registered in settlements below a population density of 100 persons /km². These administrative rules worsened the positions of rural tourism.

Figure 2: Breakdown of the beds of village accommodations by settlements, 31 December 2010

Source: HCSO

Looking at the performance of rural tourism in 2010, the number of foreign guests fell by more than half in village tourism that represented 14% of all ‘other’ accommodations (Figure 3), parallel to the decline in the number of domestic guests (by 45%). The altogether 126 thousand guests spent a total of 371 thousand guest nights at village accommodations, and almost 92% of them were domestic guests. The largest number of guests was registered in North Hungary (50 thousand guests), while the least popular rural tourism destination was Central Hungary (with 3 thousand guests). The number of guest nights followed the decrease of the number of guests, the fall was almost 50%. The number of foreign guest nights decreased by 63%, the number of domestic guest nights fell by 47% from the previous year, which meant a total decrease of 49% in the number of total guest nights.

Figure 3

Source: HCSO

The majority of guests in rural tourism since the late 1990s are definitely Hungarians (Figure 3). The proportions of foreign and domestic guests were almost equal around the millennium, since 2011 a significant rearrangement has taken place. In 2008, the best year of rural tourism so far (744,243 guest nights), the number of guest nights by domestic guests was approximately six times higher than the number of nights spent by their foreign counterparts.

Among the Selected Holiday Regions of Hungary it is the Mátra-Bükk Selected Holiday Region where hosts have the largest capacity of rural accommodations. The total of 3,6 thousand beds were occupied by 20% of all guests, one thousand foreign and 25 thousand domestic guests in the year in question (Figure 4). Besides the Mátra-Bükk Holiday Region, larger numbers of Hungarian guests arrived at the Tisza Lake Holiday Region and the Mecsek-Villány Holiday Region, which was also shown in the number of guest nights (21 thousand guest nights and 20 thousand guest nights, respectively).

Parallel to the decrease of the registered capacity of rural accommodations, the share of domestic guests went on increasing (Table 2). The figures of 2010 demonstrate that rural tourism is pursued in more than 90% by domestic guests in Hungary. The indices generated from the number of guests and guest nights have not changed significantly in the last two years. The decreasing number of foreign guests spent a lower number of nights in rural tourism on the average, unfortunately.

Table 2

Specific indices of ‘other’ (until 2009: private) accommodations, 2009-2010

Source: HCSO

Figure 4. Breakdown of the guest nights in village accommodations by holiday regions, 2010

Source: HCSO

In 2010, the most popular among the planning and statistical regions were North Hungary and West Transdanubia: almost two-thirds of all guests (77 thousand of them) spent in these regions 58% of all guest nights. The number of guests was the lowest in Central Hungary (3 thousand). The largest number of guest nights was registered in North Hungary, where 37% of all guest nights was realised. Within this, the number of domestic guest nights (127 thousand) was way above the number of guest nights spent by foreigners (9 thousand). The least popular rural tourism destinations for domestic guests were the South Great Plain and Central Hungary.

There are two groups of counties with considerable capacities and also significant number of guests and guest nights in Hungary:

-          In Transdanubia they make a stripe from Veszprém and Győr-Moson-Sopron counties, including Somogy, Vas and Zala, right down to Baranya in the south.

-          The other “junction” involves Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, Pest county and also the two busiest rural touristic counties of Hungary, i.e. Heves and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén.

The group of counties with the most modest capacities and demand are as follows:

-          A wide stripe in Transdanubia, made by counties from Komárom-Esztergom to Fejér and Tolna counties.

-          The stripe continues in the Great Hungarian Plain: Bács-Kiskun, then Csongrád and Békés, Hajdú-Bihar and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties make the less popular counties of rural tourism in Hungary.

-          Tourists show a growing interest in almost unspoilt natural landscapes, clean and beautiful nature. Protected areas are appreciated, the motivations of tourists shift from pleasure-centric attitude towards the acquisition of experiences and new knowledge. Tourism products introducing protected values and offering unique experiences, located in authentic, traditionalist and clean regions free from environmental degradation and from mass use by tourists can expect a growing demand. Hiking, ecotourism featuring the landscape and rural tourism organised into tranquil, quasi natural villages also have improved chances.

-          The desire for complete silence and tranquillity, for “perfect” recreation may bring about the appreciation of “untouched” rural areas as tourism destinations, too. Quiet lake shores and river banks, settlements remote from busy places but ready for the reception of guests will also have improved positions.

-          Individualisation, the appearance of individual demands and desires of the guests. The popularity of organised group travels is decreasing, those are now the majority who travel on their own or in small groups with their friends and families. Guests want a lot of offers to choose from, the want to try diverse products. The chances of places with unique image – smaller, friendlier boarding houses – and of destinations suitable for the satisfaction of hobby needs – e.g. nature watch, bird photography – are improving. Similarly, the demand for theme products, products of definite units of offers is increasing. Satisfaction of the hobby needs and the individual requests will become a major demand trend.

-          Strengthening of the quality aspects in the supplies. The positions of hosts who are unique and special but also able to meet high quality demands will improve. The days of mediocre mass services are over.

-          Increased quality expectations against the holiday resorts. Holidaymakers have higher and higher quality demands against the destination of their holidays. They expect tidy, well-kept and comfortable accommodations and an environment in the destination that offer at least the level of their own homes. This is a great challenge for hosts in the villages. A clear-cut demand is, in addition to the comfortable accommodation, the intimate and family-like atmosphere and the civilised and tidy environment.

Although rural (or village) tourism has appeared in the Hungarian tourism development programmes and its dimensions have been defined, its position is far from being satisfactory. The Hungarian National Tourism Development Strategy features rural tourism among the products of national importance, within heritage tourism that is second in the order of the priorities. This category also contains other rural tourism products such as wine and gastronomy, equestrian tourism, in addition to village tourism that is considered as a user of the Hungarian rural heritage. The Strategy mentioned the complex character and its many connections to other products. Nevertheless village tourism, despite all positive approaches to it, is not eligible for support from tenders financed from Regional Operational Programmes (ROP-s), the most important resource of the NTDS from the EU. Some related activities such as wine tourism or rural festivals could apply for development resources on their own or jointly with other products. A basic rule of ROP financed tenders is that support is only given to major projects worth over HUF 10 million, with the goal of significant impacts to be achieved. The main beneficiaries of the EU resources for economic development are businesses, while village hosts, who are private persons in the majority of the cases, were not eligible for such supports.

There is one activity within village tourism that is eligible for support from the ROP-s: tenders were announced for the assistance of tourism management activities. There are tenders for the initiation of local and regional TDM (tourism destination management) organisations, where the village hosts could also enjoy the benefits of marketing and destination development as members of the TDM organisations. Even more indirect tenders are the ROP tenders written for the foundation of tourism clusters. In South Transdanubia this was the basis on which a regional cluster of village tourism was made in 2010.

For the development of village tourism and other forms of rural tourism, resources available for private persons including village hosts are supports from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). Axis III in the EAFRD contains assistance for the promotion of tourism activities. These supports are available for

-          the establishment of village accommodation and related services, and

-          the enlargement, modernisation and product development of existing village accommodations and for the provision of physical access to them.

In addition, support can be required by tendering for non-accommodation related agrotouristic activities. In this case agrotourism is interpreted as village tourism related to agricultural land or agricultural activity. The following activities under the heading agrotouristic services are supported:

-          demonstration of local or own folk arts, ethnographic, handicrafts, architectural and cultural values, heritage and products;

-          demonstration of traditions and activities connected to village life, environment and work culture;

-          demonstration of activities related to home-made foods and gastronomic traditions in village, rural or farm environment, and the offer of the foods produced for consumption on the spot or for sales for tourists on the farm;

-          demonstration of local farming methods and production habits.

Further non-accommodation related services connected to village tourism can also be supported. These include the development of infrastructure and tools of

-          equestrian tourism services,

-          hunting tourism,

-          forest tourism,

-          angling tourism,

-          water tourism,

-          wine tourism.

On the chances of getting resources from the EU and the Hungarian funds in the coming, 2014-2020 planning period, information is provided by the strategic parts of the document called “National Rural Development Strategy 2020” and the national strategic programmes constituting these parts. Village tourism is featured as “The programme for catering guests in villages and scattered farms” in the strategic field called “Local economic development”. The programme for catering guests in villages and scattered farms aims at the development of the countryside and village by the creation of the reception capacity of tourism. For product development, the strategy finds it important to establish and operate a tourism management of research, statistics, and the better local and micro-regional (TDM, LEADER) utilisation of the resources. Other objectives are the enlargement and modernisation of the information system and marketing tools of village tourism, including online solutions, and the creation of the multilingual joint website of organisations operating in the Carpathian Basin, engaged with (the promotion of) village tourism. Also, the creation and development of services offering unique local, micro-regional and regional experiences and the creation of product packages are seen as tasks of selected importance. The strategy also wishes to develop village catering and catering provided by small-scale producers as an effective tool of the sales of local products.

The professional trainings, consultancy and qualifications for the support of village and farm tourism should also be strengthened, and the specialisation of village accommodation providers is promoted (e.g. bio-accommodation, heritage accommodation, eco-accommodation etc.).

Tenderable resources are devoted to the expansion of the services offered by village accommodations, with the development of the quality and the increase of the capacity in the focus of this. The strategy also wants to support the cooperation and integration of ecotourism activities pursued in protected natural areas with village tourism.

Specialisation – by the qualification criteria of guest houses (accommodations) – is a further step for the differentiation of the large and incomprehensible supply of village holidays (rural tourism) in Hungary, and also a measure increasing the safety of products for the guests.

The expectations against special offers are adjusted, in the spirit of a marketing-oriented strategy, to the exact desires and demands of the guests. For the village (rural) hosts and commercial accommodation owners in a specialised area to become and remain competitive, special criteria have to be met (in addition to the general quality requirements), which have to be regularly adjusted to the new needs every now and then.

The world has already gone further than this. In the rural areas of the European countries with advanced tourism, qualified accommodations have moved further towards programming and now have unique, special offers. The time has come in Hungary too to make this step! The differentiated market demands urge us to do so. The demands of the guests participating in village tourism have become more and more exact. Guests seek, in accordance with their motivations, the holiday locations most suitable for them. As the demands of the guests can be learnt, the answer is given: services also have to become more exact along the expectations of the customers.

An important lesson of the touristic trends of the recent years is that the range of guests is more and more segmented. Those who have different interests and prefer different holiday activities try to fully meet their expectations when choosing the holiday destination and assess the available services. They prefer locations that are the most suitable for their motivations.

Another factor promoting specialisation is the more and more differentiated nature of communication. In tourism today the attraction may be grabbed by novelties and well segmented products. Potential holidaymakers in the dump of information try to find strong points among the almost infinite number of offers, and they have key word for this. In this information process, specialised products have more chance to get to the seekers of information.

Experience-orientation, which is a dominant element in tourism, requires continuous product development that can renew the traditional offer of village tourism by the means of product specialisations.

We should listen closely to the opinion of Hans Embacher (2004) on the advantages of making specialised products from the side of the service providers:

-          more professional product development;

-          more effective training and education;

-          exchange of experience / chance to learn from the best examples;

-          economies of scale (e.g. procurement);

-          concentration on advantages in marketing;

-          more competitive product range;

-          more innovation opportunities in the special areas;

-          expansion and renewal of the content of cooperation with professional tourism organisations.

In Austria, a country that has always been an example to follow for Hungary in village tourism, the system of specialised products was created by the late 1990s, already. The seven main products are as follows:

In Hungary there are eleven areas where the widening and deepening of the supply is recommended, for which FATOSZ, in cooperation with the experts of the national associations of the respective areas, has started to work out catalogues of exact criteria. Special care must be taken to have full and harmonised supply in the accommodations (farms).

The system of rural attractions, the special products of village tourism and the related rural tourism products

Environment friendly accommodations, “eco-accommodations” in South Transdanubia

A trend palpable in the recent years is that the interests of guests visiting South Transdanubia is turning towards natural specialities and the beauties of the landscape. This fits into the dominant international demand trends of travels interested in nature, collecting experience and knowledge and showing respect for nature, and of ecotourism. Such travellers would like, in addition to having nature experiences, to do something for the preservation of the values and the protection of the environment. Instead of usual urban commercial accommodations they seek accommodations in the vicinity of protected areas, accommodations that are energy and water saving, dedicated to the recycling of wastes and capable of the demonstration of local, village and rural traditions, authentic and preserve traditional production methods. Such accommodations are operated by local hosts, and in catering they rely on the local tastes and products. In addition, they are cordial hosts who know the natural values of the neighbourhood and are able to present them to the guests.

In South Transdanubia a network of accommodations satisfying such demands started to operate in the autumn of 2010. The village hosts of this network receive their guests in a new qualification system, as “Environment friendly accommodations” or “Eco-accommodations”. In the first round 32 hosts were qualified with this new label, who started their operation in villages around the most valuable nature protection areas.

Figure 5. Spatial distribution of the South Transdanubian eco-accommodations (Ed. Pirkhoffer, E. 2011)

The spatial distribution of the South Transdanubian eco-accommodations follows the location of protected areas (Figure 5). Besides the protected values of the Danube-Dráva National Park, from Dunaszekcső to Erdőfű and from Sellye to Drávasztára, well-equipped and environment friendly accommodations can be found in nine settlements.

Among the villages surrounding the East Mecsek Landscape Protection Area, five villages from Mecseknádasd via Hosszúhetény to Vékény, among the villages at the foot of the Jakab Hill in the West Mecsek Landscape Protection Area, Cserkút and Kővágószőlős have qualified accommodations at the disposal of guests dedicated for the protection of nature.

In eight villages of the Zselic Landscape Protection area linking Somogy County to Baranya, from Gyűrűfű via Kán to Szenna and Bárdudvarnok we find a dozen of accommodations qualified as “Environment friendly accommodations” for the reception of ecotourists and the lovers of nature.

The eco-accommodations of the region may receive their distinctive label if they meet the criteria of the qualification system worked out for the private accommodations, including village accommodations.

The eco-accommodation qualification system

The European Union defined with its EC Committee Decision No. 2003/287 the qualification criteria relevant for commercial accommodations and camping sites. Meeting these, applicant accommodations can receive an “eco-label” qualification. The system, which was worked out for commercial accommodations only, defines in five areas the expectations of environment friendly construction and operation. These five areas include energy saving and water saving, careful operation and the minimisation of the amount of waste. In addition, it involves the information of the guests.

Following the EU regulations, Hungary also worked out the criteria necessary for the award of “Environment friendly product” label, also relevant for the commercial accommodations. The main issues of this system are identical with the EU regulation. For the private accommodations typical in rural tourism, including the village accommodations, no national system allowing an “eco” qualification has been worked out yet. For the sample area of South Transdanubia, with the assistance of the macro-project of the Norwegian Civil Fund, the Baranya County Rural Tourism Association worked out the qualification and criteria system of the network called “Environment friendly accommodations”, the system of “eco-accommodations”, using and assessing the experiences of the international systems mentioned above. On the basis of the system, the qualification of the eco-accommodations was done.

The qualification system has a development character; it prefers developments marked by market trends that may lead to the establishment of special quality, thereby unique and popular services for which the demand will be there for a long time.

The eco-accommodation qualification system has three levels. The first level contains the basic criteria. These are the entry to the programme, by meeting these criteria service providers can apply for support for developments necessary to obtain the environment friendly accommodation label. The criteria at the second level of the qualification clearly define the directions of the service development by the host. At the third level extra achievements are evaluated by the system, the implementation of which will lead to the birth of services of special attraction. These cannot be expected of all service providers longing for the environment friendly accommodation label, but their presence reinforces the quality of the ecotourism supply of the region.

The qualification system looks at six aspects of evaluation: 1. environment; 2. the accommodation and its amenities; 3. information and preparation; 4. local products and handicrafts products; 5. programmes, activities; 6. partnership.

On the basis of these, an eco-accommodation is as follows:

–        A village accommodation that is comfortable and has all amenities, as an accommodation it is in the 3 or 4 sunflower quality category.

–        The accommodation is situated in the vicinity of values of nature protection and the host is prepared for the presentation of the sights of interest in the neighbourhood.

–        The accommodation with its environment is environment friendly and traditionalist, energy and water saving, selectively collecting its waste and composting the organic part thereof.

–        Hosts insist on cultural traditions, they keep the old local traditions of production.

–        They have local foods and/or handicraft products that they happily present to the guests; they offer tastings of local specialities.

–        Hosts know the hiking trails and cultural programmes of the area and offer these to the guests.

The attractions can be divided into natural and man-made attractions. Natural attractions of Hungarian health tourism are for example mineral-, thermal and medicinal waters, climatic medical places, respectively medical peloids (mud, fango). To man made attractions belong for example the monument baths of Hungary (ITER-project) or the new masterpiece built in Makó (Turizmus Panoráma Bulletin, 2010/126, 2010.07.01.: Jó ütemben halad Makó új építészeti és turisztikai attrakciójának alapozása), just as salt and aromatherapy caves that aim at the simulation of nature/natural factors, and the physic therapy using physical impulses, or the electro-, magneto- or hydrotherapy.

Since the attractions complement each other, destinations with several attractions can achieve a higher market share by connecting their supply. The cooperation with additional tourism services is realized in the case of health tourism. (For details see Chapter 6.)

The touristic success of an attraction is influenced by its accessibility, general infrastructure, accommodations, catering, recreation opportunities, hospitality and hygiene. In the case of health tourism a special attention has to be devoted to the creation and maintenance of the bathing city or medical place atmosphere, just as to the needs of people with physical disabilities.

The following has to be mentioned by the analysis of the Hungarian medical tourism supply:

-          medicinal waters: for healing and mitigating of locomotor diseases, skin diseases, gynaecological complaints, vascular diseases and digestive system

-          treatments supported by Hungarian Social Security Fund: extension of medical treatments with the support of social security is determined by the Decree of the Ministry of Health No. 23/2007. (V.18.) (http://net.jogtar.hu/jr/gen/getdoc2.cgi?dbnum=1&docid=A0700023.EUM&cel=m()); one can apply for a bathing cure twice a year and it contains 6 to 15 treatments including 4 types of treatments per cure

-          non water-based cure factors (among travellers with medical aims/in medical tourism): e.g. International Pető Institute (http://www.peto.hu/), National Hearth Clinic in Balatonfüred (http://www.bfkor.hu/)

-          physiotherapy used in healing

-          use of natural cure factors aiming recreation in medical and wellness departments of baths, respectively medical and wellness hotels in accordance with the medical-wellness trend

-          medical and wellness hotels

-          medical expertise

-          good price-value ratio

The most important unique elements of Hungarian health tourism are as follows:

-          Egerszalók – bath located at the bottom of the chalk formed by the medicinal water flowing down the hill (http://www.egerszalokfurdo.hu/index.php)

-          Hajdúszoboszló – the largest bath complex of Europe, the “Mediterranean coast” of Hungary, Aqua-Palace Fedett Élményfürdő (Covered Leisure Spa) (http://www.hajduszoboszlogyogyfurdo.hu/)

-          Hévíz – medicinal lake, thermal medical water, balneotherapy based on natural cure factors, weight bath (http://www.spaheviz.hu/hu/)

-          Mátraderecske – carbon-dioxide mofetta bath (http://www.mofetta.eu/)

-          Miskolctapolca – cave bath (http://www.barlangfurdo.hu/)

-          Tapolca – medical cave, cave therapy (http://www.hunguesthotels.hu/hu/tapolca/gyogybarlang_terapia/)

Decisive elements of a destination’s popularity can be:

-          own products extending its peculiar supply and image. For example: Bükfürdő, Gyula, Hajdúszoboszló, Harkány (thermal cure cosmetic products with medicinal water of Harkány) (http://thermal-kft.hu/html/en_bemutatkozunk/index.html)

-          having a “special offer” promoting its supply

Also strategy(ies) related to the development of tourism products, just as the operation of international and domestic professional organizations favour supply side.

A questionnaire survey related to the interpretation of the attractiveness of Hungarian health tourism was made in the Department for Tourism of the Apáczai Csere János Faculty at the West-Hungarian University (hereinafter: NYME-AK by the Hungarian acronym). The 100 fulltime, first semester students surveyed were participants of the course called Wellness trends and services. They associated by hearing Hungarian health tourism destinations to the following domestic places in ranking order: Hévíz (66), Bükfürdő (40), Hajdúszoboszló (40) and Sárvár (26).

The following elements make the infrastructure of health tourism:

-          establishments of local tourism, such as outdoor beaches and indoor baths

-          medical place establishments, i.e. establishments for the healing oriented utilization of natural elements, such as drinking and walking corridors, halls; medicinal park, hot water baths, gas- and mud baths; inhalation treatments, locomotive treatments

-          climatic medical place establishment, such as medical house, large park and forest

Based on the categorization above, and by investigating http://wellness.itthon.hu monitored by the Hungarian Tourism Inc., we have the following establishments in the domestic supply:

Table 1: Establishments of the Hungarian health tourism supply

Source: own composition based on http://wellness.itthon.hu, 2010

The website http://itthon.hu/gyogy-wellness introduces the supply based on the following categorization:

Table 2: Establishments of the Hungarian health tourism supply

Source: own construction based on http://itthon.hu/gyogy-wellness, 2010

The suprastructure of health tourism consists of the following elements:

-          medical and wellness hotels

-          restaurants

Based on the categorization above and the websites http://wellness.itthon.hu and http://itthon.hu/gyogy-wellness monitored by the Hungarian Tourism Inc., the domestic supply is as follows:

Table 3: Elements of the Hungarian health tourism supply

Source: by the author, based on http://itthon.hu/gyogy-wellness, 2010

It is important to mention that the Hungarian Central Statistical Office registered 62 operating medical hotels and 105 wellness hotels on 30 June 2010. The capacity of medical hotels was 14,808 persons, while wellness hotels could accommodate 17,631 persons.

The requirements of consumer society also include body attractiveness and durable conservation of workability. Performance oriented company policy can be typical not only for middle- or large companies, but also for smaller firms employing only a few people. The ordinary days of competitive situations are rich in tension, and stress situations. In the accelerated speed of living, individuals are eager to spend their leisure time effectively, striving for full relaxation, cognitive, spiritual and physical recreation and refreshment. Consequently, new trends of health tourism emphasize individuality. Their aim is that everyone finds the chance of full relaxation in the given place, by using the available services.

Accelerated lifestyle of the 20th and 21st centuries, increasing pressure at workplaces and increasing societal expectations result in serious health problems. The most common illnesses rooted in stress are heart- and cardiovascular complaints, digestive disorders, skin problems, immune system disorders, and also kidney and suprarenal capsule complaints. Beside typical “manager diseases”, the certain demand base for health tourism are problems of old age related to the increasing expected life span at birth, among which we can highlight locomotive complaints, and also digestive, heart- and cardiovascular diseases different from the above mentioned.

Our lifestyle – besides other factors – has a significant impact on our health condition. The most important risk factors include smoking, exaggerated alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle, overweight, drug consumption and stressful lifestyle. Based on the estimations of the WHO, these factors are responsible for 75% of death cases in the developed countries.

Knowing the health condition of citizens in the European Union (http://www.antsz.hu/portal/portal/euegeszsegiallapota_16.html) and in Hungary (http://hvg.hu/karrier/00000000005598DC) we can say that the demand for health services and health tourism will not decrease in the following years, decades.

Hungary has excellent geothermic endowments. Hungary is a large power in medicinal water, since after Japan, Iceland, Italy and France it has the fifth best geothermic features. This excellence is due to the fact that the value of the geothermic gradient is one and a half larger than that of the world average. It is important to mention that in the Pannon basin including also Hungary, the earth’s crust is 10 kilometres thinner than the world average. Due to the thin, only 24–26 km thick earth’s crust, the hot magma is closer to the surface, thus thermal waters of Hungary hiding in the crust are also of higher temperature.

In addition to Hungary’s geothermic endowments, we also have to highlight the country’s other natural elements that are useable in curing: special climatic endowments used in therapy, medicinal caves, medical muds, and a dry bath (mofetta) are supporting the healing of patients (Chapter 2, The elements of supply).

Next to the above mentioned basic features, the modern spa architecture adapted the structural units of the ancient Roman and the Turkish baths. There are almost no Hungarian baths or spas without the three types from the Roman times: tepidarium – frigidarium – caldarium. One of the most dófascinating domestic examples of this is the mosaic decorated, round sauna park of the Thermál Hotel Visegrád, where the dry sauna, steam and infra cabin, and an ice feeder is complemented by aroma cabin and relaxing room that has a thermal fountain, and oriental atmosphere. Sound of the water flowing from the fountain, the pleasant gloom, the smells spilling in from the aroma cabin and the convenient relax beds provide an unforgettable experience besides ensuring abandoning relaxation http://www.thv.hu/.

Most of the modern spas recall the oriental atmosphere of Turkish baths http://www.ramadaresortbudapest.hu/hu/oriental_spa_and_fitnesz?sid=, which in many cases is incorporated not only in the atmosphere, but also in the elements of supply. One of the newly discovered and slightly modified services is the hamam treatment that is basically nothing else than a peculiarity of the middle aged Turkish baths. A special, mosaic decorated room is needed where there is gloom, high temperature and humidity, and is dominated by peace and quiet music. The person making the therapy rubs in the guest with an intensively bubbling, special oily soap, and then s/he flushes the foam with lukewarm water, and repeats the manoeuvre several times. Meanwhile, the guest is lying naked on a mosaic plate that is usually octagonal or round.

The international categorization of baths was made by the International Spa Association (further categories: http://itthon.hu/site/upload/mtrt/Turizmus_Bulletin/01_12/Sz2.htm).

The modern spas are eager to offer also services that are labelled by the name of one or other countries and are wide-spread all around the world. A selection, edited by Bodecker and Cohen, was published in 2008, with the title of “international spa language”.

The development of health tourism, as one of the strategic segments of domestic tourism, plays a major role in Hungarian national and regional tourism development strategies.

In the National Tourism Development Strategy 2005–2013, health tourism is listed among the national priorities of touristic product development. The Strategy treats health tourism as a prioritized product until 2013, aiming to improve the national and international competitive position of the product by the end of the strategic period. It should be achieved by complex product and infrastructural developments in accordance with the recent trends, and with the clear division of medical and wellness branches. In addition to these, health tourism plays a role among other priorities of the Strategy, such as the development of human resources meeting the special needs of the product. (The National Tourism Development Strategy is available under: http://itthon.hu/szakmai-oldalak/strategiai-dokumentumok/nemzeti-100112.)

As we have already seen in Chapter 1.1, further development of health tourism plays an emphasized role in the New Széchenyi Plan (just as it did in the first one) that is in force since the January of 2011. At the time of writing this chapter, we do not have detailed information on the New Széchenyi Plan, but most likely it can be found under http://www.kim.gov.hu/ by the publication of the electronic draft.

In addition to tourism development, other strategies also contain health tourism. In the 2nd National Development Plan – more commonly known as New Hungary Development Plan – (that is also for the period 2007-2013), the operational programmes of all administrative regions contain health tourism as a development field. In the latest 2009–2010 development period, tendering opportunities were opened under the name “Development of tourism investments with selected economic impact” and “Activities related to the improvement of the framework conditions and competiveness of health tourism in places of international attractiveness determined by the National Health Tourism Strategy”. Except the second call in the Central-Transdanubian Region and the first call in the Central-Hungarian Region, prioritized tenders were opened in every region for both calls. (Operational Programmes of the regions are available here: http://www.nfu.hu/uj_magyarorszag_fejlesztesi_terv_2.)         

On the commission of the Secretariat for Tourism of the Ministry of Municipalities and Spatial Development, with the inclusion of academic and business tourism professionals, the National Health Tourism Strategy was developed in 2007 (downloadable from http://www.oib.gov.hu/docs/egeszsegturizmus_strategia.pdf). The strategy enlists seven priorities and the related tasks. The priorities are in keywords: conscious product development of medical places, harmonization of health care and tourism, development of wellness services, development of engaged hotels, effective marketing activity, development of educational-training system, and the creation of operational frameworks.

The attractions of cultural tourism have become definitely versatile, because, as we could see in Chapter 1, culture itself is a complex notion. Accordingly, cultural attractions can be categorised on many different grounds. On the basis of the character of the attraction we can distinguish events and places or locations. The duration and consequently the visitability of events is restricted, they are one-off events or ones recurring with a certain frequency (the Sziget – Island – festival is organised annually, the WAMP Budapest artist market every month). Space-type attractions can be found all the time, and although their visitability may be restricted by opening hours or the limits of capacity, they can offer some kind of experience in 24 hours a day and in 365 day a year to visitors (Photo 10).

Photo 10

The Matthias Church in Budapest is a sight of interest of the Hungarian capital city even out of opening hours

Foto10_Matyas_templom.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2006

Looking at the attractions of cultural tourism from another aspect, we can talk about attractions of materialised, tangible and intellectual, intangible character. The former category involves e.g. architectural values and pieces of art, while the latter may be music, performing arts and traditions, or lifestyle. Of course intangible values are very often demonstrated through tangible objects (e.g. playing a symphony inevitably takes musical instruments, but the milieu made by the physical constituents of the music hall also influence the experience to a large extent), also, they jointly create the value to be preserved, attractive for tourists. The attraction of the Taj Mahal in India for example, now listed among the seven new wonders of the world, is due not only to the astonishing building itself but also to the connected wonderful love story (Photo 11).

Photo 11

Taj Mahal was built in the 17th century by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a memory of his loved wife, Mumtaz Mahal

Foto11_Taj_Mahal.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2007

On the basis of the birth of touristic attractions we can differentiate between natural and man-made ones. In cultural tourism it is obviously man-made attractions that are in the centre, but the popularity of the cultural attractions may be complemented and reinforced by natural factors. On the island of Crete for example the basis of cultural tourism is the historical heritage of the Minoan civilisation in the first place, but even for the most dedicated cultural tourists, sunshine and seaside are attractive factors as well. It may as well happen that the natural heritage serves as the foundation of the cultural identity of the destination, like e.g. the Hortobágy National Park, i.e. the “Puszta” in Hungary.

A significant part of the attractions in cultural tourism are multifunctional, i.e. guests are received while also maintaining the original operation. Such are e.g. religious locations (like the St. Stephen Basilica or the Benedictian Abbey of Pannonhalma) or operating production plants – some of them operate exhibition centres or museums definitely for the reception of visitors (Photo 12) –, but this category also includes settlements of cultural or historical character (like Szentendre or Cambridge) as well, where the whole of the historical settlement centre can be seen as an attraction. A common feature of multifunctional attractions is that they originally were created for non-touristic purposes, so the presence of visitors may raise many problems in connection, among other things, with capacity, accessibility or security.

Photo 12

The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is meant to make visitors see how Guinness beer is made

Foto12_Guinness.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2007

From a touristic aspect it is worth looking at the spatial location of cultural attractions in the broader sense, where we can distinguish linear, nodal or cluster-like attractions. The first category contains attractions which can only be visited along a route or route network, such as the Great Wall of China (Photo 13) or Road 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles. The latter sub-group involves attractions relatively easy to spatially designate; they may be single attractions like the Parliament in Budapest or the MODEM Centre of Modern and Contemporary Arts in Debrecen, or cultural landscapes covering larger areas and including significant cultural values.

Photo 13

The Great Wall of China

Foto13_Nagy_Fal.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2002

The concept of cultural landscape means natural areas shaped by human activity, with cultural relevance where the co-existence of man and nature, the interaction of civilisation and nature is represented. During the examination of cultural landscapes we can distinguish among the following types:

·         Cultural landscape designed and implemented by man, clearly designable – this category involves parks and gardens built with aesthetic, social and recreational purposes (for example the Dessau-Wörlitz Gardens in Germany).

·         Organically emerging cultural landscape, created with social, economic, administrative and/or religious purposes, functions and tasks.

o   Cultural landscape from the past where the evolutionary process finished in the historical past but its materialised remnants can still be seen (like Stonehenge and its area).

o   Still developing cultural landscape that has materialised values from the past and utilises them in its present socio-economic life (for example the historical wine region of Tokaj).

·         Cultural landscape related to the natural environment, built on strong religious, artistic or cultural associations, where the significance of the tangible cultural heritage values can be relatively modest or even completely absent. An example for this is the Tongariro National Park in New Zealand, whose mountain peaks are considered as sacred by the native Maori population but the outsider visitors cannot see religious buildings, so they can only get to know the spiritual significance of the place by an adequate information service.

The heritage values on the UNESCO World Heritage list are especially important cultural attractions. On the basis of the World Heritage Convention the concept “cultural heritage” comprises of monuments (including among other things architectural masterpieces, gigantic statues and paintings or archaeological values), groups of buildings and locations. The concept of “natural heritage” covers natural factors (physical and biological systems and their groups), geological formations, the habitats of endangered species and other natural areas. In the spring of 2011 the list contained 911 locations, of which 704 were cultural heritage items, 108 belonged to the natural heritage category and 27 were “mixed” heritages. All locations represent the national heritage and the culture of the respective country, and the most renowned ones have become the symbols of their countries and of the national/cultural identity on the global market of cultural tourism (the most popular sights of interest in Egypt e.g. include both the Pyramids of Giza and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings). Heritage attractions of this kind are of outstanding importance from a touristic perspective, because they operate as image-making factors, “flagships”, so they can actually generate tourism both for themselves and for their whole countries. Until the spring of 2011 eight locations of Hungary had been given the world heritage status. Although cultural tourism is usually the tourism product of urban spaces, all world heritage sites in Hungary, with the exception of the ones in Budapest and Pécs, are situated in rural areas, and thereby they can contribute to the strengthening of the attraction of the rural Hungary and the decrease of the spatial concentration of touristic demand in Hungary.

Looking from a tourism theory aspect, the concept of touristic infrastructure means establishment and services promoting the exploration and marketing of the attraction which is the core of the product. The static elements of the infrastructure of cultural tourism are establishments which are fixed in space, such as museums, visitor centres, theatres, opera houses and concert halls. We can often see overlaps when looking at the concepts of attraction and infrastructure: although in the case of a museum it is basically the collection, the pieces of arts exhibited that are the main attraction for visitors, in several cases the building that serves as the exhibition place is just as exciting as the exhibition itself (Photo 14), in fact, e.g. the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has become a symbol of the Basque city mainly because of its architectural solutions.

Photo 14

In the palaces of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg it is the combined effect of the halls and the beauty of the pieces of art that determines the experience of the visitors

Foto14_Ermitazs.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2010

The main task of transport vehicles categorised as parts of the dynamic infrastructure is the provision of access to the sights of interests and locations in the destinations of cultural tourism. Sightseeing buses for example allow visiting the main cultural attractions in a destination, and their routes assist the spatial orientation of the tourists by marking the most important, “must see” attractions. It is possible, however, in the field of transportation services as well to put culture in the foreground, for example by the touristic use of vehicles with cultural value (examples for such a solution are the sightseeing tours in Vienna with oldtimer cars or the Trabant Tour in Budapest). Even public transportation can be used for the propaganda of cultural tourism: in Essen for example, a German city that was one of the European Capitals of Culture in 2010, tram line 107 was converted into a cultural line. Along the route of the tram that can be used with an ordinary tram ticket, 61 cultural attractions can be seen, including two operas, a cathedral, a concert hall, two significant museums and the world heritage site of the Ruhr District, the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (Photo 15).

Photo 15

The “Kulturlinie”, i.e. the „Culture Line“ in Essen

Foto15_Kulturlinie.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2010

The goal of services categorised to the touristic suprastructure is to satisfy the demand of guests related to their stay, accommodation, catering and other needs. Primary suprastructure includes accommodation and catering facilities, whereas secondary suprastructure is the retail trade sector. Although tourists travelling with cultural motivation do not necessarily have special requirements regarding accommodation and restaurants, they may find services with cultural USP more attractive (USP = Unique Selling Proposition, a unique characteristics of a product that guarantees a competitive edge on the touristic market). The tourism development trends of the last years include the creation of thematic services, which is also manifested in the field of touristic suprastructure. In the accommodation sector, a cultural theme is the central element of the Library Hotel in New York, in which, following the categorisation system of Dewey, there are 10 storeys with 60 rooms and over 6,000 books for the guests: the theme of 9th floor for example is “history”, within that, Room 5 has a sub-topic called “Geography and Travel”. Another thematic hotel of cultural character is the Shakespeare Boutique Hotel in Vilnius, in which each room is named after a famous writer or a topic related to a piece of literature, and the decoration is motifs from the given work (Photo 16). Especially attractive accommodations from a cultural perspective are those that used to serve as accommodations for famous writers, poets or artists, such as Hotel Gritti Palace in Venice, where Ernest Hemingway was a recurring guest in the 1940s and 1950s.

Photo 16

Bathroom of the Verona Room in Shakespeare Boutique Hotel in Vilnius

Foto16_Vilnius.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2009

Culture as a theme can appear in various form in catering industry as well, contributing thereby to the creation of a complex cultural tourism product. There are several restaurants, cafés, beer bars etc. all around the world that were haunts of important artists and this is partly the reason for their popularity among guests with cultural interest. In the Centrál Café in Budapest for example frequent guests were Endre Ady, Frigyes Karinthy, Zsigmond Móricz or Mihály Babits. Similarly attractive are catering facilities appearing in literature or films, like the U Kalicha beer bar in Prague, the favourite pub of the good soldier Švejk. A special combination of culture and catering is provided by cafés in bookstores, like for example the Magda Szabó Bookshop and Café in Debrecen (Photo 17), or the galleries, exhibitions and arts programmes located in cafés or restaurants.

Photo 17

Magda Szabó Bookshop and Café, Debrecen

Foto17_Szabo_Magda.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2009

A special position is occupied in the field of cultural tourism related catering by the restaurants, cafés and buffets of museums, theatres and churches, which – besides their income generating function – partly complement the cultural experience, allowing visitors to have a rest and refresh themselves (Photo 18), but they can also appear as attractions in their own rights on the tourism and leisure time market: the KOGART Restaurant in Budapest for example is attractive not only for visitors of the arts exhibitions.

Photo 18

Café in the cathedral of Turku, Finland

Foto18_Turku_Domcafe.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2010

A special example for the integration of culture and catering is the compilation of menus with cultural themes or the special names given to certain meals, either by the use of the cultural heritage of a given destination or attraction – the café of the Royal Castle of Gödöllő e.g. has Sisi coffee on its menu – or perhaps connected to a topical cultural programme (Photo 19).

Photo 19

“European Capital of Culture” cake in Overbeck Café in Essen

Foto19_EKF_torta.jpg

Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2010

The secondary touristic suprastructure in cultural tourism is the retail sector services, with special regard to the souvenir shops of the cultural facilities, for example museums, theatres and heritage centres – which have, in addition to their income generating functions, significant promotional roles –, or the thematic elements of the souvenir supply of the destination. It is important that the souvenir shops of the cultural attractions should be available without entry tickets, and on planning the flow of visitors, the route of leaving the attraction should be designed in a way that the direction to the exit would in all cases lead through the souvenir shop. The range of souvenirs of cultural thematic is almost endless: in addition to richly illustrated photo albums, catalogues, books, posters, CD-s we can also find subjects bearing the motifs of the attraction (ballpoint pen, mug, glass coaster, refrigerator magnet, jewellery, lighter, key ring, umbrella, scarf, tie, serviette, notebook, statue, jigsaw puzzle, deck of cards, bag, T-shirt, kitchen towel, thimble, chocolate, tea, coffee, biscuit – or even the canned air of the destination (Photo 20).

Photo 20

Souvenirs in the souvenir shop of the Aya Sophia in Istanbul

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Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2010

It is important, however, that only tasteful, good quality souvenirs, matching the cultural heritage of the visited destination or attraction in theme, form and material, should be in the retail stock of the souvenir shops of cultural tourism, as the goods manufactured in mass production are definitely disillusioning (Photo 21).

Photo 21

Souvenirs of Balaton and Hollókő at the exhibition called “Prey: subjects and desires at Lake Balaton” in the Balaton Museum, Keszthely (2008)

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Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2008

Among the international trends impacting on the leisure time activities and touristic mobility, the following are of decisive importance on the market of cultural tourism too:

·                    “Rich poverty” – high discretionary income is coupled with relatively little leisure time, making tourists look for rapidly liveable, intensive experiences.

·                    The desire to step out of long working hours and the daily routine – visitors would like to forget their “everyday lives”, so they expect even cultural attractions to relax and entertain them.

·                    There is a growth in the number of “experienced tourists” who have already lived many kinds of experiences, are able to compare competing cultural programmes, establishments and destinations, so they are demanding in their tourism decisions.

·                    Visitors mainly look for experiences and memories; they are less attracted by objects exhibited on their own (Photo 23).

Photo 23

In the Thunderbird Park of Australia, visitors buying entry tickets get a pickax and a bucket to search for geodes hiding semi-precious stones

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Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2008

·                    Personal, individual need and expectations are becoming more and more important for tourists; accordingly the importance of tailor-made supply is increasing.

·                    In connection with the experiences received, a more and more definite expectation is interactivity, the active involvement of the consumer in the – knowledge mediation and entertainment – process, especially by the utilisation of modern technology devices.

·                    A constant growth of the importance of hyper-reality, virtual world and virtual communities can be seen, in which the younger visitors feel comfortable. Related to this phenomenon, we can also see the attraction of devices and experiences built on simulation in cultural tourism too.

Another – very important – international trend impacting on the development of cultural tourism is globalisation, having an effect on, among other things, the development of the phenomenon of culture, the practice of the consumption of culture and the development of touristic demand and supply. A specific manifestation of globalisation is the creation of the UNESCO World Heritage concept, as the idea itself suggests that there is supranational universal heritage which is of outstanding importance for all communities, and that there are global criteria on the basis of which the values worth awarding the World Heritage status can be selected. Although in each country we find heritage values meaningful for the domestic visitors and important at national level, the concept of the world heritage is unique inasmuch as the World Heritage sites are universal values belonging to all peoples on Earth, irrespective of exactly what country has them in its territory. Coming from the universal character of the values admitted to the World Heritage list, countries that have joined the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, accept, besides keeping their national sovereignty, that the protection of the locations admitted to the list is the joint responsibility and task of the international community.

In practice the picture is somewhat controversial: on the one hand, the list of sites admitted shows what the applicant countries find the most serious values of their own national heritage. There are relatively few sites which can be undoubtedly considered as the common heritage of the whole mankind: it is maybe only the natural values representing the geological or ecological development of the planet that can be put into this category, like the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef or the Galapagos Islands; or the prehistoric sites from the times before the cultural diversification of humanity started, or Ironbridge Gorge, the birthplace of industrial revolution. On the other hand, it is a very important step from the aspect of culture to recognise that heritage values remote from each other geographically and culturally have universal value for all communities, as they together make the richness of human civilisation. Openness and flexibility manifested in the acceptance of the concept of World Heritage and connected to the recognition of foreign, exotic, remote cultural values is a companion to globalisation, which has a considerable impact on the development of the market of cultural tourism.

A little bit contradictory to the global character of the idea of World Heritage is the fact that the separation of the concepts of cultural and natural heritage in the classification of the World Heritage sites is the reflection of the European philosophy from the times of the Enlightenment. Presently more than three-quarters of the sites on the list are cultural heritage, which may be the consequence of the fact that there are bigger differences in the types and characteristics of the cultures of various societies than in the natural environment of the human kind (there are “mixed” heritage sites on the list meeting both cultural and natural criteria, such as Kakadu National Park national park in Australia or the Meteoras in Greece). Because the World Heritage concept is basically of material character, in certain cases – especially when it comes to non-material cultures built on oral history – this approach makes it hard to recognise the value of some locations. The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Australia for example was admitted ot the list as a natural heritage in 1987, but it was re-qualified as a mixed heritage in 1994, taking into consideration that the area has been inhabited for some 30,000 years, and the natural environment had social, spiritual and symbolic significance for the Anangu aboriginals.

The development of cultural tourism is significantly determined by the economic, political, social and technological environment in which the tourism sector operates. A factor of outstanding significance in this environment is the state support given to cultural tourism, so it is worth taking a look at the presence of this tourism product in the Hungarian tourism strategy plans. In the Hungarian National Tourism Development Strategy made for the 2005-2013 period the utilisation of culture and heritage in tourism is mentioned as a selected priority. The NTDS says that the diverse and unique culture of Hungary is one of the special values of the country that are underutilised for the time being.

The Cultural Tourism Development Strategy made in 2009 also states that Hungary has good endowments in the field of cultural tourism, but the assets of this sector are underutilised. The general Hungarian problems of cultural tourism featured in this document include, among other things, the lack of presentation that offers a real experience and the absence of complex cultural products, the complicated system of owners and operators which sets back developments and market-based marketing activity, the relatively low level of the acknowledgement of the cultural supply and the unpredictability of the financing of cultural events. Further unfavourable phenomena include the inadequate schooling level of the employees in cultural tourism and the deficient cooperations among the cultural and touristic sectors. The development priorities defined in the Cultural Tourism Development Strategy until 2015 are as follows: establishment of the organisational and operational system of cultural tourism, creation of the legal frameworks, securing the economic foundations of product development, development of attractions built on cultural values, development of the related infrastructure and provision of the human resources background.

A worldwide trend is that cultural tourism is created dominantly in urban spaces (Photo 25). This usually is the consequence of the concentration of touristic services in towns and cities, which is partly a historical heritage: today’s towns and cities were built around fortresses and cathedrals for centuries, and these cities gradually built museums, theatres and concert halls. The geographically concentrated location of cultural events is explained by better accessibility (railway and coach stations, airports and motorways) and the higher level and larger capacity accommodation supply available.

Photo 25

Vienna is one of the most important centres of cultural tourism in Europe

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Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2006

The cities outstanding from cultural tourism aspects include capital cities and their historical centres, on the one hand: Paris, London or Berlin are all among the most significant cultural destinations in the world, for example. The second group contains cities which are not capital cities but acknowledged cultural destinations, like St. Petersburg, Krakow or Istanbul, which in certain cases may have an attraction exceeding that of the administrative capital for tourists with cultural interest. The third group is basically made by those smaller cultural centres which are recognised at regional level, mainly. Exceptions in the third category may be settlements awarded the European Capital of Culture of World Heritage rank, in which the award of the title resulted in considerable change in the number of visitors and the acknowledgement: examples for this category are Nagyszeben (Sibiu) in Romania (Photo 26) of the medieval downtown of Zamosc in Poland.

Photo 26

In 2007 Sibiu – ands Luxemburg – were the European Capitals of Culture

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Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2007

Another worldwide trend is that habits, procedures and rituals related to the preservation of health, and also the elements of the built environment of health preservation – like spas, sanctuaries, hospitals – are closely related to the social and cultural characteristics of the respective community. The integration of health tourism and cultural tourism is thus visible in several dimensions. The comparison of the international practice of health preservation shows that during the development of the human civilisation many traditions on the same foundations but with cultural differences have evolved: for example the Turkish hamam (Photo 27), the Finnish sauna or the Japanese onsen all contain a combination of hot air and steam for the refreshment of the body and the soul. Coming from the cultural differences, however, such establishments in the respective countries – besides satisfying the recreational needs of the local inhabitants – have become partly cultural attractions for international tourism, which is well illustrated by Çemberlitaş Hamam in Istanbul, Kotiharjun Sauna in Helsinki or Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Tokyo.

Photo 27

The Europa Nostra prize holder Omeriye Hamam in Cyprus

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Photo by Rátz, Tamara 2008

The materialised elements, the architectural solutions of health tourism are also closely related to cultural tourism. The atmosphere and the architectural heritage of the historical baths of Budapest, including the Rudas Medical Spa built during the Ottoman rule or the secessionist style Gellért Medical Spa are attractions for many tourists from a cultural aspect in the first place. The significant international health tourism destinations include settlements which owe their cultural touristic attractions primarily to their bathing resort milieu – in which architecture, parks, gardens or the climate all play their roles. Such locations include Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic or Baden Baden in Germany.

The attractivity of active tourism can be divided – similarly to the general analysis of tourism sector as a whole – into natural and manmade attractions, bearing in mind that the role of natural attractions is far more important than that of the second category. Accordingly, the typical fields of scenes of active tourism are primarily (high) mountains, natural rivers and still waters, and all other elements of the natural environment that are good for pursuing tourism activities involving active movement.

Man-made attractions can be climbing walls, ropeway, zorb balls (rolling balls), summer bob sledge tracks, summer ski tracks (with artificial grass) and bicycle routes. The list is endless by the invention of ever newer leisure sports.

We have to remark that a very important actor is the geographical distance and the accessibility of the given tourism attraction, and another factor of vital importance is the proximity of the given area to an established tourism attraction or destination: in the vicinity of popular tourism resorts active tourism can offer good auxiliary programmes or activities, allowing both spatial centralisation or decentralisation of tourism.

In order to have active tourism, a given tourism area of course must have adequate conditions. When examining the reception capacity, we have to check if a destination has attractions in adequate quantity and quality, as well as the tourism infrastructure and suprastructure promoting these attractions.

As it is also remarked in the Hungarian National Tourism Development Strategy (NTDS), in general we can say that the conditions of reception for active tourism are not adequate yet in Hungary, the connected services are deficient; they are not adequately built out. We also have to remark, however, that these days, following the international tourism trends and the growing health consciousness of the populations, a growing number of entrepreneurs or municipalities invest in active tourism: examples are the extreme sports parks in Hungary (Mecsextrém Park in Pécs, Visegrád Bob Sledge Track), motorsport-related tracks (Hungaroring, Kakucsring, go-kart tracks, motocross tracks), or the more and more frequent bicycle route programmes or constructions (construction of the Pécs-Orfű bicycle route, Three Rivers Bicycle Route).

It is evident that more bicycle routes must be built for cycling tourism, which, besides providing the infrastructure background of the tourism sector, could integrate Hungary to the international networks of bicycle routes, also strengthening the cross-border relations and cooperations. In addition, the building out of adequate services and road maintenance systems is also necessary.

Hiking in nature does not have a major requirement for infrastructure, but the placement of information signs on the forest trails and alleys, the placement of benches or the establishment of forest sports fields would further increase the attractivity of this product.

As regards water tourism, the NTDS document also remarks that we have to improve the quality of sailing tourism on the Hungarian lakes, by the provision of ports with advanced infrastructure, and of services. The development of the infrastructure of another important branch of water tourism, river tourism must target the improvement of the conditions of motor and paddle sports.

The infrastructure conditions of Hungarian golf tourism are good in the existing golf clubs, but they do not have international recognition yet.

The most important development document for equestrian tourism is the Product Development Strategy of Equestrian Tourism for 2007–2013, approved in 2009. The document gives a detailed analysis of the positions and opportunities of this tourism product in Hungary, including the state of infrastructure, and also makes recommendations for developments, at regional level.

As regards the positions of the primary tourism suprastructure of active tourism – i.e. commercial accommodations and catering facilities –, we can definitely say that their qualitative development for active tourism leaves much to be desired. In order to reach the international level, we should have a massive stock of commercial accommodations to use the endowments that we possess. This is also true for the secondary tourism suprastructure, although it is true that active tourism more and more frequently appears in the marketing and promotion of any geographical unit, or in the offer of travel agencies. The biggest deficiency might be seen in information offices and the flow of information, the only solution for which, for the time being, seems to be (the users of) internet.

The main motivation factor of active tourism, in addition to the motivations generally present in tourism, is the physical and psychical motivations of tourists which spur them to pass their leisure time by some active recreation. It is of course associated with the – relatively new – honourable social need for a more and more healthy way of living, in order to avoid or counterbalance the everyday stress.

An important motivation factor or attraction is of course natural environment itself, as this form of tourism is basically an “outdoor” activity. The foundation of the system is obviously movement and activity, while motivations of almost the same significance include, besides being in nature, adventures or adventure-like experiences. A third factor of the motivation system in our opinion is the presence of manmade attractions – which may be available both in “indoor” and “outdoor” forms.

Figure 1: Motivations of active tourism

Ed.: Csapó, J. 2010

When discussing active tourism in Hungary, we must not neglect the surveys made by Sonda Ipsos in 2000 and the Hungarian Tourism Inc. in 2005. The former was published in the periodical named Turizmus Bulletin (Tourism Bulletin) in an article called “Opinion of the adult population on the active holidaymaking and cultural activities”, the latter in another article in the same periodical, by Vizi, I. (2005) under the heading “Preferences of the Hungarian population for active tourism, and the intensity of active tourism forms”. The two surveys provide an interesting basis for analysis, also due to the time span between them, as such a long duration allows the detection of potential changes at the consumers and in their habits.

The 2005 survey revealed that respondents were primarily interested in hiking in nature, excursions, bicycle tours and water sports, although we have to remark that the evaluation method applied during the research operated with a 1 to 5 scale and the average score of the responses just passed 3, which marks a relatively neutral preference. The research thus made it clear that respondents are not particularly motivated by active recreation, as golf and hunting were more often rejected than seen as neutral.

There were demonstrable differences between the sexes as regards the responses: women are more interested in horse riding, bicycle tours and hiking, whereas men showed a somewhat higher preference for golf, angling, hunting and skiing.

The very low level of interest in active tourism is also demonstrated by Table 2 showing the travel motivations of foreign and domestic tourists in Hungary. Among the motivations analysed, city sightseeing and camping may be taken as active tourism, and it seems that the “remaining” motivations can be detected in only 3.7% of other tourism activities.

Table 2: Motivations of foreign and domestic tourists

Source: Magyar Turizmus Zrt. 2006, HCSO

From marketing aspects, the target groups of active tourism in Hungary are as follows:

1.      Hiking in nature: all social layers, but most typically those aged 40-49, with secondary and tertiary education.

2.      Cycling tourism: all social layers, mostly those under 50, diploma holders and village dwellers.

3.      Water tourism: young, aged 40-49, males, with secondary and tertiary education, mostly from the capital city.

From the 20th century on, parallel to the growing popularity of active tourism, spaces to be explored expanded; the zone of seeking active tourism adventures now practically covers the whole of Planet Earth. The field of international active tourism is now not so much the interesting of beautiful elements of the natural environment, it is much more the extreme elements that are sought: desert tours, extreme mountain climbing, extreme mountain sports, areas around or beyond the polar circle, and deep sea zones.

If we want to look at the spatial concentration of active tourism in an international outlook, we find difficulty in selecting major countries or destinations, because, as we have already mentioned, any point of the planet may be a suitable areas for pursuing active tourism. Still there are a few countries where physical exercises and the related active tourism activities have been part of the everyday life for a longer time, on the one hand, and the natural environment is excellent for servicing the active tourism products, on the other hand.

In Europe these countries are the Alpine countries (but not only because of the Alps): Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy, France, Germany, the Scandinavian countries, the British Isles; in America it is mainly the United States where active tourism has a significant proportion within tourism activities, and also has traditions.

One of the most significant areas of active tourism in Hungary is equestrian tourism, because horse riding has ancient traditions in Hungary. A number of places are available for dressage riding, horse jumping and field riding; also, there are many equestrian schools and equestrian facilities. Since 2000 a qualification system for equestrian tourism has ben operated by the Hungarian Equestrian Tourism Association. A total of 375 facilities have been qualified so far, from which more than 170 have received a qualification ranging from 1 to 5 ‘horse shoes’.

Figure 2: Major equestrian and hiking trails of Hungary

Source: Aubert, A. 2007

Water tourism is another major branch of active tourism in Hungary. Hungary has an extended system of rivers and still waters, approximately 3,500 kilometres of waterways serve the needs of tourists, but infrastructure is not adequately built out in the environment of those lakes and rivers which are otherwise suitable for water tourism. Water tourism is usually pursued by those tourists who are most fond of unspoilt nature. We can see a development in this field too in recent years, as many settlements have well-equipped water tourism facilities by now.

When looking at water sports, we must not neglect those water sports and active tourism forms for which winter is suitable, because no matter how evident the summer seasonal character of water tourism we think to be, waters are relatively frequently visited in wintertime too. Such active winter tourism types are skating, ice hockey, curling and “Fakutya” skating (typical on Lake Balaton mostly), as well as ice surfing and kitewing.

Figure 3: Major ports and angling facilities of Hungary

Source: Aubert, A. 2007

Golf as a sport and leisure time activity is also part of active tourism, and has more than 15 years of tradition in Hungary. The Hungarian golf competition courses have been created in accordance with the international standards, so they are suitable for the organisation of international competitions. Hungary has 14 golf clubs, e.g. in Kisoroszi, Hencse (Hencse National Golf & Country Club), Máriavölgy, Szentlőrinc, Pécs, Alcsútdoboz, Tata, and Bük. These include 6, 9 and 18 hole courses, courses in hilly and mountainous areas and also in wetlands.

A form of tourism also popular in Hungary is hiking in nature, the most visited areas are the hiking trails in the national parks, but walking is also important. Hungary has a total of 11,000 kilometres of designated hiking paths, of which 2,500 kilometres are of national significance. These hiking paths make a national blue circle (Hungarian Blue Hiking Trail). The national hiking paths of Hungary are integrated by the European society of hikers into the long haul hiking trails of Europe (E3, E4, E7).

The main motivation of hunting tourism is the observation of the game, its killing, its respect and protection. The main fields of hunting tourism in Hungary are the mountains and hilly areas, but the Great Hungarian Plain is also suitable for hunting tourism activities. Most popular hunting resorts are the Somogy Hills, the Zala Hills, Gemenc, Bakony, Danube Bend, Mátra and Bükk.

In the case of hiking, the interest in the activity goes together with actually doing it; this is followed by cycling tourism. The opportunities of water sports are relatively limited in Hungary, they are seasonal, and this is the reason why only 15% of those interested in water tourism actually pursue water tourism activities. As regards horse riding and golf, the regular or occasional pursuing of the activity is limited by the costs incurred. The income positions of the inhabitants allow hiking in the first place, both in the case of foreign and domestic trips. A major difference between the domestic and foreign destinations can be seen in the choice of water sport fans. Because the waters of Hungary are less suitable for certain water sport activities, the demand for seaside resorts has significantly increased, as opposed to the domestic destinations.

The basic destinations of active tourism in Hungary are featured in the map below. It is clear that Hungarian active tourism (too) is basically connected to mountain areas and bathing complexes (aquaparks).

Figure 4: Active tourism in Hungary

Source: Aubert A. (2007)

As regards the features of the elements of the environment, we can say that active tourism (as a tourism product) is built on the characteristics of the natural environment in the first place. Hungary boasts of a large number of active tourism products competitive on the international market. The versatility of the contents of tourism products and an effective marketing activity are the tools that will make active tourists visit Hungary for a longer stay.

Figure 5: Relationship of rest, recreation and tourism

Source: Hall−Page (2002)

Among the attractions, the rivers of Hungary are outstanding natural values, as they are suitable for water tours, while the Hungarian lakes are good for surfing, sailing and angling, making waters attractive for the specific target groups. The caves offer a special kind of tours, including cave tours in overalls and the visit of natural values, unique in the world, like the hydrothermal karst caves of the Buda Mountains or the Aggtelek karst cave (the latter is part of the world heritage).

A significant part of the international youth tourism is attracted by the destinations considered as “active tourism paradises”, the visit to which is an adventure in itself. Unfortunately, the main countries of origin no longer associate the image of “adventurous country” to Hungary, while the neighbouring Austria does its best to build up the “active tourism paradise” image. In a borderless Europe it is irrational that the neighbouring province of Burgenland wishes to become the cycling tourism centre of the Union and the adjacent Hungarian region of West Transdanubia does not follow the example. A large number of examples could be mentioned for many active tourism products where the Austrians use the opportunities and the same products are not even recognised on the other side of the “border” (active tourism in the mountains, along the Dráva and Mura Rivers etc.).

In the hilly and mountainous areas of Hungary hiking has a lot of possibilities, but this activity is usually only good for the attraction of the domestic youth, mostly in the form of one-day excursions. As an auxiliary product, rock climbing has a potential. A much larger interest is shown for some technical sports (e.g. mountain biking, off-road tours, quad tours, gliding etc.). The major part of the areas suitable for this activity is managed by the national parks, and they do not support (in fact, they prohibit) developments, because of its nature degrading impact. This makes it important to designate areas where – with certain limitations – such activities can be freely pursued.

The openness of mountainous environment to tourism has been evident for long; the development of tourism in mountains was based on the utilisation of different resources. The special natural areas with valuable landscape or ecology are not necessarily mountains. It is true though that mountains have traditionally been the least ruined medium, coming from their special features where the constituents of the physical environment appear in their most extreme forms (special climate, steep elevation, dense vegetation etc.). The number of those mountainous areas that abound in tourism products built on the exploitation of the above-mentioned resources is very low, and the majority of these can be found in the advanced countries, or they are “relatively nearby” mountains, usually on different development levels from the aspect of tourism. It is generally accepted by now that mountain tourism products can by and large be divided into the following groups:

– snow tourism (Alpine and northern skiing, and the versions of snowboard that have become popular recently);

– green tourism (including nature parks in the mountains and the visit to national parks);

– tourism related to mountain waters (lakes, rivers, reservoirs and medical health spas) such as whitewater rafting, angling, balneology; tourism based on historical-arts-cultural resources and traditions of the mountains; and adventure tourism.

Figure 6: Major scenes of adventure tourism, especially mountains

Source: Hudson (2003)

Among the characteristics of the economic environment we have to mention that among all tourism products, the largest investments in relation to incomes were realised in extreme sports, equestrian tourism, water tourism and cycling tourism. As these are the tourism activities generating the largest incomes in Hungary, they will have to enjoy priority in future developments (in the active tourism strategy to be made).

As regards the special features of the social environment, this tourism product is the best for active movement and a healthy way of living. In the field of health indices (life expectancy, heart and vascular diseases etc.) Hungary has always had one of the worst positions in the European Union (and also at international level) – many health problems could be prevented by the development of active tourism as the marketing of active tourism as a way of life.

A regards technological environment, the accessibility of the arenas of active tourism could be improved by the expansion and more flexible organisation of travel services. The National Tourism Development Strategy also mentioned the scarcity of accommodations near the attractions, the low level of reception conditions, the deficiencies of the related services; infrastructure must be developed in some way. The improvement of accessibility could be greatly promoted by the establishment of new vehicle parking facilities, if necessary, transfer buses or other transport means could operate between the parking places and the scenes of active tourism.

The most important factor for the development of active tourism, in addition to the available financing conditions, is to make the economic advantages coming from the developments meet market demands and the elements of the Hungarian tourism policy (Parliament, Sports and Tourism Committee of the Parliament, Hungarian National Tourist Office, National Tourism Committee, Hungarian Tourism Inc., Regional Tourism Committees, professional organisations), besides the priority of environmental aspects.

According to the publication of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, 88% of foreign tourists spending several days in Hungary use preventive and recreational services.

On the basis of the marketing plan of 2010, the following active tourism facilities are at the disposal of the guests arriving at Hungary:

130,000 hectares of natural waters, supplemented by lakes managed by angling clubs, with a stocking of 4,137 tons in 2008.

The attractions of ecotourism are built on the natural endowments. It is important to emphasise though that natural endowments and natural values in themselves are not necessarily attractions. For the protected flora and fauna of a given region to become real attractions, in most cases it takes interpretation techniques and tools which are suitable for the successful presentation of the given natural or cultural-historical values. The objective of ecotourism services, besides giving tourists an unforgettable experience, is to make visitors more dedicated to the preservation of natural, cultural and social values.

When creating the ecotourism product we have to consider that the respective elements of the tourism supply should harmonise with the objectives of ecotourism. Accommodations should preferably be buildings fitting into the landscape, with minimum stress on the environment and applying environmental-friendly procedures; also, catering should be based on foods made from local products. An indispensable part of ecotourism is the involvement of guides and experts providing knowledge dissemination and education in the design and implementation of programmes. In absence of guides, adequate information network, infrastructure and interpretation are needed to allow visitors to get a deep and enjoyable knowledge on the area. The success of the ecotourism product is secured if it is built on local resources and the services are offered in the first place by local inhabitants (e.g. accommodation, catering, maybe guiding). In addition, one of the biggest sources of please for ecotourists is the relationship built with the local people, getting to know the local culture, habits, and participation in the lives of the local people.

The areas worth offering for visitors in Hungary are usually protected, and in protected areas it is protection that has a priority. The management of protected areas in many cases, their supervision is always the task of the national park directorates. The respective national parks belong to the national park directorates, together with other sensitive areas that “only” have Nature Protection Area or Landscape Protection Area status. Hungary is now divided into 10 regions from the aspect of the management of protected areas; each region has a national park whose supervisor is the directorate of the respective national park. The other protected areas in the region are also supervised by the national park directorates, but they are not parts of the national parks. The national park directorates are institutions, authorities, whereas national parks are protected areas; these two concepts must not be confused. E.g. the supervision of the Danube-Dráva National Park (http://www.ddnp.hu) is done by the Directorate of the Danube-Dráva National Park, also responsible for the supervision of the Zselic Landscape Protection Area in the region. The Zselic Area, however, is not a national park, it is only an area under the supervision of the national park directorate.

The national park directorates have, in addition to their nature protection activities, exhibition, educational and tourism tasks. Now there is a department at each national park directorate which is responsible for exhibitions and tourism. The national park directorates are obliged by law to demonstrate the protected areas: in accordance with the Act No. LIII. of 1996 on the protection of nature, Part 4 Par. 64 (2) (http://www.kvvm.gov.hu/index.php?pid=11&sid=11&hid=439), “in protected areas the national park directorates must provide access to the protected natural values as part of knowledge dissemination, education, scientific research and tourism”. This actually means that the act makes tourism a “compulsory” task of the national park directorates; this is the reason why a significant part of the Hungarian ecotourism supply is offered by the national park directorates. For the national park directorates, tourism is also a source of revenue that is more and important for them. The budgetary organisations “consuming” state support can gradually become income generators by their tourism services.

It is a problem on the demand side that the Hungarian planners of ecotourism are nature protection experts and not tourism professionals; their market skills are deficient. In nature protection there are many things that cannot be approached and made successful on the ground of education: beyond knowledge dissemination through education, emotions must also be targeted. As a tool of effective exhibition and environmental attitude shaping, in addition to credible information it is experience that also matters – or should also play important role.

The share of nature parks and other ecotourism NGOs is continuously increasing in the territory of Hungary. These are usually voluntary organisations that cover areas smaller than those of the national park directorates. In addition to the protection of the values of nature they try to preserve the folk traditions of the respective areas (e.g. through the organisation of traditional programmes). The establishment of a nature park is also based on the natural values, and an ecological farming is allowed in these areas for the protection of the natural values. In Hungary nature parks are not so much nature protection areas, they are more of spatial development character.

The actors operating at different levels and having different roles (non-governmental organisations, ecotourism service providers and forest schools) also have different tasks and competencies. Their effective cooperations may promote the division of the tasks and hardships concomitant with the development of the supply structure, and also the quantitative and qualitative change of the supply. The national park directorates, nature park associations, non-governmental organisations and ecotourism service providers are the main basis, in addition to the service providers of other tourism infrastructure.

We must not forget, however, that the target areas of ecotourism are not exclusively protected areas, and the needs of market can be better focused on in non-protected areas.

The national park directorates, the non-governmental organisations and the municipalities operate ecotourism exhibition places. These places can have various forms:

-          Visitor centre or reception centre: these are complex institutions established at the centres of the national parks or in other areas visited by tourists, whose basic services include an information desk, exhibition room for permanent and temporary environmental exhibitions, a conference room, a workshop and a “green” shop. In addition, auxiliary services may include a library of publications on nature protection, catering facilities and accommodation. Such establishments are the e.g. the Harmatfű Educational and Visitor centre in Őriszentpéter (Őrség National Park), the Hortobágy Visitor centre (Hortobágy National Park), the Salföld Farm in the Balaton Upland (Balaton Upland National Park), the Körös-valley visitor centre in Szarvas (Körös-Maros National Park), the Bechtold István nature protection visitor centre in Kőszeg (Őrség National Park) (Photo 1), or the Csapody István visitor centre in Fertőújlak (Fertő-Hanság National Park).

Photo 1: Nature Protection Visitor centre in Kőszeg. Photo by Erzsébet Pénzes

Cave exhibition place in more or less explored caves open to visitors, e.g. the Baradla Cave in the Aggtelek Mountains or the Csodabogyós (‘Butcher's Broom’) Cave in the Keszthely Mountains.

Photo 2: Sign of a study path in the Szigetköz. Photo by Péter Tóth-Almási

Photo 3: Interpretation sign at the study path of the forestry company of Szombathely. Photo by Erzsébet Pénzes

Hiking paths are usually also classified as parts of the ecotourism supply: although there is no exhibition along these trails, they are still one of the main pieces of infrastructure of active ecotourism. In addition, further exhibition tools of ecotourism and nature are watch posts offering wildlife watch, and other signed hiking trails. The supply of ecotourism also includes programmes with professional guides, and, if accompanied by exhibition or the support of the local community, also active ecotourism services such as canoeing, cave visits or special days (Day of Birds and Trees on 10 May; Day of the Earth on 22 April etc.).

Typical accommodations of ecotourism are the so-called eco-lodges, frequently discussed in the international literature but rather rare in Hungary. Such an accommodation is e.g. the Öko-park boarding house in Szarvaskő (http://www.oko-park.hu/) or the Kacár Farm in Szokolya (http://www.kacar.hu/). In the centres of the Hungarian national park directorates and connected to the visitor centres and forest schools we also find accommodations, offered mostly to researchers and school groups; their equipment and construction style satisfy such demands, they are often in the tourism accommodation category. Ecotourism may also involve the local accommodations used by rural tourism, as through these accommodations the ecotourism product can involve and support the local community (see Chapter 6.).

According to the data featuring the findings of a 2005 survey of the International Ecotourism Society (http://www.ecotourism.org/atf/cf/%7B82a87c8d-0b56-4149-8b0a-c4aaced1cd38%7D/TIES%20GLOBAL%20ECOTOURISM%20FACT%20SHEET.PDF), the consumer groups participating in international ecotourism can be characterised as follows:

-          two-thirds of the tourists from Great Britain are aged 25-40;

-          this figure is 70% in North America;

-          North American tourists prefer travelling in summer, but pre- and after-season are also favoured;

-          the average duration of stay of visitors of nature is 5-9 days in the USA;

-          in Australia an average of 33 days are spent on getting to know natural environment;

-          the Hungarian travellers only spend 3 days on ecotourism activities on the average, only 20% of them spend more time on ecotourism.

Hungary has splendid endowments for participants in ecotourism, still the country is not among the top destination of the world in this respect. The majority of the participants in ecotourism are Hungarian tourists. The Hungarian Tourism Inc. made an assessment on the travel habits of tourists participating in green tourism, but no report on ecotourism as such has been made so far. Although green tourism is not identical with ecotourism, some of its elements can be related to this tourism activity. Activities having the closest ties are hiking and excursions in nature. If is sad that 39.4% of respondents never make a tour, and only 3% of them mentioned visiting national parks as their main motivation. The Hungarian Tourism Inc. differentiated among four groups of hikers:

-          indifferent, do not make excursions and not interested in the activity (11%);

-          like touring and have information but do not take it as a sport (31%);

-          consider it a healthy activity but not a sport (24%);

-          keen excursionists without much knowledge, the emphasis is on community experience and sport (34%).

According to the survey mentioned above (http://itthon.hu/szakmai-oldalak/turisztikai-termekek/turisztikai-termekek#_Z%C3%B6ldturizmus), the main characteristics of Hungarian ecotourists are as follows: they

-          are young or middle aged;

-          have higher school qualification;

-          have an above average income;

-          are families;

-          have as their main motivation the beauty of nature, tranquillity and clean air.

Table 1 demonstrates activities done by the visitors of national parks and the services that they use.

Table 1: activities done by the visitors of national parks in Hungary and the services that they use. Source: Hungarian Tourism Inc., Ministry of the Environment and Water

The primary motivation of tourists participating in ecotourism is the observation and evaluation of the beauties of the landscape and nature, and getting to know the culture of the visited areas. In addition, however, the demand for getting new experiences and seeing new places is also becoming more and more important.

When implementing ecotourism developments, it is always the actual features and demands of the specified segments that have to be taken into consideration. More in-depth consumption surveys demonstrate that there are no “clear” traveller types, today’s intensive travellers travel in many different ways. In this approach everybody is only an “occasional” ecotourist, because they also visit cities, make holiday in rural areas or at seasides. On the basis of the “clarity” of consumption thus it is difficult to differentiate among the types of tourists, the basis of differentiation can only be the quality of consumption (Urry, 1995).

The definitions worded in many ways show that only a part of the tourists participating in ecotourism are “real” ecotourists. In ecotourism, we have to consider several target groups, on the basis of different motivations. Academics and authors gave different names and definitions to the respective target groups. The International Ecotourism Society (http://www.ecotourism.org) differentiates among four consumer segments on the basis of driving forces, motivations chosen. These motivations and driving forces of the respective groups are rather different, from active recreation to “occasional” visits. In other words, conscious ecotourists are only a small part of participants in ecotourism, because if all tourists acted consciously, tourism would not have negative impacts. The four consumer groups – also taken by the Hungarian ecotourism development strategy (http://www.mth.gov.hu/download.php?ctag=download&docID=422) into consideration – are as follows:

1. occasional green tourists (50-60% of all visitors):

-          they make short visits of one hour or two;

-          their main motivation is getting to know a place of historical relevance or protected natural area, as well as entertainment;

-          the main attraction for them is special natural landscapes, tranquillity and clean air;

-          their interest can be grabbed with awareness raising events, they are more attracted by experiences than receiving in-depth knowledge;

-          they travel primarily when weather is fine for excursions;

-          the require higher comfort level and are less keen on active recreation;

-          they decide on the basis of what they hear from acquaintances and friends, in the first place;

-          they use middle category accommodations;

-          they typically make self-organised tours, but they also may be participants of group tours who only pay a short visit to an exhibition place.

The service packages used by this group are the following:

-          well-known and well built out exhibition places, visited study paths easily accessible by car;

-          programmes enriched with experiences, e.g. carriage riding in the ‘puszta’ (waste land) or horse riding.

2. active green tourists, “outdoor tourists” (20-30% of all visitors):

-          this group can be divided into one-day, several days and longer stays. They are typically young;

-          the main motivation of the tourists is to pursue some fashionable outdoor sport or active recreation;

-          these people can be divided into two groups on the basis of their interest: those interested in adventure tours, and in outdoor sports (mainly hiking), the centre of their interests is recreation;

-          they frequently participate in eco-tours or eco-based tours;

-          their travel does not depend on the weather;

-          they see special landscape and clean air as attractions too;

-          they gather detailed information on the accessible values of the areas, the exhibition places, accommodations etc.;

-          the sources of information they use include internet, catalogues, travel guide books;

-          they also use middle category rural tourism and private accommodations.

The service packages used by this group are the following:

-          sport activities that can be pursued in beautiful natural environment;

-          they primarily make group travels, both in organised and non-organised way.

Within the category of conscious ecotourists there are two sub-segments on the basis of their motivations and activities:

3. ecotourists (10-15% of all visitors)

-          their main motivation is getting to know and understand natural-ecological values;

-          they feel themselves responsible for the protection of the natural environment and they actively do something for that;

-          they visit areas for a longer time, in order to get to know their values more thoroughly;

-          their travel does not depend on the weather;

-          their level of tolerance to environment pollution is low;

-          they are willing ot take an active part in researches and eco-projects.

4. dedicated ecotourists (5-10% of all visitors)

-          for this segment ecotourism is more of a lifestyle than a product;

-          they regularly participate in ecotourism;

-          their primary motivation is learning;

-          the love of nature and the concept of sustainability are parts of their lives;

-          they often sleep in tents, they require simple but environment friendly accommodations;

-          they take an active part in nature protection.

The service packages used by this group are the following:

-          instead of spectacular and striking programme elements, they choose a destination in order to get to know the values significant from natural sciences or cultural history perspective;

-          they prefer to purchase local products, in fact, they search for such products;

-          they often try the local public transportation, they travel in an environment friendly way, by bicycle or on foot, or by public transport;

-          they use as much information as possible before making their travel decisions.

We have already referred in the previous chapter to the fact that tourists travel for experiences, visitors buy experiences when they see the exhibition place, and it is experiences that make them spend their leisure time on the visit to some attractions. The transfer of knowledge in itself is very rarely enough to offer a real experience; it also takes some other – interpretation – tools to fully satisfy tourists. Passing on information without experiences is similar to teaching, which is not a good approach from the aspect of tourism, in this place, from the aspect of environmental attitude shaping.

Furthermore, interpretation also means that if it is impossible to develop attractions, we should develop the expectations and experiences of tourists, instead (Packer, 2008). Interpretation is a tool for getting to know and understand local values, as it effectively makes tourists aware of the natural and cultural values. Besides the protection of values, interpretation itself creates a value.

Tourists also have a role in the interpretation process and the creation of the experience, which is realised by the collaboration of tourists and service providers. In this collaboration service providers have the task of “orientating experience in the right direction”.

The market of ecotourism has been one of the fastest developing tourism segments for years. A world phenomenon promoting this process is that tourists more and more consciously seek experiences enriching their lives and worldview, including the values of healthy environment and nature. This is related to the changing attitude to nature – realising the significance of the preservation of species and ecosystems –, the development of environmental education in public education and the growing attention of media in environmental issues.

From the 1990s, ecotourism has reached an annual growth of 20-34%, which compared to year 2004 means that the market of ecotourism grows three times more rapidly than the whole of the tourism sector. Similarly to the branches of alternative tourism (heritage, cultural, adventure or countryside tourism) a significant growth is expected in the development of ecotourism in the coming two decades as well, parallel to the stagnation of the traditional sun-sea-sand market; in fact, the latter market will more possibly shrink by a few per cents. Analysts expect an increase in the field of eco-accommodations and green hotels, a continuous growth is possible in the nature-related forms of tourism, and in the light of this it is forecasted that ecotourism will be one of the first activities to profit from these phenomena.

The market of ecotourism is not a single market. A wide spectrum of products/experiences may belong here, also, the market is characterised by several consumers activities, motivations and features. One of the most important trends is the participation of the elder generations in the major markets of ecotourism: in North America, Northern Europe and to a smaller extent in Japan. As they are getting older, they are less and less interested in active, tiresome and dangerous activities; they prefer less tedious programmes related to the watch of nature. The proportion of the generation older than 55 reached 25% in the United States of America by 2010, with a population of 75 million, and their share from the total population is similar in Europe, Canada or Japan as well. This layer with substantial leisure time and discretionary income is an excellent market for ecotourism.

A problem related to the interpretation of ecotourism is that travel agencies, taking into consideration the sensitivity of the consumers in this respect, label all of their products offering nature-related services or done in nature with the “eco” specification.

In the United Kingdom ecotourists are typically 25-54 years old (two-thirds of them), a similar proportion can be seen in North America where the share of this generation is approximately 70%. The age of the tourists impacts to a large extent on the experiences that they seek: a higher proportion of visitors under 24 participate in physically challenging activities such as mountain climbing, kayak tours, rafting, cliff climbing and sailing. In Australia this age group is interested in derelict lands and in safaris, the age group of 25-34 is more keen on diving, while the national parks are more typically visited by people older than 55.

Literature has little information on seasonality. The North American ecotourists like travelling in summer (23% in June, 40% in July and 40% in August), but the pre- and post-season months are also popular (16% for May and 29% for September), also, there are ecotourists even in winter.

The length of the travels is rather varied, depending on the activity chosen. The average USA tourists on vacation spend less time (3-4 days) than the nature walkers (5-9 days) during their travel. In Australia, those who arrive with the goal to see the natural environment spend an average of 33 days in the country, those on vacation 24 days. The domestic travellers, however, only spend half a day or one day with ecotourism activities and only 20% of them spend four days or more; the average is only there days.

A quarter of the North American tourists wish to spend USD 200 per capita on ecotourism activities, and they also calculate USD 238 per capita for travel costs. For specialised ecotourism products there seems to be a higher spending willingness. It is also evident that people are willing to pay more for rare natural values than for values similar attractions to which can be found in many places. Of course the willingness to spend money also correlates to the quality of other services, like tourism information centres, the quality of accommodation and guiding, and of traffic devices.

The Hungarian National Tourism Development Strategy (NTDS) classifies heritage tourism built on cultural and natural values to the tourism products of selected national importance. On the basis of the objectives in the NTDS, on the assignment of the State Secretariat of Tourism of the former Ministry of Local Governments a national ecotourism development strategy was made in 2008. The strategy-makers created the ecotourism development plan for the coming 8 years with consultations with the ministry responsible for tourism and environmental protection, the national park directorates, non-governmental organisations and service providers.

After the approval of the strategy, a Task Force of Ecotourism was set up on the initiative of the State Secretariat of Tourism of the Ministry of Local Governments and the Secretariat for Nature and Environmental Preservation of the Ministry of the Environment and Water. The members were selected from the representatives of the two ministries, and the task of the group was the implementation of the strategy in practice. The task force continues its operation, after the establishment of the new government, with the inter-ministerial cooperation of the Ministry of the National Economy and the Ministry of Rural Development.

The strategy worked out concrete tools and tasks for the balanced consideration of the aspects of nature protection and tourism. An issue of selected importance in the strategy is the visitor-friendly development of the ecotourism attractions and service providers, and the establishment of visitor centres offering complex services. On the ground of Measures 1-3 and 6 in Priority 1, Measures 1-4 in Priority 2, Measures 2-4 in Priority 5 and Measures 1-3 in Priority 6, a special role must be assigned to the establishment of visitor- and family-friendly exhibition places meeting the specific requirements of the target groups, both as regards the already existing and the planned exhibition places, study paths and other services.

The task force defined in the first phase of their work those tasks that require fewer resources, including the start of the visitor- and family-friendly developments.

The New Hungary Development Plan (NHDP) has several indirect implications for ecotourism. This document states that in the development of the rural areas, the tourism of natural values is a possible tool, both for the development of the environment and for health-conscious teaching and education. On this ground the NHDP supports in rural areas with low number of population and low population density the integrated development of products based on local and regional endowments and of (tourism-related) services built on the initiatives of the reviving local communities, as far as the aspects of sustainable development are respected. Also, almost each of the LEADER programmes in the implementation phase handled ecotourism developments as a field where tenders could be announced – the recommended topics of the applications included ecotourism-related services, although not specifically named as ecotourism (e.g. establishment of study paths etc.). The development of rural areas can be implemented from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The renewal possibilities of the rural areas are different in areas of different endowments. This is what makes important in areas abundant in natural, landscape and cultural values the sustainable local, regional utilisation of local values and resources, by the close collaboration of spatial development, nature- and heritage protection and tourism.

·                   

In accordance to what is written is Chapter 2, in the case pf ecotourism the protection of the natural environment must be considered during tourism developments. The market of ecotourism, however, is not only made by conscious ecotourists but also people with other motivations, so when talking about ecotourism attraction we do not only have to deal with the so-called ecotourists but also with other tourists – because if all visitors were conscious ecotourists, the negative impacts of tourism would practically not exist. The motivations of the visitors to nature are diverse, from active recreation through the study of nature to “I just came across so I popped in”. Certain ecotourism services are thus definitely designed for the masses, and some of the Hungarian ecotourism destinations have to face, serve and handle the mass tourists. This is a paradox statement for many, but let us take a closer look at the situation!

One of the tasks of ecotourism is the shaping of the attitude to the environment. A real, conscious, genuine ecotourist does not need attitude shaping; the mass tourist who does not know nature is the one who has to be the subject of this attitude-shaping work. Very important in this work is the teaching and education of the young generations (Photo 4).

It is also absolutely evident that the positive impacts of ecotourism (job creation, income for the local community, revenues for nature protection) can only be realised if ecotourism attracts to the service providers a mass of tourists that is still acceptable for the carrying capacity of the area but also allows the utilisation of the place and the generation of adequate income. Empty visitor centres and exhibition places not consciously marketed or not marketed at all will not result in positive impacts, neither will they generate income for the operator, but will lead to the unnecessary waste of financial and human resources.

Ecotourism is a means of passing on environment conscious attitude; it promotes pastimes with active movements, whose health preserving effect can have a considerable contribution to the improvement of the quality of life.

Photo 4: Stork labyrinth – an interactive exhibition in Kőszeg on the life of storks. Photo by Pénzes Erzsébet

Coming from the general increase in the demand for natural environment and the improvement of the living standards of the layer receptive to such tourism, ecotourism and its auxiliary services provide a living or a supplementary source of income to an ever increasing number of people. In many places this is the only breakout possibility for the economic development of a region, in cooperation with agriculture, the sales of local products.

Ecotourism has not been able to make a breakthrough yet because the business sector has only joined in the developments to a limited extent so far. The main reason for this is that several service providers do not know the advantages and benefits of ecotourism, and there are many false beliefs in connection with ecotourism (e.g. that ecotourists are “gumboots” people with low spending). Due the deficient communication, the Hungarian population knows little about ecotourism for the time being, they have no information on the possibilities it offers, although a few nature protection exhibition places established in a new approach could be real competitors to famous places of entertainment and popular destinations. There are opportunities then in the field of marketing communication, both for nature protection and ecotourism service providers.

It comes from the thoughts above that during ecotourism developments market needs must be taken into consideration, together with the habits of the postmodern tourists of consumer society, even it seems to a be blasphemous thought at first hearing. Consumer demands and nature protection can be reconciled; the appearance of mass tourists does not necessarily mean an immediate degradation of the area, environment pollution and other negative impacts. If tourists are “directed” in the right way, if visitor management operates effectively, then the attitude shaping and other positive impacts can be realised. This does not mean, however, that the natural environment should be fully built up with adventure elements; it means that the existing exhibition places must be transformed in a visitor-friendly way with a new attitude.

Infrastructure developments (parking place, WC, resting place, catering facility, souvenir shop, guiding etc.) must all serve consumer demand, the satisfaction of visitors, in an indirect way this is how they contribute to the acceptance of ecological attitude. Where natural environment does not allow the presence of “non-ecotourists”, it is only developments specially designed for ecotourists that can be implemented. This does not mean that ecotourists do not have needs or they only have more modest needs.

The improvement of the quality of ecotourism services in many cases is also important for the preservation of the natural environment providing the attraction, because the visitors use the controllable infrastructure designed and made for them and not the resources of nature; also, the “message” gets more effectively to the visitors.

Developments satisfying family-friendly needs should be given a priority; this is also listed by the national ecotourism development strategy as an activity of selected importance.

Areas with unfavourable endowments for agriculture (dry lands, sand areas, saline soil areas, karst hillsides, marches and bogs) were not used by intensive agriculture and by industry either, so infrastructure developments also neglected these areas. These areas were left in their original state, and now they are the core areas of nature protection. In the mountainous areas the extraction of raw materials was stopped, forestry companies are switching to quasi-natural forest management – this way the valuable hilly and mountainous habitats could also be preserved.

The preservation of the natural values, however, also requires sacrifices on the side of the local population: the relative scarcity of jobs (e.g. due the closedown of mining and processing industry activities). More difficult accessibility is also a problem for the local community, but it is also a barrier to the development of tourism to some extent. Some segments of ecotourism (the dedicated ecotourists), however, definitely prefer hardly accessible places where they can almost certainly find quasi natural conditions and the feeling of being far from civilisation.

The Hungarian national parks (with the exception of the Bükk NP) and a part of the protected areas are mosaic-like in space, and many of these areas can be found in economically backward regions of the country, dominated by small villages. The tourism-related development of the areas rich in natural values and worth presenting to visitors often has very significant impacts on the development of their regions too. The initiators and later the responsible organs of the economic development of such areas are either national park directorates or non-governmental organisations dedicated to the objectives of ecotourism. Good examples for this can be found in the Őrség and the Aggtelek National Park, in the landscape protection area of Szatmár-Bereg and in the Vértes mountains, where the tourism development – and the subsequent general development – of the area was launched by the national park directorates or the organisations of the nature parks. This role is later taken over by the TDM organisations – which is an ongoing process –, and in such cases the national park directorates and nature park organisations can become members of the TDM organisation.

The Hungarian flagships of ecotourism, the national parks and other protected areas have the special political geographical feature that some protected areas belong to several administrative areas, they are “shared” by several counties, planning-statistical regions or even tourism regions. This has a positive impact on the demand for ecotourism, on the one hand, as certain areas may be part of the supply of several regions, but it may also cause difficulties, on the other hand, as developments – and even operation processes – require very complex reconciliations and negotiations. The territory of the Hortobágy National Park e.g. is shared by four counties, two planning-statistical and two tourism regions; in addition, areas of the selected holiday region of the Tisza Lake belong to the territory of the national park.

Certain active tourism activities may be closely linked to ecotourism. The ecotourism strategy also discusses “eco-active” tourism, i.e. cycling, walking and water tourism as possible means for environment friendly movements. By 2010 the development strategy of bicycle tourism of Hungary was made, whose implementation will offer good infrastructure conditions for ecotourism developments too in some regions. The Tisza Lake rightly uses the slogan of being the “ecotourism island of Hungary”, because in the territory of this tourism region practically all attractions and service are accessible by environment friendly transport, by bicycle or on water. The network of bicycle roads in the Szigetköz also contributed to the ecotourism developments of the area. Where allowed by the conditions of the area, study paths manageable by these means of transports are established: such as the Egyek-Pusztakócs bicycle study path in the Hortobágy National Park, or the Vízi Rence (Water Utricularia) study path in the Fertő-Hanság National Park.

The improvement of the possibilities of public transportation contributes to the environment friendly operation, which is a basic principle of ecotourism. The tourist friendly attitude of public transport increases the number of passengers, on the one hand, and may also increase the number of arrivals to eco-destinations, on the other hand. Public transport is a specifically cheaper means of travel, which is available also for those who cannot afford to have a car. Transport companies, however, are in a difficult situation, because they have to serve the demand of local communities for their everyday movements. A possible solution in bus transport in some areas is summer seasonal timetable specifically designed for tourists.

Some special, unique means of travel – e.g. the small trains – may be parts of the ecotourism products, due to the adventure of the nature of transport. A unique programme is the Gördülő (‘rolling’) study path in the Children’s Railway (Széchenyi Hill – Hűvösvölgy) (http://www.ipolyerdo.hu/index.php?op=category&id=004003002), and the Libegő (Chairlift) study path (János Hill).

Ecotourists indirectly may revive local handicrafts, and they also may have a favourable impact on arts. In the green shops of the exhibition places of nature protection, the sales of the local handicrafts products may enlarge supply, on the one hand, and may contribute to the support of the local community, on the other hand. In the visitors centres locally made products should be sold, and in catering facilities local food products should be preferred. The latter is allowed by the new legal regulation which is much less strict than the previous one: Decree No. 52/2010. (30 June) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development no longer requires small-scale producers to meet unrealistic hygienic and processing criteria that made their activity impossible for many years, or made them sell their products illegally. The protection of authenticity should be safeguarded and maintained by trademarks; the ministry responsible for rural development and the national park directorates already have initiatives in this respect. Local products – especially processed meats like sausages, salamis, hams etc. – are provided with sign bearing the logo of the national park.

The sales of local products and the work of local producers are assisted in some regions by non-governmental organisations. Such an initiative is the local product database by the Magosfa Foundation (http://www.magosfa.hu), or the Living Tisza trademark and marketing system of the Living Tisza River Association (http://www.elotiszaert.hu).

The positive impacts of ecotourism can also be observed on folk traditions, and historical or religious holidays. The interest of the ecotourists may help preserve, in fact, often revive the traditions and holidays. Ecotourists also have a positive impact on local cultural programmes, because they need these events, they actively participate in them and their expenditure promotes the survival of local culture (Photo 5).

Photo 5: Visitors to the Fürkész study path in Jósvafő are treated to potato ‘lángos’ (a Hungarian food speciality, deep fried flat bread) Photo by Erzsébet Pénzes

Other services of rural tourism closely related to ecotourism are private accommodations. Rural accommodations are important parts of the supply of ecotourism in a region from several aspects:

Among the seven programmes of the New Széchenyi Plan (http://www.ngm.gov.hu/data/cms2068241/uj_szechenyi_terv.pdf) the first one is on the development of health industry, including health tourism. For the development of health tourism, however, a basic condition is healthy environment, the diversity of the natural and landscape endowments, their preservation and sustainable use. If the conditions of ecotourism are also improved in connection with the development of health tourism, we make a more effective step to improve the living conditions of the domestic population and to disseminate the importance of a healthy way of living. This perfectly fits into the concept that includes rural development and green economic development, i.e. programme 2 in the New Széchenyi Plan.

The development of spas, which is a trend now in Hungary, can be reinforced by the ecotourism supply, the natural heritage of the respective regions.

Wine, its culture and its production areas are all tourist attractions. If it is used as an agricultural product with auxiliary information service, demonstration and sales promoting wine tasting sessions, then it is a product of agrotourism; however, if wine and its production is seen as a tourism product integrating the settlements and producers of a region or wine producing area and transforming them into a community with a single will, a product that also introduces the traditions and cultural attractions of the settlements and communities in addition to the demonstration of the agricultural products and that is suitable for their integration at regional level, then wine and its production can be taken as the foundation of a regional theme route.

Wine routes are spatial tourism products and community creations with the cooperation of all stakeholders – from private persons through enterprises to municipal governments – who are interested in the touristic development of the respective region and in strengthening the wine region, namely

·         Original producers, businesses and organisations dealing with grapes and wine;

·         Those engaged with catering, gastronomy, and the organisation of tourism;

·         “Owners” of the attractions: organisers of events, operators of museums, handicraftsmen, local producers, educational and traditionalist institutions and organisations;

·         Those engaged with the accommodation of guests, from rural hosts through boarding houses right to hotels;

·         Local and regional professional and non-governmental organisations; and

·         “Masters” of the settlements, i.e. municipal governments and their institutions.

The Hungarian national representation of wine routes, the Association of Hungarian Wine Routes also defined the content of this concept. In their view wine routes are complex touristic products that have specific, unique supplies, operate as organised units; their access to the market is assisted by community marketing, their services are qualified and thus meet the international requirements. The definition emphasises the close interrelation of tourism, local culture and wine production and their significance in rural development, and also the selected role of non-governmental organisations in the coordination of the local stakeholders.

Wine routes as parts of the touristic supply became recognised in Hungary in the last 10-15 years, only. The first Hungarian route, the Villány-Siklós Wine Route was established in Baranya County, integrated into the wine route development programmes primarily designed to support the EU wine routes by the Assembly of European Wine Regions (AREV, Assemblée des regions Européennes Viticoles). The Villány-Siklós Wine Route Association was founded in 1994, whose membership includes, in addition to municipal self-governments and local inhabitants, also entrepreneurs. The wine route defined as their objective of operation “the creation of the wine route of the wine producing area, strengthening of the specific image and landscape of the wine route, the promotion of wine tourism and the full utilisation of the development potentials lying in the two-thousand year old wine culture”. The three pillars of the wine route programme implemented with the support of the Phare Fund are as follows: a qualification system of supplies and programmes; touristic information system; and community marketing activities. The programmes of the established wine route are of course closely related to wine: demonstration of the wine production and viticulturist traditions, promotion of handicrafts activities connected to cellars and wines, wine tasting and wine purchase in the qualified cellars of the wine route, catering, cellar programmes and holidaymaking at winemakers. This offer is enriched by auxiliary programmes:

§  rural tourism, village programmes,

§  gastronomic programmes,

§  hiking programmes,

§  cycling and equestrian programmes,

§  different hobby activities,

§  cultural and arts programmes,

§  events and local holidays,

§  religious tourism etc.

Characteristics and touristic types of Hungarian wine routes

Knowing the individual features of the Hungarian wine producing areas, it is hard to imagine that each wine route of all wine producing areas the create offers of similar character. The differences among the wine producing areas in the landscapes, production places and tourism should be featured with adequate touristic supplies and the designation of unique wine routes. Fortunately there are several examples for this to be followed in the European wine routes.

The council of European Wine Regions (CERV) operating as the professional organisation of AREV, with regard to the wine routes with several decades of experiences in Europe (Rhine-Pfalz, Alsace), and the wine routes developed since 1992 with the Dionysos programme of the European Union (including the Alentejó and Porto regions, Sicily, Styria, Catalonia, Lombardy), differentiates the following types of wine routes:

1. Open wine route, a loose network of wine tasting facilities. Units prepared for wine tasting and catering in a touristic region.

2. Thematic wine route. Wine tasting facilities are complemented by special programmes. Most frequently related products are culture, nature (protected areas with special values), and gastronomy.

3. Classic wine route. A designated, manageable route, “wine circuit” with qualified wine tasting and sales facilities, restaurants, accommodations, sights of interest and programmes for the guests. Visitors are directed to the service in demand by information signposts.

Adapting this classification to the Hungarian circumstances (G. Szabó – E. Sarkadi 2006), wine routes in Hungary can be of the following categories:

Open wine route: wine tourism offer of wine producing areas consisting of separate production places located relatively far away from each other. In open wine routes, the possibility of development is the creation of rural tourism network which, through the demonstration of the area and the wines, can bring about the improvement of the recognition of the wines. Besides the specific programmes of wine tourism, these wine routes can offer rural tourism, agrotourism and cultural programmes whose development can be the key to success by the activation of local inhabitants and their integration into the wine route.

In South Transdanubia such an open wine route is the Tolna Wine Route, but several wine routes of North Hungary are also moving into this direction of development. This can definitely be a development “way” for the wine routes in the Great Hungarian Plain.

Thematic wine routes require more concentrated enological and touristic supply, including major tourist attractions to which wine tourism services are worth connecting.

Wine producing areas suitable for the establishment of thematic wine routes can integrate the wine route services to the already existing and popular attractions, mutually reinforcing each other. In these wine producing areas the fame of the wines, wine production culture and the related catering services are still in need of development, in which touristic programmes can be of great value. This category includes the recently established South Balaton Wine Route with its developing supply or the Bóly-Mohács “White Wine Route”. Besides the existing and cooperating touristic supplies recognised by the market we also find in these wine routes wines of good quality, with considerable development potential. By the integration of these both fields, i.e. tourism and wine production can win.

The third type of wine routes are classic wine routes or wine circuits. This category can be found in renowned but geographically small wine producing areas with an established tourism offer like the Villány-Siklós Wine Route, the Hungarian archetype of wine routes, or the Badacsony Region Wine Route and the wine route of the Somló Hill. The facilities and settlements in the geographical proximity of each other allow the systematic managing (walking) of the area. The tourism developments in the Szekszárd and the Sopron wine producing areas will result in the birth of such “wine circuits”. This development direction is a realistic possibility for wine producing areas that have a high quality enological sector and wines of international recognition, for wine producing areas where wine producers have realised the possibility lying in wine tourism and have joined the wine routes as service providers themselves. Several of these producers have crated their supply, in addition to wine tasting and sales, in gastronomy and even in accommodation services (by the establishment of family-run boarding houses) (Szabó, G. 2006, 2003a, b, 2002, 2001, 1995).

Magyar Borutak Szövetsége, MABOSZ

Viticulture and wine culture of Hungary go back to two thousand years (Kollega Tarsoly, I. 2000). The varied environmental conditions of the Carpathian Basin and the impacts that Hungary received during history make Hungarian wine culture diverse, which, on the basis of its endowments, could be a competitor of French wine culture (Appendix 1). There are common features in the development of the Hungarian wine regions, but each wine region has their own special development features as well (Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1. Main periods in the historical development of Hungarian wine culture until World War I

Source: edited by Máté, A. after Kozma P. 1995, Máté A. 2007a

Table 2. Main periods in the historical development of Hungarian wine culture after World War I

Source: edited by Máté, A. after Kozma P. 1995, Máté A. 2007a

Gastronomy is a word of Greek origin; it is a concept with a narrower and a broader interpretation. Its primary meaning is delicacy, the in-depth knowledge, the sophisticated joy of foods and beverages, and the art of eating. Also, it may mean chef arts, culinary arts, in a broader sense it also involves the art of laying the table and servicing guests, the culture of eating and actually everything that is related to eating (Tusor, A. – Sahin-Tóth, Gy. 2006).

Hungarian gastronomy is part of the country’s intellectual and cultural heritage. The Hungarian and ethnic gastronomic traditions which are diverse across the different regions may give the uniqueness and strength of the supply of the rural areas. Getting to know regional gastronomy promotes the touch of tourists and local inhabitants. Tourism built around Hungarian gastronomy is a possibility to strengthen the good will of the Hungarian catering industry, enhance the hospitality of the local population and revive the regional traditions, almost forgotten folk traditions, economic holidays and the making of region-specific foods. Programmes and events related to gastronomy are not limited to the main season; thereby they decrease the temporal and spatial concentration of touristic season and lengthen the duration of stay (Fehér, I. – Kóródi, M. 2008).

The Hungarian eating culture and gastronomy are closely related to the history of the Hungarian nation. Since the time of the great invasions, several impacts have made their marks on Hungarian cuisine. Hungarian cuisine developing over the centuries is known all over the world for the variety of ingredients and cooking methods, which makes it unique and popular with guests (Table 3) (Bádonyi, M. 2009). To the contrary of the stereotypes living in the tourists’ minds – such as goulash, spicy, hot and fat dishes, spicy paprika garlic, onion used as ingredients – the offer of Hungarian cuisine is much more varied, of which Hungarians are deservedly proud (Appendix 2).

Table 3. Main periods in the development of the Hungarian gastronomy

Source: edited by Máté, A., after Arabadzisz, I. – Oriskó, F. – Tomis, A. 2005, Bádonyi, M. 2009, Burkáné Szolnoki, Á. 1999 and Tusor, A. – Sahin-Tóth, Gy. 2006

For the implementation of a wine route, a basic requirement is to find the communication channels to promote the marketing of the supply, in which the touristic information system plays a primary role. At the first Hungarian wine route, the Villány-Siklós Wine Route, one of the achievements of project development was the system of information signposts and the information office of the wine route in 2007. The system has been enlarged since then, the number of information signs and their content has multiplied, but they basically followed the objectives defined in the development phase.

The touristic information system can be taken as the living connection between the touristic market and the local supply. There are expectations against the system from two sides. Of special significance are the needs of tourists who expect the full exploration and demonstration of all segments of the supply and also want to have enough information to select and use the supply suitable form them. The operators of the wine route, on the other hand, hope to find a market for their supply, using the information system. The system can only meet these two requirements if it can guarantee both availability and accessibility.

The demands can be satisfied by the location of two information systems, which are of different characters but closely related to and mutually complementing each other (Table 4).

The two networks are as follows:

·      system of orientation, information and demonstration signs,

·      network of interactive information points.

Table 4. Elements of the information system of the Villány-Siklós Wine Route

These are the constant elements of the built-out and still expanding information system. They are complemented now by an internet website up to the requirements of these days and by topical web2 applications. The information network still serves as an example to follow for other wine routes, especially in its signpost system.

(SARKADI, E. – Szabó, G. – Urbán, A. 2000)

Gastronomy and wine culture reach guests by the mediation of different catering facilities. They are not only expected to offer high level services today; they must also monitor topical trends, local tourism development objectives, and they should also join in and adapt to the topics of product development, for example by offering the beverages produced by local wine route producers or by treating guests with menu including ethnic specialities in an environment where ethnic minorities live (Dávid, L. – Jancsik, A. – Rátz, T. 2007).

Catering facilities can provide both tourists and local inhabitants with catering services, so the statistical indices of restaurants and other facilities are not only the indices of tourism (Appendix 7). In Hungary there was a considerable growth in the number of catering units from 2001 to 2008. At the end of 2008 there were 56,612 commercial facilities and canteens in operation, although their number had decreased by 1% from the previous year. In 2008, 87.6% of all units operated as commercial catering facilities. Within this category, 23.5% were restaurants, 3.4% confectioneries, while 44.8% were registered as other, non hot kitchens, while 28.2% operated as bars, wine bars, pubs or music pubs. Of all catering facilities, 46% were operated by private entrepreneurs, 50% by businesses, 4% by non-for-profit and other organisations. As regards the breakdown of catering facilities by statistical regions in 2008, the biggest proportion of them could be seen in the Central Hungary Region, where 26.6% of all facilities operated, of which 10% could be found in Budapest and 16.6% in Pest county. The North Great Plain region was home to 14.2% of all units, the other Great Plain region, the South Great Plain to 12.9%. All other regions had 11-12% of all catering facilities. The sales of foods and non-alcoholic beverages increased between 2003 and 2008, while that of the alcoholic beverages, coffee and tobacco products decreased. The turnover of catering facilities continuously grew from 2001 to 2008. Catering industry received revenues in excess of HUF 684.6 billion in 2008, which was a 2.5% growth compared to the previous year. Of all revenues, 87% was realised at commercial facilities (Bodnár, L. 2005) (Appendix 7).

According the representative population surveys (MT Zrt. – M.Á.S.T. 2006), there are considerable differences as regards how well known the respective Hungarian wine producing areas are known. Whereas the proportion of those who know the names Tokaj, Eger, Badacsony or Villány ranges from almost 80% to approximately 50%, the least known wine producing areas – including a few high quality ones – are known by less than 5% of respondents (e.g. Lower Bükk, Ászár-Neszmély, Hajós-Baja).

The wine producing areas in the Pannon Wine Region are categorised by the Hungarian population into two separate groups of diverse characteristics. Stable members on the “House of Lords” include the Villány wine producing area – whose name is still frequently mentioned as Villány-Siklós wine producing area, i.e. the formerly used specification – and the Szekszárd wine producing area. The proportion of those in the survey sample who knew Villány was almost 50%, which made this wine producing area one of the best known ones in Hungary. Szekszárd was known by ¼ of the sample, as revealed by the responses, which was a high value in the survey, still put this wine producing area to the last position of the upper class.

The extent to which the Pécs wine producing area – featured in its old name, Lower Mecsek area in the survey – and the Tolna wine producing area are known is totally different. Among the 22 wine producing areas, the Pécs one is at the bottom of the middle class with the 9% frequency of mentions, followed by the Tolna wine producing area that is known by 6% of respondents.

A somewhat more subtle approach to how much wine producing areas are known is allowed by the figures of consumer demand. Figure 2 indicates that even the products of wine producing areas familiar to 2/3 or almost that big a proportion of respondents have much more subordinate positions on the shelves of the supermarkets. On the shelves of hyper- and supermarkets, in addition to Villány and Tokaj it is Eger that shows the best position, with proportions from 15 to 20%. The majority of the Hungarian wine producing areas have shares far below 10% from the supply of Hungarian wines on the market. The position of Szekszárd in 8% of the stores is a good position. In this competition, the wine producing areas of Pécs and Tolna have considerable lags; their products can hardly be found in supermarkets.

Figure 2. Products of the wine producing areas on the shelves of hyper- and supermarkets (Source: http://hvg.hu/gazdasag.hazai/20060214borpiac/page2.aspx )

The Pécsi Borozó assigned the Szocio-Gráf Consumer Research and Survey Institute to carry out a national representative survey to detect how much the wine producing areas, the wineries and the grape sorts of the Pannon Wine Region are known and to demonstrate the segmentation of the market (Pécsi Borozó Vol. I. No. 3 pp. 58–59). The number of respondents mentioning the respective wine producing areas (Figure 3) follows the well-known pattern. Villány dominates the market, but the distance between it and Szekszárd is smaller than in the previous surveys. Although Pécs and Tolna lag behind the premier class, the proportion of respondents mentioning them – between 5% and 9% – reinforces the level of their popularity already revealed by previous national surveys.

Figure 3. Proportion of respondents mentioning wine producing areas of the Pannon Wine Region

The situation is somewhat different if we look at the extent to which wineries of the wine producing areas are known. This part of the survey underlines again the importance of Villány and of Szekszárd, although the latter lags far behind the former. The performance of the wine producing areas of Pécs and Tolna are even worse in this respect. Of all respondents, only 1.8% could name a wine producer or a winery from the Pécs area, while the same figure for the Tolna wine producing area was 0.7%. The dominant wineries shaping the image of the wine producing areas include the famous names of the “wine producer of the year” and the “winery of the year”. Another factor significantly promoting popularity is strong market presence, the large volume of bottled wines in shops. Good examples for this are the popularity of the Teleki Cellar and the Mőcsény wines of the Zwack Company.

            Consumers of the wine region can be broken down into segments, as the survey suggests. The main groups are:

·         predominantly men;

·         diploma holders;

·         with higher incomes;

·         Budapest citizens in a high proportion.

The findings of the research also provide information for the definition of consumer characteristics across the different wine producing areas. The fans of Pécs wines are from the middle aged generation, between 50-59 years, in larger numbers. The wines of Szekszárd and Tolna have a more diverse range of consumers, as regard age. The age groups consuming these wines range from young adults in their thirties to the middle aged generation up to 59 years. A favourable feature of the Villány wine producing area is the large proportion of young adults and the middle aged generation in their forties among the consumers.

On the assignment of the Pannon Wine Region, tourism experts and students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Pécs made a survey on the selected locations of the event called Open Whitsun Cellars on 30 May, Saturday and 31 May, Sunday 2009. The questionnaire survey included the Cabbage Festival of Bóly on Saturday, on both Saturday and Sunday the Szekszárd Whitsun Festival and only on Sunday the visitors to the Mecseknádasd Rooster Stew Cooking Festival. According to the findings of the survey (Table 5), the wine route most known, after the Szekszárd and the Villány-Siklós Wine Route, was the Bóly-Mohács White Wine Route, followed by the Tolna Wine Route.

Table 5: Popularity of the wine routes in the Pannon Wine Region (Source: findings of the questionnaire survey)

In each wine producing area, approximately 85% of the respondents already used a wine route service. The level of satisfaction with the services is an important starting point of marketing and a measure of the quality of wine tourism services in the region.

During the questionnaire survey guests evaluated both direct and indirect services of wine tourism, with which they were basically satisfied.

The most frequently used service directly related to wine tourism that guest used was wine tasting (72.73%), followed by visiting cellars (64.94%) (Table 6). Also, the highest level of satisfaction was attributed to wine tasting (4.77 on a 1 to 5 scale); the differences among the evaluations of the respective wine producing areas were negligible.

As regards related service, the ones most frequently used by guests included catering (83.12%), which was the most popular of all services used.

Table 6: Level of satisfaction with the wine route services (Source: findings of the questionnaire survey)

Accommodation and sport facilities are used by a low proportion of guests, and they are also the services with which respondents were the least satisfied. This determines the position of the surveyed area in wine tourism, which is precisely indicated by the willingness to return (Figure 4).

On the basis of overall impressions, almost each of the visitors would recommend the destination to everybody, especially their own generation. In accordance with this, 50% of respondents will certainly visit to the region again, and another 20% find it likely that they will return. The number of those who will not want to return to the Pannon Wine Region in any case is negligible. In this case, reasons why respondents reject return to the area were as follows: family engagements, they require one-off visits, or they find prices too high.

Total

Yes, certainly  Probably         Perhaps           Probably not   No way           No reply

(Alpár, L. – Farkas, Z. – Geönczeöl, A. – Nemes, R. – Sztakovics, K. 2008, MTRt. – M.Á.S.T. 2006, Oszoli, Á. – Szabó, A. – Molnár, E. – Botos, E. P. 2003)

Source: Máté, A. 2007a

The Community Wine Marketing Programme, and then the Strategy defined the selected target groups of wine purchase and wine tourism, on the basis of consumer trends. These were supplemented by the findings of our market research in the Pannon Wine Region (Szabó, G. 2008; 2009). Taking market trends and the main target groups into consideration, the following groups can be identified:

§  Young adults

The segment involves the group aged 18-35. The youth is the most important target group of marketing communication, because they are the generation with the greatest purchasing power of all times, and they are very sensitive to advertisements and novelties. The consumption habits of the generation aged 18-25 are still developing, and this generation is easy to reach (organised education, media, internet etc.). At the same time, they are a considerable reserve for the increase of the consumption of wine, because their consumption is below the average, and they are also the majority among those who rarely or never consume wine. As regards the propaganda of wine culture, the 25-35 year generation is the most receptive, as more and more of them are interested in civilised wine consumption and the popularity of wine courses, tastings and other wine-related events (wine dinners, wine and gastronomic festivals etc.) is also growing among them.

§  Women

In the marketing of wines today, women have a growing importance, as they are responsible for shopping in most cases. They have a considerable purchasing power: although a little less than half of the revenues of households are earned by them, they are the ones who decide on the largest part of household expenditures. Although they do 75% of shopping, only 25% of them buy wine regularly. On the other hand, accessing this target group allows us to influence the wine consumption habits of families and increase their knowledge of wines. Just like the target group of youth, women also represent a significant potential, as many of them do not drink wine at all, and the proportion of women drinking less than one bottle per month on the average is almost 80%. However, they are more likely to drink wine than other alcoholic beverages, and they usually choose bottled quality wines.

§  Wine friends

This group contains those who like wine, for whom wine is a value and is more important than other alcoholic beverages. They usually live in Budapest or other cities, they have high school qualification and probably also have above average income. The consumption of wine is part of their ordinary days, entertainment and intimate moments as well. They are relatively well informed about Hungarian wine producing areas and wine sorts, and they are also open to specialities and wines from abroad. They live active social life, they like eating out, wine tastings and wine dinners, they participate in wine and gastronomic festivals, on weekends they make trips to the wine producing areas and also accomplish some kinds of wine courses. They are the most important target group; they are agile, dedicated and competent.

Further breaking down the potential target groups allows a more precise focus:

§  Professional audience: those wine producers, wine dealers and others dealing with wine qualification and gastronomy who use the special services of the professional centres established in the respective wine producing areas. They may be the target audience of wine qualifications, enological further trainings and gastronomy shows; they can be from the nearby city, from the wine producing areas of the wine region but may also come from the national or even international target group. This target group is interested in new services, appreciates new names and brands. They are willing to travel to have these new experiences.

§  Participants of enological, wine tourism and wine gastronomy trainings, the majority of whom are full-time and correspondent students studying at vocational trainings, BSc or MSc courses of higher education institutions, and also students of other courses. For them, wine regions and thus the centres of the wine routes can be locations of theoretical and practical trainings, which they can regularly use. They should also be considered as opinion makers who can activate new target groups, new circles of guests.

§  Those interested in enological and wine gastronomy programmes, wine route information and services, buyers of wines, who are the broad target group of customers. They may include guests visiting the wine regions and their towns and cities with different cultural, business or educational motivations. The guests of cities who are interested in wines, participants in conferences, tourists travelling in groups, the audience of events and guests just getting familiar with wine routes are the main target groups. They can be expected as regularly returning guests and the participants in group travels, especially if their programme is part of business tourism. At wine tourism service providers they show up as the audience of trainings, professional workshops and symposia. They are demanding consumers who use a wide range of services.

§  Special attention should be paid to the inhabitants living in the wine regions, who are the largest consumers of wines, drinking wine regularly, as national surveys show. The population, especially the urban part thereof, is dedicated to the wine producing areas of the wine regions, they happily make excursions to the wine producing areas and are the main participants in events organised on wine and gastronomy. They are an important target group; they are dedicated and conscious consumers and are also in a privileged situation, being in touch with the excellent producers and wine route service providers of their on wine producing areas.

§  Inhabitants of Budapest interested in wine, who consume wine regularly, are interested in wine culture and train themselves. They visit Hungarian wine producing areas with their friends or as family programmes. Their number is growing; they are very motivated and have substantial knowledge of wines. If they are satisfied guests, they can activate a significant number of acquaintances and wine friends to participate in the programmes fitting into the topics of the project location (e.g. Siller Festival), and to use the services of wine tourism. They are demanding and critical, but also relatively well-off – and they are consumers!

Wine and gastronomy in the National Tourism Development Strategy (NDTS 2005-2013)

The NTDS approved in 2005 defines selected and regional level priorities of touristic product development, new products built on innovation and the development of the selected destinations. Selected tourism products include health tourism, heritage tourism and congress tourism. Selected areas within heritage tourism are world heritages, national parks, equestrian tourism, gastronomy and selected events.

The objective of developing wine and gastronomy tourism is to

·         use the values of Hungarian gastronomy and wine culture as touristic products;

·         make restaurants meet the quality expectations of both domestic and foreign tourists;

·         make as many Hungarian restaurants as possible offer real Hungarian foods and quality Hungarian wines;

·         promote the breeding of indigenous Hungarian domestic animals and the cultivation of traditional plants, and increase their use in catering;

·         improve the quality of services in as many Hungarian restaurants as possible (menus in foreign languages, polite waiters speaking foreign languages);

·         decrease the number of abuses in the sector.

Wine and gastronomy in the operational programmes built on the New Hungary Development Plan (NHDP 2007-2013)

The development objectives of the 2007-2013 European budgetary period were defined in the NHDP, and the development of tourism was included in the regional operational programmes (ROPs). The development of wine and gastronomy was given different emphasis across the regions, depending on the local endowments.

·         Under the measure called ‘Development of touristic products’ we can find the development of wine and gastronomy attractions and of theme routes.

·         The measure called ‘Expansion of the supply of touristic services and the development of touristic infrastructure’ included the development of restaurants.

Wine and gastronomy in the New Hungary Rural Development Programme (NHRDP 2007-2013)

In the NHRDP elaborated for the 2007-2013 period, among the measures of the axis called “Quality of rural life and diversification of the rural economy” we find “Promotion of touristic activities”. The objective of the measure is to develop the infrastructure conditions and the services of sustainable rural and agrotourism, from which the following can be connected to the topic of wine and gastronomy:

·         presentation of agricultural activities and products;

·         creation of “heritage farms”: show farms, tasting of own products, development of handicraft workshops;

·         development of wine tourism services: development of wine route member cellars for catering purposes in the settlements of the wine routes;

·         organisation and support of local events.

Development objectives of wine tourism and gastronomy in the Community Wine Marketing Strategy (CWMS 2009-2013) (Alpár, L. – Farkas, Z. – Geönczeöl, A. – Nemes, R. – Sztakovics, K. 2008)

The Community Wine Marketing Ltd. founded by wine production organisations worked out in 2008 the Community Wine Marketing Strategy of Hungary. In this document, national, regional and exporting strategies were defined. The strategy includes, in addition to the propaganda of wine culture, the promotion of consumption and image building, the propaganda of wine tourism and the promotion of the local HORECA sector. The objectives of the development of the latter two are as follows:

·         working out publications and campaigns to advertise and promote wine tourism;

·         modernise the websites of the wine routes;

·         create a single information sign system and qualification system for the wine routes;

·         organisation of events, festivals and tastings;

·         assistance of the promotion of local events;

·         organisation of courses, e.g. sommelier courses for the actors of local gastronomy.

The external environment of tourism has considerably changed in the last twenty years, which has an impact on the possibilities of the product called wine tourism and gastronomy (Dávid, L. – Jancsik, A. – Rátz, T. 2007).

Impact of the economic, legal and political environment:

·         Frequent changes in the taxation system and the legal regulations make the operation of businesses more difficult.

·         Although company business tax was decreased to 10%, catering activities are taxed with the highest rate of VAT, 25%. The taxation of food vouchers led to the decline in their use.

·         The changes in the exchange rate of Forint may have both positive and negative impact on turnover and revenues.

·         The uncertainties of the tendering systems slow down developments.

·         In the regional operational programmes, at the development of touristic infrastructure it is usually accommodations that are presented, catering is less important.

·         The popularity of the travel cheques strengthens domestic tourism.

Impact of the technological environment:

·         ICT developments promote computerised orders and invoicing and the management of the changes in the inventories.

·         Internet allows credit card payments and e-mail orders; websites provide information on the supply and accessibility.

Impact of the social environment:

·         The consumption habits and solvent demand of the population has an influence on the use of wine tourism and gastronomy services.

·         The strengthening local non-governmental organisations of wine and gastronomy may promote the survival of the sector.

·         There is a need for the further training of the actors in the sector, but it also requires the openness of the enterprises.

Impact of the natural environment:

·         Special natural endowments are the foundation of the existence of wine producing areas, so their preservation is of utmost importance.

·         The reasons for the decrease in the territory of the wine producing area include, in addition to the state-supported elimination of vineyards, urbanisation (spread of settlements) or the spatial expansion of holiday resorts.

·         Global climate change may influence the possibilities of planting and cultivation of vines, the time of the vintage and the character of the wines.

Which will be raised to 27% in January 2012 (by the translator).

The most important of the theme routes fitting into rural tourism is the network of wine routes exploring and demonstrating wine producing areas of the regions. Since 1994, when the first wine route of Hungary, the Villány-Siklós Wine Route started to operate, four new wine routes has started to work in the Pannon wine region that integrates the wine producing areas of Villány, Pécs, Tolna and Szekszárd in South Transdanubia. Besides the first and largest wine route, the Villány-Siklós Wine Route it is the Bóly-Mohács White Wine Route, the Tolna Wine Route and the Szekszárd Wine Route, and the last wine route founded, the Pécs-Mecsek wine route created in 2005 that make the considerably extended supply. A good example demonstrating the volume of the supply and the breakdown of wine route services by branches is the supply of the 45 qualified service providers of the Pécs-Mecsek Wine Route (Figure 5). Wine routes, as shown by Figure 6 also by the example of the Pécs-Mecsek Wine Route, are based on real regional cooperation, because 45 qualified service providers are available in 11 settlements.

Programmes, events 13%

Wine tasting and wine sales 33%

Winehouse 7%

Catering 20%

Accommodation 18%

Village tourism 9%

Figure 5. Breakdown of the qualified services of the Pécs-Mecsek Wine Route in 2010

Source: data provided by the wine route

Figure 6. Breakdown of the qualified services of the Pécs-Mecsek Wine Route by settlements, 2010

Source: data provided by the wine route

Focal points in the supply of the Pécs-Mecsek Wine Route are as follows:

The Szekszárd Vintage Days are the most important and largest festival of the city of Szekszárd. The uniqueness of the festival is provided by the local traditions and the excellent Szekszárd wines. The local society requires the revival and preservation of the traditions, in which the traditionalist groups have an important part. A merit of the Szekszárd Vintage Days is to keep these traditions alive, for four decades now. The festival celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009, as it has been organised each year since 1970. The official organiser of the event of the Municipality of Szekszárd has been the Mihály Babits Community Centre and the House of Arts since 2005. A co-organiser of the programme is the Szekszárd Wine Region Non-for-profit Ltd., responsible for enological programmes and keeping in touch with the wine producers. In 2009, the 28 organisers were assisted by 56 volunteers.

In 2005 significant changes took place in the life of the event. The city did not continue the contract with the former organiser who, however, had patented the name Szekszárd Vintage Festival and the connected logo of János Háry. The city then returned to the original name of the event, Szekszárd Vintage Days. The timing of the four-day event was moved to the 3rd weekend of September in each year (from the 4th weekend), in order to avoid overlaps with the wine programmes of Pécs and not to take away guests from there. Also, changes occurred in the programmes and the locations. The more demanding handicrafts exhibitions are now separated from the locations of the more joyful, funfair-like programmes (Appendix 8). The historical city centre, the place around the inner city church is now home the pavilions of the wine producers and the restaurants, the handicrafts and arts fair and the large stage.

Guests arriving were expected by 75 programmes and events at 22 locations (www.szekszardiszuretinapok.hu). The programmes of the festival are very diverse, although the central theme is vintage and wine, still the arts character dominates. The pavilions in the Court of Wines and the Street of Tastes show a single image, and they are big enough to comfortably set guests who do not get wet even if the weather is rainy (Appendix 8). Places are drawn every year, this way conflicts among participants (about who gets where) can be avoided. Civilised wine consumption is reinforced by the fact that wine producers only bring bottled wines and guests can taste wines from elegant glasses. The Wine Seminar is a new programme, it has been organised for 5 years, only, and it is about one local wine producer introducing his/her wines to the narrower audience. The goal of this programme is to teach guests about the steps of wine tasting, civilised wine consumption and local producers. In the Street of Tastes local restaurants organised into an association show up, as a single body called Round Table Association of Szekszárd Restaurants, offering their freshly made foods and thereby strengthening local enterprises. The traditional Vintage Procession is a huge event, with almost 2000 participants in 2009. In the procession many actors participate, including local and invited wine orders, the city management, folk dance groups, horse carriage drivers, and the youth from the local kindergartens and schools, dressed in fancy clothes.

The cultural events offer entertainment to all generations, from children to adults, so they can be joint experiences for families with children or for friends’ companies. Several programmes allow active participation of guests, like the Dance House or the handicrafts programmes for children. The biggest masses were attracted by two popular music concerts (by the EDDA rock group and the singer Rúzsa Magdi) (www.szekszardiszuretinapok.hu). Many local stakeholders made performances: folk dancers, choirs and orchestras, theatre groups and sport associations. The handicrafts and art fair is a high quality auxiliary of the cultural programmes.

The event is enriched by other auxiliary programmes as well. The funfair, the street ball and disco are attractive for the youth in the first place, while the car shows guarantee that supporters also show up. An annually recurring scientific conference is held on the world of fairs, another one was organised to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Szekszárd-born natural scientist László Hollós, a researcher of truffles.

By 2009 the new logo of the festival was made (Appendix 8), together with the separate own websites at www.szekszardiszuretinapok.hu and www.szüretinapok.hu, although the latter uses accentuated letters and does not show the location. In addition, websites of the Mihály Babits Community Centre and the House of Arts (www.babitsmuvhaz.hu) and the municipality of Szekszárd (www.szekszard.hu) contained information on the festival. Information on the event, in addition to the Internet, was also available from printed information booklets and the Tourinform Office of Szekszárd. According to the data of the Tourinform Office, in addition to the summer months a considerable interest in the city could be registered in September, due in a large part to the Vintage Days (Appendix 8). During the time of the event, information points were also located where guests could purchase glasses to drink wine, among other things.

Media supporters of the event included the local and county press and radio. In 2009 the reduced budget did not allow the appearance in the national media. The economic crisis reduced the financial limits allocated for the event. Only a small part of the budget of the event was provided by the local government of the county seat. The rest had to be collected from the ever narrower tenderable resources (AMC – Hungarian Agromarketing Centre support, rejected NKA – National Cultural Fund – tender, while the RIB – Regional Tourism Committee – tender was not even announced, due to the lack of the financial frameworks), renting the venues, entrance tickets and the sales from the wine glasses, and a large part also from sponsors (information by Gabriella Szanyó-Lóki). Three-quarters of supporters are businesses located in Szekszárd or Tolna County, the rest are usually multinational corporations manufacturing refreshments, mineral water, or coffee, tobacco and alcohol.

The questionnaire survey conducted with the assistance of the tourism management specialisation students of the Illyés Gyula College Faculty of the University of Pécs, Szekszárd, allowed us to get to know the opinions of guests. The processing of the questionnaires brought an important finding: respondents expected further developments especially in the tasks of wine tourism necessitating community cooperation (of municipalities, wine producers, non-governmental organisations and cultural establishments) and less in the advertising of wines, the improvement of the recognition of the wine producing area and the image of the constituent settlements, or the improvement of the quality of enological programmes. In the second place they mentioned developments individually manageable by the cellars, so they were more satisfied with the latter.

The assessment of the festival allows us to define the following development objectives:

·         Keeping and increase of the number of guests at the festival

·         Preservation of the quality level of the event, development of the auxiliary services

·         Strengthening marketing and information supply

·         Development of local wine tourism

·         Continuation of the questionnaire survey among guests

To sum it up: it is a huge achievement that the event was able to renew itself since 2005, both in content and appearance – programmes, locations, wine pavilions, name and logo – which was a prerequisite for today’s success. The success of the festival is proved by many facts: the large number of visitors, on the one hand, even though we are going through an economic crisis. According to the estimations of the organisers, the festival had 35,000 visitors in 2009, which is a 2% increase compared to the previous year (www.szekszardiszuretinapok.hu). On the other hand, both the city management and the wine producers expressed their satisfaction. The Municipality of Szekszárd regularly invites the delegations of its twin cities to this programme, and they really enjoyed the festival. Some of the wine producers realised a larger income at this Szekszárd festival than in the early September Buda Castle Wine Festival (Budapest International Wine and Champaign Festival). Their experience was that guests did not only taste wines at more acknowledged wine producers but were also interested in the newcomers of the second or third wave and tried to explore as many wineries as possible. Third, the questioning of the guests also showed that visitors were satisfied. Not last, a proof of success is the fact that the staff of the Hungarian Festival Association assessed and qualified the event in the framework of the Hungarian Festival Registration and Qualification Programme (www.fesztivalregisztracio.hu), as a result of which the event was awarded the title “event with excellent qualification” on 2 December 2009.

János Háry is a character of tales, the Hungarian version of Baron Munchausen