Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Lake Balaton (the largest freshwater lake in
Central Europe) was the meeting place for fami-
lies and friends separated by the border between
West and East Germany. Since travel within the
Eastern bloc was relatively easy, while it was
complicated or impossible to cross the border
from East to West Germany, the lake became a
destination that was close by and easy to visit
for Germans from both sides of the border. The
popularity of Hungary was further increased when,
for the first time ever, the Hungarian govern-
ment opened the border to allow East Germans
to travel to Austria in 1989.
The image of Hungary became very posi-
tive in Germany and many people were grateful
for this gesture. However, this popularity lasted
for only 5 or 6 years. Since the mid-1990s, the
share of German tourists to Hungary has been
stagnating or (slightly) declining.
On the other hand, Hungary was a
central location for many former Eastern bloc
cross-border petty-traders. These generated the
ironically-named 'Comecon-markets', which were
often located in border towns and villages and
were extremely popular in making available
goods (and services) that were otherwise unavail-
able, had a long waiting list, or were available
only at unattainable prices. Visitors to these
markets, who did not want to know where the
products came from and were happy to shop
without warranty or guarantee, could buy (or
sell) virtually anything at substantially discoun-
ted prices. Such markets and the petty-trading
that supported them acted as a safety valve in
response to the 'market failure' of central
economic planning (see also Chapter 8). Post-
Communist liberalization of the economy and
foreign direct investment in commerce and
trade caused these markets to vanish within a
few years in the early 1990s, although the fact
that part of Hungary's borders now act as the
external EU border is likely to renew some
degree of petty-trading activity with/from non-
EU neighbours.
The imbalance of arrivals and dominance
of German visitors have put incoming tourism
and the suppliers of related services in a relatively
vulnerable position. There were high hopes that
EU accession would make Hungary a better
known and more popular destination. Certainly,
in the last few years, with EU (pre-)accession
processes
visited by a growing number of tourists from
other EU-member countries. The increase in visi-
tor numbers has been particularly significant from
the UK, France, Spain and the Scandinavian
countries (HNTO 2005).
In 2000, when the date of Hungary's EU
accession was confirmed, the HNTO inaugu-
rated a series of studies aimed at collecting infor-
mation and data about the image of Hungary
and perception of the country as a destination in
the main tourist generating countries of Europe.
It was confirmed by the results that, apart from
Austria and Germany, the general image of, and
knowledge about Hungary in other EU member
countries were either based on false stereotypes
or were rather limited. The Ministry of National
Cultural Heritage together with the HNTO stim-
ulated into action by the results of the studies,
started to organize special events in selected
countries (notably France, the UK, The Nether-
lands, Italy) under the title of 'Year of Hungar-
ian Culture'. The rich cultural and arts
programme of this series of events resulted in
positive impacts, with incoming numbers increas-
ing and a modification of national image
appearing to have been generated. However,
these events were not aimed primarily at attract-
ing visitors with particular cultural interests.
The Main Impacts of EU Enlargement
on Hungarian Tourism
Although a relatively short period has passed
since Hungary's EU accession on 1 May, 2004,
the country was an associate member for 10
years prior to that, so the EU integration process
has influenced Hungarian tourism development
for more than a decade. In preparation for
Hungary's EU accession, the tourism industry
underwent a step-by-step harmonization with
the EU's legal framework. The country adopted
the common body of EU law that governs areas
such as foreign policy, movement of goods, per-
sons and capital, transport and the environment.
Although integration into the EU seemed to
proceed smoothly during the first year of acces-
sion, the magnitude of future changes could not
be fully anticipated.
According to recently published WTTC
(2004) industry-supported research data, Hungary
gaining
pace,
Hungary
has
been
