Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.2.
Tourist flows, 1937.
of transportation, one of the most remarkable
changes compared to the period before World
War I is the flow of tourists from the German
Reich
(D) to the coast of the young Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia)
(YU), where German tourists were hardly in
evidence before the war (Fig. 6.2).
Also, the flow from the regions constituting
the Republic of Austria (A) shifted during the
interwar period from the former 'Austrian
Riviera' and Istria, at that time belonging to Italy
and to the Yugoslavian coast. Guests from post-
Trianon Hungary (H) also played an important
role all along the eastern Adriatic coast, and
along the Italian section - a more important one
than guests from Czechoslovakia. Hungary itself
was not a much frequented destination for
foreign tourists, the only great attraction being
Budapest, registering two thirds of all foreign
arrivals (mainly Germans, second Austrians).
Lake Balaton had not yet been discovered by
foreigners in spite of considerable popularity
among Hungarians. As regards Austria, in the
western part of the country German guests pre-
guests from Vienna mingled with guests from
Czechoslovakia (CS) and Hungary.
In Czechoslovakia the West Bohemian spas
remained the main attraction, attracting two
thirds of foreign tourism. Germans and Austrians
still accounted for the major proportion. The
resorts in the Tatra Mountains were now
frequented mainly by Czechs. Czechoslovakia
was - in the same manner as the Czech lands
before World War I - a main source of tourism in
Central Europe. The tourist industries of Bavaria,
Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia were essen-
tially adapted to Czechoslovakian guests.
The two situations may be regarded as a
blueprint for flows in a Central Europe reunited
by the enlargement process and hopefully
completely reintegrated after all the restrictions
have been removed. Offers, tourist motives,
tourism trends, social participation in tourism,
participation by age groups, means of trans-
portation, economic relations, markets, eco-
nomic situations in the markets and in the
destinations are certainly too different today
necessarily to assume anything of this kind. It is
nevertheless true that (also under very different
conditions) Germany is again the dominant
market for all of Central Europe and it is
remarkable that the Czech lands, with a popu-
lation of enthusiastic travellers, were also a
