The role of countryside tourism in the North Hungarian region, with particular regard to regional development in the light of agricultural and regional policy for 2007-2013

Dávid, Lóránt – Tóth, Géza – Kelemen, Nóra – Kincses, Áron

Keywords: countryside tourism, village accommodation, commercial hospitality, statistical analysis, competitiveness

Of northern Hungary’s three regions, the role of private accommodation is most significant in the county of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén where 50.5% of catering establishments can be found, followed by Heves with 41.6% and Nógrád with 7.9%. Examination of 2005 data shows that the distribution of private accommodation rooms is territorially rather uneven. Village accommodation constitutes 58% of private accommodation rooms, based on the 2005 data, which is at variance with distribution nationally. With regard to most of the indicators, we established that in many respects the socio-economic development and processes of settlements boasting accommodation and private accommodation in the region’s counties are unfavourable, in comparison to the average for countryside settlements with such accommodation. This fundamentally determines the future of local tourism.
Territorially, four large convergences can be set apart, where the ratio of private accommodation to population is prominently high: the Aggtelek territory, Zemplén, Mátra-Bükk and the area around Tisza-tó. Of the three counties, the number of guest-nights in 2005, in comparison to 2000, only fell in Nógrád, while the other two counties experienced growth in excess of the regional average. In commercial hospitality, by comparison, while the number of guest-nights in the countryside fluctuated significantly but fundamentally stagnated, in the region there is a slow, constant fall.
In the years under examination differentiation took place in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Heves counties, while there was a small degree of equalisation in Nógrád. Comparing the three counties, the greatest territorial differences can be found in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, while the paths of Heves and Nógrád counties have diverged, having started from similar positions. Owing to this process, in terms of private accommodation guest-nights much greater territorial differences can be found in Heves County than in Nógrád.
Of settlements with private accommodation, only four can be characterised as having complex competitive advantages from a tourism viewpoint, while 46 have competitive advantages comprising multiple factors. In terms of private accommodation these are also the region’s most determinant settlements in the long-term. Unfortunately the majority of settlements with private accommodation suffer from competitive disadvantages. According to our investigation, range and utilisation represent significant problems. There are many settlements where, above and beyond this the aging of the settlement is also a determining factor, which influences the future processes of private accommodation.
Examining the socio-economic correlations of private accommodation, it can be said that neither demographics nor social criteria have a serious effect on the projected number of private accommodation rooms and guest-nights per 1000 inhabitants. That is to say, a suitable socio-demographic environment was not a condition for the establishment of such accommodations, and these accommodations are not able to create this environment even though, in terms of the future, the demographic situation is a determining factor in local tourism. With the complex economic variable, the situation is no longer so clear cut. We established that the above average ratio of private accommodation is coupled with average economic volume, while above average economic performance produces average private accommodation data at the settlement level. It can be assumed that a stronger economic presence in tourism is more strongly related to commercial accommodation numbers than to increases in the number of private accommodations, although we did not analyse this relationship in this research. Nevertheless, a strong potential for private accommodation does not have any determining economic power. The conclusion to be drawn from this investigation is that private accommodation can be found under all external circumstances, not only where a “theoretically” suitable environment is guaranteed.

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