This chapter attempts to present an image of Hungary and the two cities, Pécs and Veszprém to help locate the analyses of stakeholders. The first section will briefly introduce Hungary to show how the two cities involved in the research fit in the overall tourism offer of the country.
About Hungary
Figure 7.1: The map of Hungary
Hungary is a small country in Central-Eastern Europe, the westernmost country of the old communist eastern block. Before the political changes of 1989 Hungary was quoted as the "happiest barrack" among the former communist countries, which made it very popular with western tourists who were intrigued by the wonders and atmosphere of a country with a regime almost unknown to them. Hungary was also the meeting place of the East and West German families that were divided by the Berlin wall, which also made it a popular destination.
The fall of the iron curtain and East and West Germany uniting impacted on the tourist arrivals; the country lost some of its uniqueness due to the political changes as well as some of its largest market due to the declining economy of the united Germany. Hungary had been one of the permitted destinations in the old East Germany and so found a market in Germans seeking a safe meeting place for families separated by the division of the country. The country had to reposition itself and target new markets partly with the existing attractions and partly with widening the tourism offer.
While Budapest, possibly the most important attraction, kept its charm as a capital city with a varied cultural offer and world famous spas, Lake Balaton, the second most popular attraction (the largest fresh water lake in Europe) was loosing its appeal as a family lake resort. The new clientele with a higher propensity to spend were not very keen on the old style hotels and were certainly not looking for cheap campsites or bed and breakfasts. Furthermore, tourists started to expect more than the sun and the "sea" so both hotels and tour operators embarked on the journey of finding out what else the tourists want and how to offer it to them.
One of the popular solutions to improve the tourism offer was to introduce the notion of wellness, building primarily on the traditions of spas and thermal baths in Hungary.
Budapest has started to re-establish itself as the ‘spa capital’, several of the spas outside the capital also enjoy world fame, and all the spas and thermal baths just like the four and five star hotels started to refurbish their establishment to create room for wellness facilities.
Hévíz is worth a special mentioning as the possibly most well-known spa in Hungary, the second largest thermal lake in the world. This destination is well established to attract visitors from all over Europe, and also the tourism service providers around the Lake Balaton can benefit from the fame or image of Hévíz.
Not only spas go back a long time in history, the country also has several historic wine
regions. Several wine routes have been established in the recent years so that the tourism potential of the wine regions could be better exploited. As the Hungarians love their drink, they assume everybody else does too, so it is becoming more difficult now to find a destination in Hungary which does not want to draw its tourists' attention to a nearby wine region. The Tokaj historic wine region, the one that is arguably the most famous of them all was declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.
Hungary registers 8 World Heritage Sites on the UNESCO list, which is rather remarkable for a country of this size. The world heritage status was also seen to help the tourism industry to appeal to a new market, which made several practitioners keen on getting their attractions acknowledged as World Heritage Sites.
The Hungarians are also very proud of their culture and traditions that they managed to preserve despite the invasions of different nations during the centuries. Now they are inviting the invaders' ancestors back to show them the treasures that survived the difficult centuries and the impact of the foreign cultures that shaped what the Hungarians believe is their culture today. Culture has become the selling point for many places and not only Budapest, several cities and towns emerged as short break destinations building on their cultural assets.
However, it must also be admitted that the improved tourism offer owes part of its success to the low-cost airlines that made this offer more accessible. In 2004 three no-frills airlines started to operate routes to Budapest within five months of Hungary joined the European Union, now nearly ten operate regular flights from throughout the European Union and another company has invested in a regional airport a few kilometres from Lake Balaton and the spa town Hévíz in 2006. The local airport close to Pécs used to receive flights from Vienna but this service has disappeared and now no one uses the airport for tourism purposes.
For more information and a more tourism brochure like introduction, please visit the www.itthon.hu website.
Pécs
"A city with a Mediterranean atmosphere, a university city, a city of festivals and museums - the list is far from complete, as one could still choose from among a dozen other attributes that adequately describe the seat of Baranya County." (Pécs, the 2000-year-old city)
Pécs with its 160,000 inhabitants is the fifth largest city of Hungary. The city is situated roughly 200 kms south of Budapest, near the Croatian border. It lies at the foot of the Mecsek Hills, which have a major influence on the climate that lends a Mediterranean character to the city. The road connections between Pécs and other larger cities are not excellent which makes accessibility somewhat problematic from both the international airports and other parts of the country. To partly overcome this semi-isolation, Pécs put enormous efforts into opening a regional airport just outside the city, which operated flights between Pécs and Vienna initially, with plans to introduce new routes. As the demand for the Pécs-Vienna flights was not enough to make the link viable, the airport shut down after 10 months of operation and is still waiting for investors who would make use of the facility.
The city has a significant ethnic minority element within its population; more than 30%
of the ethnic Germans and Croats in Hungary live in Pécs according to the Pécs, the 2000-year-old city brochure. The multi-ethnic nature of the city is reflected in the cultural offer, with the Croatian theatre and the cultural events based on and targeting the various ethnic minorities.
Pécs is now one of the key academic bases of the country. With the mergers of various higher education institutions the university has become one of the largest in Hungary, which has about 30,000 students. The university builds on a fine historic tradition with its claim to have been the first university in Hungary, as the original institution was established in Pécs in 1367.
The city is rich in historic monuments, the most significant of which are the Cathedral and the early Christian burial chambers nearby; the latter was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2000. The city has been an important centre of Christianity since the foundation of the state, when St. István, the first Hungarian king, established one of the first bishoprics in Pécs. The migration of different peoples from the Balkans have introduced new religions such as the Pravoslav orthodox. Islam came with the Turkish occupation and the mosques and a minaret appeared in the city. Some of these fine buildings still form a part of the city's tourist attractions. Interestingly, the largest mosque is now a Catholic church, whilst keeping its original structure.
Most of the attractions are concentrated in the three main squares of the city centre, and in a narrow street connecting two of these main squares, where most of the city's museums can be found. The locals would therefore call this street the street of museums.
Some of the art collections are of at least national importance.
An example of industrial heritage is the Zsolnay Porcelain Manufacture, producing all sorts of fine china including artefacts in a peculiar green colour called eozin that are unique to this factory not only in Hungary but worldwide.
An attraction that can be found outside the city centre is the Pécs Zoo, one of the 11 zoos in Hungary. Although it attracts more than 120,000 visitors a year (Szabó, 2006) its representation in the city guides and leaflets suggests that it is still not rated as important as the attractions based on heritage and culture.
The various festivals and events held in the city have helped to increase its popularity.
The events that attract the most spectators are the National Theatre Festival, the International Folk Festival, the Arts and Gastronomy Weeks, the Festival of Mediterranean Spirit, and the two-week-long Pécs Days which incorporates some events from the European Wine Song Festival organised by the nearby Siklós-Villány Wine Route Association.
The city also aims to benefit from the attractions of the region. The visitors to the aforementioned Villány historic wine region, to the nearby Orf lakes, and to the Harkány spa often combine their holiday with a visit to Pécs, especially as they are suggested to do so in the brochures marketing the attractions that are close to Pécs. At the same time, the nearby attractions also turn the proximity to Pécs into an advantage as the city can widen the scope of tourism attractions and services for the visitors of the wine region, the lakes or spas in the Southern Transdanubia region.
For more information, www.pecs.hu offers downloadable brochures in English.
Veszprém
Veszprém is one of the smallest county seats, and also one of the smallest cities of Hungary. The city tries to compensate for its size with its favourable location as it is only 110 kilometres away from Budapest, roughly 120 kilometres from Ferihegy International Airport and only 11 kilometres from the nearest beach of Lake Balaton, the second most popular tourist attraction in the country. The Austrian and the Slovakian borders can also be reached within one and a half hours by car. Talking of cars, Veszprém also benefits from the easy access to the M7 motorway that links Budapest and the Lake Balaton.
The city lies at the foot of the Bakony Hills, a favourite spot for walkers and ramblers and also of winter sport enthusiasts as one of the few ski and toboggan slopes can be found in the Bakony.
Veszprém is one of the most multifaceted cities in the country. Several attributes are used to describe it such as the city of queens, a university city, a city of festivals, a handball city, even a zoo city, or the city where the wind always blows. Veszprém is most proud to be the city of queens, a description that it owes to the tradition of crowning the Hungarian queens in Veszprém.
The traditions of the city’s university do not go as far back as in the case of Pécs; it was
established as a faculty of an institution in Budapest only in 1949. However, with achieving an independent university status and the constant expansion it has become one of the largest academic institutions outside Budapest. The university was one of the first to offer a course in tourism and is still regarded as one of if not the best tourism degree courses in the country.
The historic city centre comprises most of the cultural and heritage attractions, the most spectacular of which is the complex of the old walled royal palace lovingly called the Castle by the locals.
The attraction that rivals the Castle in popularity is the Zoo, situated in beautiful natural surroundings outside the city centre. This is one of the strongest symbols of the city, with more than 230,000 people visiting it every year (Szabó, 2006).
There are attempts to transform Veszprém into a city of modern arts; two new exhibition areas have been established recently to house some of the paintings and sculptures of two art collectors, László Vass and Károly László. Although these exhibitions attract a rather selected audience the collections certainly add value to the city’s tourism offer.
As Veszprém has been one of the strongholds of the Catholic Church, several attractions are church-related in the city. One of the most recognised attractions of the city is the Cathedral, and one of the most spectacular ones is the Archbishop’s Palace. Both these buildings are situated in the Castle area, alongside with two other churches and two chapels, all of which are open to visitors. The Church even operates a Church Museum in the Castle.
Veszprém also aspires to become a well-known festival city. The most significant festivals such as the Street Music Festival or the Veszprém Festival would attract visitors to the city from abroad. Other popular events (of more than local significance) are the Veszprém Rally, the Old-timer Convention, the Gizella Days, the Vivace International Choir Festival, the Festival of Dance or the Kabóciádé Puppet Theatre Festival.
The city’s tourism offer is enriched by the attractions of the immediate surroundings, or worded differently the city also benefits from the popularity of the attractions nearby. The Lake Balaton attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists in the summer months, a lot of which (especially the ones at the northern shore of the lake) would devote a few hours or a day even to visit Veszprém. Two historic wine regions are also within easy reach from the city.
One of the popular attractions that is not actually situated in Veszprém but the city likes to boast with is the Herend Porcelain Manufacture, just 15 minutes drive away from Veszprém. The name carries worldwide fame and the place is indeed very popular with visitors from all over the world, it is hardly surprising therefore that Veszprém and other neighbouring settlements want to share the success of Herend.
The tourism website of the city www.veszpreminfo.hu provides more detail about the city and its region also offers brochures to download.
The two cities as seen by respondents not involved with this research
Secondary data can be introduced from two surveys that were carried out at roughly the same time in 2006 about the image of the two cities. The recent survey about the image of the city (Pécs és az “EKF-Pécs 2010 Program középtávú marketingstratégiájának kialakítása) revealed that most respondents recognised Pécs as a large city and associated it with its cultural offer. Pécs was most often regarded as the favourite large city of the respondents. However, the proportion of the respondents acknowledging Pécs as a cultural city and a favourite large city is still small, furthermore it must also be noted that the differences between the positions of the cities mentioned in the survey are also small.
The perceived competitors of Pécs were three other cities (Debrecen, Szeged and Eger), two of which (Debrecen and Szeged) are larger in size and population than Pécs. The survey also highlighted that three other cities; Miskolc, Gy r and Veszprém were categorically not considered competitor cities (even though Miskolc comes before Pécs in the ranking of the cities by size and population). It must also be noted that the
respondents were prompted to react to the cities, they were not spontaneously mentioned (Új Dunántúli Napló).
According to the survey, Pécs is the fifth most popular city visit destination. Strangely given the findings reported to the question of competitors, they would still put Veszprém before Pécs in the ranking of city break destinations that they would visit at least once. In the case of repeat visits however, Pécs was again in front of Veszprém. A possible explanation might be found in the comparison of the two cities’ cultural offer: while in Veszprém the key elements are static (such as the heritage buildings), there are more dynamic, changing elements in Pécs’s offer (such as the cultural events). Also the retail offer is much wider in Pécs, which may also explain why Pécs is more popular with repeat visitors than Veszprém.
The overall assessment of Pécs was very positive, only one city (Eger) scored higher in this respect. The analysis of the different attributes of the city (such as modernity, traditions, attractiveness or ambience) showed that Pécs is above the average but none of these attributes make Pécs outstanding compared to other cities. In other words there was always another city with a higher score in the case of all of the attributes explored.
The survey also revealed that the city does not have a clear symbol that the majority of the respondents would identify the city with. Surprisingly, not an attraction but the university got mentioned most often in relation to Pécs (although only 6.6% of the respondents linked Pécs and the university). The Cathedral, the Television Lookout Tower, the Mecsek Hills and the Minaret were the other symbols that some of the respondents mentioned in association with Pécs.
At the same time as the study in Pécs, a similar survey was conducted in Veszprém about the city's image (Veszprém ismertsége és imázsa Magyarországon 2006). The respondents of this survey listed 40 competitor cities/towns spontaneously. The three major competitors were seen to be Eger, Pécs and Székesfehérvár. (Eger was a key competitor of Pécs's tourism offer as well). Eger was more popular mainly because of the attractive nature of their wine region and their wellness offer. The respondents regarded
Pécs as a better known and more attractive tourist destination despite the similarities between the two cities. (The similarities listed in the survey referred to the attractions and sites, the ambience of the historic city centre, the beautiful natural environment of the surrounding areas and the cultural events.) The respondents of the Veszprém image survey suggested that the tourism offer in Pécs is more impressive than in Veszprém, and in Pécs everything was seen to be on a larger scale. Székesfehérvár was regarded as a competitor primarily due to its proximity to Budapest.
The people involved in the survey associated Veszprém mostly with the built heritage attractions, but also traditions and culture were seen to characterise Veszprém. The most popular attractions of the city listed by the respondents were the Castle and the Zoo, followed by the historic city centre and old town, the pedestrian street and the Cathedral.
Interestingly, when asked what colour the city would be the majority of the respondents suggested the colour green, as Veszprém lies by the feet of the Bakony Hills and has a number of green areas, parks in the city.
The respondents also linked Veszprém with Lake Balaton, and argued that the nearby
The respondents also linked Veszprém with Lake Balaton, and argued that the nearby