This section gives an account of the organisations and players identified by the respondents in the two cities as actors that they see as related to the components of the stakeholder definition. As it has been discussed in the methodology chapter, the Hungarian language does not provide a translation for the term ‘stakeholder’ therefore the components of the notion suggested by the relevant literature were used in the interviews.
The answers to the questions “Who are the key players, interested in tourism in the city?”
(component 1), “Who are affected by tourism in the city?” (component 2) and “Who are involved in the tourism development process in the city?” (component 3) form the basis for the identification of the stakeholder components in the researched cities.
Furthermore, as the perception of the respondents – whether they are key players of or are
‘only’ affected by tourism – proved to be helpful in distinguishing stakeholders, the format of this section will follow the order of the above outlined interview questions. The first part will list stakeholder component 1 related to those who are considered to be key players of the given cities, then the list will be enriched by the responses to the “affected by” stakeholder component 2 category, and finally the third group of the stakeholder components will be added with those who were mentioned in relation to tourism development at a later point in the interviews but not as a direct response to any of the three questions.
The discussion of the three components will then lead to a re-composition of the elements of the term and the formulation of a new tourism stakeholder definition will conclude the section.
Stakeholder component 1
We will begin by looking at the responses from the fieldwork in Pécs.
Key players in Pécs
Table 8.1: Stakeholder component 1 (key players of tourism) in Pécs
The list of key tourism players of the city comprises of the following actors:
• Local authority
• Key local politicians
• Tourist information centre (Tourinform)
• Heritage Workgroup
• Tourism referent
• Accommodation providers
• Bars and restaurants
• Cultural programme organisers
• Travel agents
• Attractions, especially cultural ones
• Church
• Regional tourism organisations
• University
• Danubius Hotel Group
• Pécs Industrial Fair Ltd
The above list includes the players who were mentioned by at least two respondents.
However, a few more actors were named once as key players, such as the County Council, the Pécs Academic Committee, the Chamber, the Southern Transdanubia Development Agency, the Theatre, voluntary groups, tourists and the Hungarian National Tourist Office.
Most of the interviewees recognised the crucial role of the local authority in tourism.
The private sector representatives usually referred to the local authority in general, with no reference to its departments and committees, whereas the public sector respondents were almost always more specific in their replies. The committee of the local council with tourism in its portfolio, the Business and Assets Committee was mentioned by name, but only by a fraction of the respondents.
recognised as a key player by some of the respondents. Although the Mayor has the major political power and is seen as the politician at the top of the local hierarchy, none of the informants in Pécs suggested that the Mayor would be a key player in tourism.
However, as we will see some of the interviewees acknowledged the importance of the Mayor later in the discussions.
Tourinform (Tourist Information Centre) was mentioned several times as a key player.
In Pécs Tourinform is run by a municipal business organisation with the majority interest of the county council, and operates as a county-level information centre, therefore it is responsible for information collection and provision, as well as for all the marketing activities of the whole of Baranya County.
A number of respondents regarded the Heritage Workgroup (HWG) as a key player in Pécs, primarily as a recognition of the importance of the World Heritage Site that the HWG is responsible for in terms of its development and marketing. The HWG was at the time of the interviews managed by the tourism referent of the local authority who was also listed among the key players of tourism in the city.
The tourism referent position has been in place for several years in Pécs, therefore it is established in people’s minds and features in the associations with tourism in the city.
The tourism referent in Pécs works closely with the Vice-Mayor responsible for tourism development.
The accommodation providers were identified as key players in most of the interviews.
Interestingly, the tourism referent and the colleague from Tourinform did not identify the accommodation sector as key players in the city’s tourism, though they have or should have regular contacts with the accommodation providers. None of the operating hotels were mentioned in particular.
Restaurants and bars were listed several times in the interviews, more often by the business respondents than by the public sector. None of the restaurants or bars were named in Pécs.
Most of the interviewees listed the organisers of cultural programmes as key players in tourism, however, only the Theatre was mentioned specially in Pécs. It must be noted that the Theatre of Pécs is one of the most prestigious theatres outside Budapest; people would travel to Pécs specially to see a play performed here. There was no significant difference to be noticed regarding the background of the respondents that recognised the cultural programme organisers as key players of tourism in Pécs.
Travel agents were recognised as key players of the tourism. Even though the number of tourists travelling independently is increasing, some of the respondents argued for the need for travel agents as service providers, the example mentioned referred to information provision primarily. Two travel agencies were mentioned by name; one acts also as the regional office of Malév (Hungarian Airlines), which offers a wide range of travel agency services besides the flight ticket business, the other one that featured in one of the interviews is possibly the second most successful travel agency in the city.
Tourism attractions as a broad category got mentioned once as key players, several informants in Pécs narrowed the area down to museums and cultural heritage attractions. They were generally more often recognised by the public sector respondents than the private entrepreneurs, which may be explained by the public ownership of the majority of these attractions. The only attraction mentioned by name was the Cathedral.
The Church was regarded as a key player by some of the respondents, including the interviewee from the Church. The role of the Church in Pécs’s tourism is apparent: the city’s pride, the World Heritage Site is based on the early Christian burial chamber adjacent to the Cathedral.
Tourism organisations at county, regional and national level were included in the list of key players. The county tourism organisation (Ezerszín Baranya Kht) was recognised as a key player by two respondents, just like the regional committee on tourism (RCT), whereas the regional marketing directorate (RMD) of the Hungarian National Tourist Office proved to be popular with the respondents. It must be noted that these regional tourism organisations have their offices in Pécs, therefore may be more influential on the tourism of the city due to their location.
The University was listed as a key player, due to its multiple roles as an academic base for the city as well as a major conference organiser and host. The university was also mentioned as one of the key partners in the European Capital of Culture Project Pécs 2010. Some of the interviewees mentioned the University also as an accommodation provider in the summer. The halls of residence serve as budget accommodation in the summer, sometimes also weekends in term time. In Pécs, they are run by an independent limited company therefore some of the respondents mentioned the halls separately from the University.
The Danubius Hotel Group featured in two of the interviews in Pécs. This chain operates the two largest hotels in the city, and is the owner of an old hotel building that has been derelict and therefore out of use for decades. The building of the Hotel Nádor is situated right in the middle of the main square and the city has high hopes the Danubius Group would open it again as a hotel in the foreseeable future, no later than in 2010, when Pécs is the European Capital of Culture. Also, the café of the Hotel Nádor used to function as a meeting place for the Pécs intellectuals, therefore the re-opening of the hotel does not only concern the improvements in the accommodation provision of the city, but also offering a fine café for the locals is at stake, not to mention the improvement of the cityscape by refurbishing the run down building.
Two of the key informants recognised the Pécs Industrial Fair Ltd as a key player, as this company is the organiser of the major tourism event for the sector, the Travel and
Tourism Fair which is regarded as one of the most prestigious tourism fairs outside Budapest.
The above actors are the ones that were recognised as key players of tourism by two or more respondents. However, in two cases it felt logical to include actors with one single
‘vote’ in the above list: attractions as an umbrella term was used only by one informant but got grouped with museums and heritage attractions to form one broad category; and the Theatre was mentioned alongside with the cultural programme organisers. Although it was felt important to signify the difference between the agents that were seen as key players by more than one respondents and the ones recognised by only one interviewee, the list would not be complete and just if it disregarded the ones that seemed to be important to one respondent only. Therefore, these half-orphan key players are going to be presented in the next section.
Key players with one reference to them:
• County Council
• Pécs Academic Committee
• Chamber
• Southern Transdanubia Development Agency
• Voluntary groups
• Tourists
• Hungarian National Tourist Office
The County Council was seen as a key player by the respondent from Tourinform, he saw this political body important as Tourinform at the time of the interviews was operated jointly by the local authority of Pécs and Baranya County Council.
The regional committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Pécs Academic Committee was mentioned in one of the interviews as a key player in tourism. This academic organisation forms a valuable part of the intellectual base of the city besides the
The Chamber was recognised as a key player of the city’s tourism by the respondent from the Chamber only, she argued for the Chamber’s importance due to the Tourism Club it organises for its members.
One informant, the MP referred to the key role of the Southern Transdanubia Development Agency. Due to the scope of his activity he was more likely to look beyond the city level, as he mentioned other regional organisations such as the Regional Committee on Tourism or the Regional Marketing Directorate.
Voluntary groups as key players in tourism got mentioned in one of the interviews, the respondent provided the examples of the Tour Guides’ Association or the Wine Route Association; however, she is in regular contact with these associations due to her job and private business.
Only one informant regarded tourists as key players in the city’s tourism, surprisingly a person who has no day-to-day contact with tourists at all. However, this particular informant, the tourism referent is in charge of tourism at the administrative level of the local authority, which might have had an impact on her approach to key players of tourism.
One respondent referred to the key role of the Hungarian National Tourist Office that is responsible for the marketing activities of the whole of the country. This informant suggested that the HNTO advocates Pécs as a major cultural tourism destination, primarily due to its World Heritage Site.
Key players in
County Tourist Office x
Table 8.2: Stakeholder component 1 (key players of tourism) in Veszprém
The key players listed in Veszprém are going to be presented in a similar fashion to Pécs.
The first list comprises the actors mentioned by at least two respondents, while the ones recognised as key players by only one informant are presented in a second list.
The list of key players includes the following actors in Veszprém:
• Local authority
• Media
• Key tourism entrepreneur
Most of the interviewees referred to the key role of the local authority in the city’s tourism. Similarly to Pécs, the private sector respondents talked about the local authority in general, with no reference to its departments and committees, whereas the public sector informants were usually more specific in their replies. The Cultural Department of the local authority was named specially in relation to its responsibility for tourism.
The two key politicians of a local authority, the Mayor and the Vice-Mayor were recognised as key players by some of the respondents, none of which has a business background. Although the Mayor has the major political power and is seen as the politician at the top of the local hierarchy, this position features much less frequently in the interviews than the Vice-Mayor’s one. Interestingly, the Mayor was named as a key figure by only one informant.
Several respondents listed Tourinform as a key player in Veszprém. The Veszprém Tourinform Office is a regional information and marketing office, providing information about and promoting the attractions and providers of the city and 9 small nearby settlements. An issue worth noting is that the recognition of Tourinform - an organisation run by the local authority - was more typical among public sector interviewees than the private sector ones. Surprisingly, the interview conducted with a member of staff in Tourinform did not reveal the importance of the information point in Veszprém’s tourism.
The accommodation providers were identified as key players in most of the interviews in Veszprém. Two hotels were named in particular, one that had recently opened in the city featured in one interview; another hotel was mentioned twice, with reference to the owner on both occasions.
Similarly to accommodation providers, restaurants and bars were listed several times in
restaurant was mentioned by name and with reference to the owner; presumably it earned its special status with that particular interviewee due to its central location and its owner.
It is interesting to note that one of the interviewees, who did not recognise the restaurants and bars as key players is a restaurant owner, and the other one is the owner of a city centre hotel with a restaurant, where the restaurant part of the business is more successful than accommodation provision. Similarly to the answers regarding accommodations, only one restaurant was mentioned by name, in this case also by another private entrepreneur.
Most of the interviewees in Veszprém listed the organisers of cultural programmes as key players in tourism. It is noticeable that these players were mentioned by the respondents representing the whole spectrum of interviewees, but less often by the private sector ones. The only private sector interviewee who identified the cultural programme organisers as key players is interested in programmes himself: he organises concerts on the premises he manages, sponsors various cultural events in the city and has recently set up a major cultural festival that puts the city on the festival map of the country. Cultural institutions such as the City Culture Centre and the House of Arts were mentioned especially; the Theatre, the Music School and the Garrison Culture Centre got mentioned on a few occasions. The Theatre both as a programme organiser and an attraction in its own right was also recognised to play an important role in both cities’
tourism.
Travel agencies were recognised as key players of the tourism in Veszprém as well.
Some of the interviewees here narrowed this category down to those travel agencies, which bring tourists to the city, one informant emphasized the role of the businesses that organise excursions, day visits to Veszprém from the nearby major tourist resort, Lake Balaton. Ironically, the manager of one of the travel agencies failed to list this business as key players - she only recognised the importance of the business she was representing.
This particular business, Balatontourist was the only travel agent referred to by name.
The list of key players includes tourism attractions in Veszprém as well. Just like in Pécs, they were generally more often recognised by the public sector representatives than
the private entrepreneurs. Galleries and exhibitions were also mentioned along with tourism attractions in one of the interviews. The respondents usually mentioned these categories using the umbrella terms, only a few of them referred to particular museums or other cultural heritage attractions. The cultural attractions that were named in particular are the ones that are regarded to be the key attractions (judging by the promotional material of the cities). The Zoo in Veszprém was recognised as one of the key attractions, therefore a key player in the city’s tourism. The Cathedral was also reasonably popular with respondents as it was listed among the key players three times.
The Church was regarded as a key player in Veszprém; one of the respondents argued that many of the historic buildings are owned by the Church, about third of the buildings in the most visited part of the city (the Castle area) belong to them therefore they have to play a key role in the city’s tourism. The other respondent to nominate the Church as a key player was the interviewee form the Church itself.
The University was listed as a key player, with reference to its role as an academic base, as one of the major conference organisers and hosts of the city; and with its Tourism Department in particular it was regarded as a catalyst of tourism development in the city.
Some of the interviewees mentioned the University also as an accommodation provider in the summer, the halls of residence as part of the remits of the University were referred to in the context of the university only.
Shops or the retail sector in general were identified as key players in one of the interviews by a private entrepreneur, however, another interviewee, a member of staff from Tourinform listed exchange offices, newsagents, and souvenir shops as part of this category as key players. The reason for this may be that tourists look for the above mentioned services in the Tourinform offices.
Two respondents, the Mayor and the Vice-Mayor referred to voluntary groups as key players however, neither of them provided any examples of a voluntary body that plays a key role in the city’s tourism.