The topic of cultural tourism is an extremely complex research field, because, as we could see in Chapter 1, both the concept of culture and the range of activities and services categorised as cultural tourism can be interpreted relatively broadly.
In cultural tourism researches, one of the most frequently studied issues is traditional demand and supply analysis, using a predominantly marketing-based approach, because cultural tourism in an economic activity, in the framework of which consumer demands must be explored, understood and satisfied in a sustainable way – i.e. with profit or at least without a deficit – on the one hand; on the other hand, the development of cultural tourism has a significant impact on the quality of life of both the participating tourists and the inhabitants of the destination. Accordingly, the aspects of social, cultural and ecological sustainability must be taken into consideration on making development decisions, so these issues also appear as research topics when studying the phenomenon of cultural tourism.
Beyond the statistical analysis of demand and supply, in the forefront of the Hungarian and international surveys we find, among other things, the complicated system of relations of culture and tourism; the impacts of the progress of tourism on the cultural features of the destination concerned; the challenges of the interpretation and representation of cultural heritage; the relationship of arts, creative industries and tourism; the development and effects of festival tourism; culture as an urban development tool; the impact of globalisation on the trends of cultural and heritage tourism; cultural tourism as an integration factor; democratisation of the cultural consumption; the role of cultural tourism in shaping individual and community identity; the appearance of multiculturality in tourism … and the list is practically endless.
Among the databases available, an especially useful one is the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee providing complex information of the sites on the world heritage list, the criteria of the award of the recognition the World Heritage Convention, and also giving topical news on world heritage locations and on relevant events. Several different UNESCO publications deal with the issue of the World Heritage values, including the World Heritage Review, a richly illustrated periodical released every third month in English, French and Spanish languages, or the World Heritage Paper Series launched in 2002 which discusses, at an academic level, issues related to the management, preservation and development of World Heritages.
In the topic of cultural routes as special touristic products, detailed information is provided by the European Institute of Cultural Routes on the network of cultural routes in Europe and on events and projects related to the establishment, development and propaganda of cultural routes as well as the academic research of the topic serving as the foundation of the routes.
Active researches are carried out in the field of cultural and heritage tourism by the research groups of ATLAS (European Association for Tourism and Leisure Education), especially by the tasks forces of Cultural Tourism, Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, Gastronomy and Tourism, Tourism and Socio-Cultural Identity and Urban and Capital City Tourism. The majority of the studies and books summarising the findings of the researches can be purchased online at the webshop ATLAS.
The CCP (Cultural Contact Point) provides information on several issues related to cultural cooperations in Europe. This office is also responsible for the national coordination of the current cultural framework programme of the European Union.
Although the website of the European Travel Commission does not contain statistical data on cultural tourism per se, still statistical data available on the site on European tourism trends and forecasts are a useful source of information for the research of cultural tourism too, as cultural and heritage tourism plays a role of selected importance in the tourism industry of Europe.
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6. fejezet - János Csapó - Bulcsú Remenyik: Active tourism
1. Definition and historical preliminaries of active tourism
When looking for a definition of active tourism we find the following one in the Hungarian literature: “active tourism is a form of tourism where the motivation of the travel by the tourist is the pursuing of some leisure or sport activity requiring physical efforts” (Magyar Turizmus Rt., 2003). According to Michalkó, g. “active tourism is a sort of travel during which the tourist carries out intensive movement other than the usual movements that s/he makes, besides purchasing some goods or services” (Michalkó G. 2002). Following this concept and taking Michalkó‘s other thoughts into consideration we give the following definition of active tourism: “…active tourism covers all those touristic activities that are realised as a pleasure-driven, non-routine movement of the tourists outside of their regular spatial tracks, together with their spending” (Michalkó G. 2002).
It is rather difficult, however, to deal with this touristic product when international literature seems to neglect the concept of active tourism, and even if it is dealt with, it is usually connected to leisure time activities.
Nevertheless also in this approach active tourism is a pastime more intensive and more active than the traditional activities done by the tourists.
This way the range of active tourism typically involves hiking in nature, cycling tourism, water tourism, horse riding, golf, angling and hunting, and also other leisure time sport activities that include for example adventure tourism and extreme tourism, to name but a few new trends. The problematic nature of the definition of the concept comes, among other things, from the fact that active tourism naturally shows many similarities to sports tourism, which may be divided into two branches in this respect: amateur and professional sports tourism; they both have touristic content. The predominantly active tourism products and the related activities in the Hungarian and international literature are listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Active tourism products
Product Activities
Hiking in nature Excursions Visit to national parks and other protected areas Walking tour Nordic Walking Achievements Mountain climbing Speleology
Cycling tourism Individual cycling tour Group cycling tour Mountain
cycling Bicycle race Achievements
Water tourism Summer: Kayak and canoe tour Rowing Ship
excursions Water skiing Yacht tour Sailing Jet-ski Kite (summer) Winter: Skating on ―Fakutya‖ (traditional ice-skate-like vehicle used on Lake Balaton) Skating Kite (winter)
Equestrian tourism Horse riding tour Equestrian camp Draught carriage tours Equestrian training Medical horse riding
Golf tourism Golf (leisure time) Golf teaching
Angling tourism Angling on lakes (stil lwater) Angling on rivers Angling
on seas and oceans – open sea angling
Hunting tourism Hunting
Ski tourism Skiing Snowboarding Other new ski-related sports
Other active tourism types: leisure time sport activities
Motorsports (motorcycle track racing, enduro, quad, motocross) Motorcycling Cliff climbing Ice wall climbing Rafting Parachuting Different sorts of archery
Etc.
Adventure tourism / extreme tourism Rafting Open sea kayaking and canoeing Free rock climbing Extreme skiing Etc.
Source: Magyar Turizmus Rt. (2003) and Michalkó, G. (2002), amended by Csapó, J. 2010
We have to say a few words about adventure tourism and extreme tourism as well. In our interpretation these new active tourism products and leisure time activities are travel and pastime activities which are different from the conventional activity, are more demanding and “adventurous”, and which offer new exciting and “adrenalin-packed” experiences that cannot be achieved by the traditional forms of tourism (Csapó J. 2010). Extreme tourism is not always the same as extreme sports.
We have already mentioned that international tourism literature does not use the term ‗active tourism‘ or uses it with different content, still there is a non-for-profit organisation that does use and even define the term active tourism. The Mexico-based Active-Tourism Organisation is a non-for-profit organisation that supports responsible and active tourism travels within organised frameworks, including e.g. a worldwide red list of service providers not meeting the requirements of active tourism – although they considered themselves as suitable service provider –; their website, where the expression ―Active Tourism‖ is a legally protected registered trademark (see at (http://www.active-tourism.com) includes relatively sophisticated materials on the definition and the relations system etc. of this concept.
In their approach active tourism is “a responsible way of travelling that requires physical and mental participation of the tourist, taking the criteria of sustainability, the protection of biodiversity and the preservation of culture into serious consideration. Important elements of the tourism product are recreation and education, respect and observation, and the active participation of a local expert – professional tour guide – in the given travel” (http://www.active-tourism.com/HomeFramesOrg.html). They also emphasise that active tourism has 3 main purposes: recreation, education and learning, and profit realised at the local level. Although this approach is slightly different from the one applied by the Hungarian experts, the strengthening of the focus on sustainability and active participation by the inclusion of the local experts and inhabitants is definitely welcome. This organisation handles the concept of ecotourism differently – like we do in our definition – but remarks that there are considerable overlaps among the tourism products.
In our interpretation the concept of active tourism excludes health tourism, ecotourism, tourism of theme tours and theme parks, despite the fact that they evidently have motivations or forms that inspire the tourist to have an
―active‖ recreation. Accordingly, the ―aquapark‖ of a thermal or medicinal spa, its entertainment facilities, ecotours and theme tours, or cycling and hiking available within the framework of rural tourism evidently have overlaps with the concept of active tourism, but our book deals with these products separately, primarily due to the marked differences. This issue is dealt with in more depth in chapter 2.
When examining the historical development of active tourism we can say that it is a relatively new phenomenon within the tourism industry, accordingly this tourism product appeared in the second half of 20th century. This was the time when, as a consequence of the urbanisation processes created by the former industrial revolution, the ―everyday‖ people did not necessarily have any longer the previously general and almost natural good physical condition, so there was a growing demand for movement and pursuing a more active lifestyle. Getting away from the urban zones at that time was provided by the parks and the suburban leisure time zones, but the first forms of active tourism in the modern sense of the word showed up in the beginning of 20th century, in the form of alpine ski tourism. Later on these active tourism activities penetrated to the protected areas, national parks and also to other fields suitable for practicing an active lifestyle.
The rapid development of this tourism product, however, was promoted by the strengthening of the desire to get away from modern mass tourism, and its heyday is definitely in our time. Hiking, walking in nature, cycling and other leisure time activities are becoming part of the ordinary people‘s lives too, changing these days many things from clothing through foods, considerably changing the way of life and the attitude to life of the active tourist.
We have to add that when looking at the history of these leisure time sports we find that these activities have been/are more and more moving towards extremities, even simple cycling has at least ten versions by now and bicycle itself is chosen by function (trekking, downhill, urban etc.) and not ―only‖ driven by the desire to
―cycle‖. This is of course true for the other forms of tourism as well.
At the end of the theoretical approach to active tourism we would like to mention that in our opinion it is sad that the most important periodical of the Hungarian tourism industry, Turizmus Bulletin (Tourism Bulletin) – despite the fact that the Magyar Turizmus Zrt. (Hungarian Tourism Inc.) declared the year 2011 the year of active tourism – only contains a very few studies or articles on active tourism, and the function ‗search‘ finds no matches at all for active tourism product. Of course we find articles and topics with overlaps, although not in large numbers, in the Turizmus Bulletin.
The need for the understanding of this tourism product and its research on scientific grounds is justified primarily by the conference that was initiated by the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Studies of the Semmelweis University on a symposium in 2007 called ―The situation and development of active tourism in Hungary‖. The topic has a large number of publications in the periodical called Sporttudományi Szemle (Journal of Sports Studies), with the primary focus on sports tourism of course.
2. Elements of the supply of active tourism
2.1. Attraction(s)
The attractivity of active tourism can be divided – similarly to the general analysis of tourism sector as a whole – into natural and manmade attractions, bearing in mind that the role of natural attractions is far more important than that of the second category. Accordingly, the typical fields of scenes of active tourism are primarily (high) mountains, natural rivers and still waters, and all other elements of the natural environment that are good for pursuing tourism activities involving active movement.
Man-made attractions can be climbing walls, ropeway, zorb balls (rolling balls), summer bob sledge tracks, summer ski tracks (with artificial grass) and bicycle routes. The list is endless by the invention of ever newer leisure sports.
We have to remark that a very important actor is the geographical distance and the accessibility of the given tourism attraction, and another factor of vital importance is the proximity of the given area to an established tourism attraction or destination: in the vicinity of popular tourism resorts active tourism can offer good auxiliary programmes or activities, allowing both spatial centralisation or decentralisation of tourism.
2.2. Tourism infrastructure
In order to have active tourism, a given tourism area of course must have adequate conditions. When examining the reception capacity, we have to check if a destination has attractions in adequate quantity and quality, as well as the tourism infrastructure and suprastructure promoting these attractions.
As it is also remarked in the Hungarian National Tourism Development Strategy (NTDS), in general we can say that the conditions of reception for active tourism are not adequate yet in Hungary, the connected services are deficient; they are not adequately built out. We also have to remark, however, that these days, following the international tourism trends and the growing health consciousness of the populations, a growing number of entrepreneurs or municipalities invest in active tourism: examples are the extreme sports parks in Hungary (Mecsextrém Park in Pécs, Visegrád Bob Sledge Track), motorsport-related tracks (Hungaroring, Kakucsring, go-kart tracks, motocross tracks), or the more and more frequent bicycle route programmes or constructions (construction of the Pécs-Orfű bicycle route, Three Rivers Bicycle Route).
It is evident that more bicycle routes must be built for cycling tourism, which, besides providing the infrastructure background of the tourism sector, could integrate Hungary to the international networks of bicycle routes, also strengthening the cross-border relations and cooperations. In addition, the building out of adequate services and road maintenance systems is also necessary.
Hiking in nature does not have a major requirement for infrastructure, but the placement of information signs on the forest trails and alleys, the placement of benches or the establishment of forest sports fields would further increase the attractivity of this product.
As regards water tourism, the NTDS document also remarks that we have to improve the quality of sailing tourism on the Hungarian lakes, by the provision of ports with advanced infrastructure, and of services. The development of the infrastructure of another important branch of water tourism, river tourism must target the improvement of the conditions of motor and paddle sports.
The infrastructure conditions of Hungarian golf tourism are good in the existing golf clubs, but they do not have international recognition yet.
The most important development document for equestrian tourism is the Product Development Strategy of Equestrian Tourism for 2007–2013, approved in 2009. The document gives a detailed analysis of the positions and opportunities of this tourism product in Hungary, including the state of infrastructure, and also makes recommendations for developments, at regional level.
2.3. Tourism suprastructure
As regards the positions of the primary tourism suprastructure of active tourism – i.e. commercial accommodations and catering facilities –, we can definitely say that their qualitative development for active tourism leaves much to be desired. In order to reach the international level, we should have a massive stock of commercial accommodations to use the endowments that we possess. This is also true for the secondary tourism suprastructure, although it is true that active tourism more and more frequently appears in the marketing and promotion of any geographical unit, or in the offer of travel agencies. The biggest deficiency might be seen in information offices and the flow of information, the only solution for which, for the time being, seems to be (the users of) internet.
3. Characteristics of the demand of active tourism
3.1. Tourists’ motivations, socio-cultural background, touristic behaviour, the weight within travel habits
The main motivation factor of active tourism, in addition to the motivations generally present in tourism, is the physical and psychical motivations of tourists which spur them to pass their leisure time by some active recreation. It is of course associated with the – relatively new – honourable social need for a more and more healthy way of living, in order to avoid or counterbalance the everyday stress.
An important motivation factor or attraction is of course natural environment itself, as this form of tourism is
An important motivation factor or attraction is of course natural environment itself, as this form of tourism is