CC BY
17. _ Quarterly
48
Research and Practice __ . „
Bulletin of Stavropol Kriilon
Journal -*-
UDK 338.48
Nagy A.
HEALTH TOURISM IN HUNGARY
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to give a brief overview on a special field of tourism in Hungary, namely health tourism. Tourism, in general, has played significant role in the economy of the country for long and it still has potential. Hungary is in a favorable situation, since it has rich thermal water resources all over the country. Despite of the fact that there are unexploited resources, there are several attempts to use thermal water in agriculture, horti-
culture, maintenance of public buildings, in addition to its traditional use in health tourism. In my paper I intended to give information about this specific field of tourism and its potentials, as well as its integration into the tourism development strategies of Hungary.
Key words: thermal baths, tourism, healing, wellness hotels.
Nagy A. -
Szent Istvan University, H-2100 Godollo', 1 Pater Karoly str. Tel.: +36 28 522 000 E-mail: [email protected]
Discussion
Some of the water supply of the Earth can be seen on the surface (rivers, lakes, seas), some can be found under the surface. The temperature of such water varies. The temperature of water under the surface is measured by geothermal gradient, which shows in how many meters the temperature of the water increases by 1 degree Celsius. The European average is 33 meters, that is 18 meters in Hungary, so we can reach thermal water from shallow, which is a unique character in Europe [2]. Thermal water is known as natural water with minimum temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. As the water comes to the surface through different stones, it dissolves various minerals. In mineral water, one liter contains over 1000 mg dissolved ingredients, or certain biologically active materials above the limit defined. In the case of drinking water, it was modified to 500
mg/liter in the European Union. Thermal water wells giving water with over 30 degrees Celsius can be found on more than 80 % of Hungary's territory. Out of the 1300 registered thermal wells, approximately 20 % serves bathing. Nearly 150 types of water have been qualified as healing water [4].
Though healing waters are various and each type is beneficial for different illnesses, they have similar effects due to the heat and high ion content. Water has positive effect on primarily rheumatic problems when the acute status is over. Pain due to arthritis can be significantly reduced with the help of healing water of high Sulphur content. Apart from it, nowadays it is mainly used to heal certain cutaneous and gynecological diseases as well as post-operation treatments. In the past, it was commonly used for drinking cures and to treat stomach- and intestine illnesses, but it is not so usual nowadays [4].
Figure 1 - Thermal water quality in Europe
Source: http://vilagbiztonsag.hu/keptar/displayimage.php?pid=22606
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Mineral water and healing water have been used for long. Our ancestors have known that water can heal while bathing and/or drinking. Water is a vital element, representing 60-70 % of our body weight. However, there are some illnesses which cannot be healed with water, moreover, drinking healing water is forbidden.
At present, in Hungary there are:
- 1,289 thermal wells;
- 385 settlements have lakes with thermal/healing water;
- 13 healing places;
- 62 certified hotel for healing purposes;
- 62 certified healing bath (including 9 in Budapest);
- 5 healing caves;
- 81 certified wells of mineral water and 315 certified wells of healing water;
- 5 healing mud resource;
- 1 mofetta (dry bath).
Based on the rich thermal endowments of Hungary, it is among the top five: Japan, Iceland, Italy, France, Hungary. At the moment, the settlements certified as healing places in Hungary are as follows: Balf, Buk, Kekesteto, Lillafured, Balatonfured, Debrecen, Eger, Gyula, Hajduszoboszlo, Harkany, Heviz, Parad, Zalakaros.
Economists and tourism experts say that thermal- and healing water-based health tourism should play much more important role in the national economy in the decades ahead. Several national, regional and local strategies and development concepts define the development of healing- and wellness tourism as a priority. It is based on various factors, international and national trends as well as on the available natural and social conditions.
This specific tourism sector has a lot of special advantages compared to other types of tourism:
- the negative impact of seasonality is more moderate;
- the average length of stay is longer;
- the efficiency of capacity-use is higher;
- expenses per units are 30-35 % higher than in other fields of tourism.
2. A great advantage of Hungarian health tourism is that we have bath culture of centuries and our baths are famous and well-known even internationally (KPMG 2002). Hungarian people also tend to visit thermal baths. Four rural cities out of five most-visited ones are also bath cities (Hajduszoboszlo, Siofok, Heviz, Zalakaros). In addition, the baths and wellness hotels in the capital also have high number of tourists.
3. Similarly to international trends, having healthy lifestyle, the need to preserve our health condition as well as the demand for preventive activities and services show upward trend in Hungary, too.
4. Demographic changes in most of the developed world greatly influence both the Hungarian population and the most important sending countries to Hungary. (e.g. according to estimates, by 2050, one in two people in Germany will be over 5). Such tendencies are expected to increase the demand for different preventive, healing and post-operation touristic services.
6. International trends in transportations (spreading of low-cost flights) may develop wellness- and healing tourism further, since due to such factors shorter stays and trips may be more attractive.
7. Due to the returns on the investments into health programs at workplaces, more and more Hungarian medium and large scale companies tend
Figure 2 - Thermal and healing baths of Hungary (green - national baths, red - baths with regional and local significance)
Source: http://www.jgypk.u-szeged.hu/tamop13e/tananyag_html/wellness/geotermikus_adottsgaink.html
Quarterly
Figure 3 - The changes in the number of healing (blue) and wellness hotels (red) in Hungary between
1999 and 2010
Source: Boros et al., 2012
to learn and recognize the role of wellness and other preventive programs in the revitalization of the workforce [3, 1].
Based on the abovementioned, it can be seen that health tourism, wellness tourism have great potentials both on the national and international market. However, we should see that there are significant territorial inequalities not just because of the imbalanced natural resources, but because of the different approaches of settlement to this young form of tourism.
Thermal centers and regions of Hungary
Budapest is the largest healing place is the capital itself, which got the name of bath city in 1934. Budapest is a unique city, since there are no other capitals in the world which have thermal baths.
In Northern HungaryMiskolctapolca has its own unique attraction, since it has thermal-, cave- and lake baths at the same place. The temperature of the water in the cave bath is 29 degrees Celsius. Hajdúszoboszló is well-known worldwide. The water was found in 1925 while drilling for oil and it comes from 1090 meters deep.
Southern-Great Plainis the region is also rich in thermal water, some of its baths are even internationally well-known. One of the most-visited destinations is Szeged, which is called as the city of baths. The first bath in the city was a steam-bath. At the beginning of the 20th century, water with hydrogen-carbonate and high iodine content was found. Gyula is one of our youngest bath cities. Six wells provide the water for the bath, located next to the castle. The temperature of the water is 72 degrees Celsius.
Western-Transdanubiais region also has long-lasting bath-traditions. Settlements near the Western border of Hungary are often visited by Austrian or German tourists. The thermal bath in Mosonmagyaróvár was established in 1966. The water comes from 2000 meters deep, it is 74 degrees Celsius. It is among the top five in Europe because it has various beneficial effects on health. Bükfürdo, which is popular even among foreign tourists, gets the water from 1282 meter under the surface, thus creating the most important touristic product of the region. The water in Bükfürdo was also found while searching for oil. The Lake of Hévíz
(UNESCO-world heritage, near the Lake Balaton is a unique natural value and heritage). The crater lake is based on a real geyser with 38 degrees Celsius. Similar can only be found on Iceland. Its area is of 4.44 hectares, thus it is the largest warm-water lake in the world with healing character.
Souther-Transdanubia is compared to the national average, this region has the least healing water and bath. One of the most popular ones is in Harkany which is based on water with special healing characteristics which can only be found in Izrael or Mexico [2].
Results:
In this chapter I intended to highlight the main tendencies regarding health tourism in Hungary. On Figure 3 it can be seen that hotels called healing hotels (offering health services) gradually spread in the country in the first decade, however, the increase in the number of wellness hotels was much more significant. In 6 years, it jumped from 20 to over 100. It has to be mentioned that the legislation for wellness hotels was passed in 2003, so data is available specifically for this type only since 2004. The difference between the trends of the two types of hotels can be explained by the difference in their services as well as the market trends. The Figure also proves that tourism, especially health tourism has been increasingly important sector in the economy. Due to the conventional health services in the healing hotels, which are popular among foreign guests as well, the average rate of occupation of such hotel rooms has been higher than that of the wellness hotels over the past decade.
Conclusions
Based on the abovementioned, we can see that Hungary has various favorable natural and geopolitical conditions to develop tourism, including health tourism. The last decade saw successful health tourism tendency in Hungary, since both the supply and demand conditions have expanded. The development of the sector is due to the macroeconomic and social factors, the quality of healthcare services, medical science as well as the health-consciousness of the population. Health tourism in Hungary is a competitive and important sector even on the
Stavropol Region
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international market, since there are only a few velopment of health tourism not only in Hungary, but
countries in the world with similar favorable natural globally. Thus further expansion of the sector can be conditions. The spread of health- and environment- expected. conscious lifestyle also promotes the dynamic de-
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