CC BY
462 and Practice
Journal Bulletin of Stavropol Hegton
UDK 338.48:656.71
Melinda Jászberényi, Katalin Ásványi
OLE OF A REGIONAL AIRPORT IN THE INBOUND TOURISM THE CASE OF SÁRMELLÉK AND HÉVÍZ
Summary: Heviz is one of the most visited cities in Hungary. Heviz-Balaton Airport is only 13 km far from the spa city. Our aim of the study is to know what the regional airport could do for the development
Katalin Ásványi -
research assistant
Corvinus University of Budapest
Tel.: +361-482-5458
E-mail: katalin.asvanyi@corvinus.hu
Introduction
For Hungary, Heviz is an important tourist destination, as one of the most visited and most important cities. The spa city attracts nearly one million tourists a year, but continuous renewal is needed to be able to increase this number. We believe that the Sarmellek Airport could be the key of solving for Heviz, which can create a new era of tourism with the cooperation between the spa city and the airport.
Our main question is that how a regional airport could affect the development of a region and how it could achieve this.
To explore the relationship between Heviz and Sarmellek and the inherent opportunities, the tourism of the spa city and the market positon of the airport are analysed and assessed with a case study based on document analysis. Public (press releases, programs, brochures, statistics) and archived (reports, business data) were used. The analysis of the samples assembly method was used. The information obtained from the document was compared with the formulated research questions. (Golnhofer 2001).
The Tourism of Heviz
Heviz is the second most visited city of Hungary and one of the largest spa city. The main economic sector of the city is the tourism industry. It has 10.000 beds, 300 retail selling places, 150 dining options and 30 commercial accommodations.
Due to its thermal water in 2014 the city had the largest guest traffic (almost 1 million guest nights) among thermal spa cities. Based on the foreign guest nights it has a leading position while on the basis of domestic nights it has the prestigious third place.
As well as the nationality distribution of foreign guests is constantly changing in the spa city and its surroundings. The largest shares ofvisitors are the German, Austrian and Russian tourists.1 Because of the Heviz-Balaton airports there are more and more Scandinavian, Ukrainian, Polish and Chinese tourists come to the region.
1 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/aktualis/cikk/budapest heviz_es_hajduszoboszlo_volt_a_legnepszerubb
of Heviz and its surrounding, for which we used document analysis.
Key words: regional airport, spa city, regional development.
Melinda Jászberényi -
Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of the Centre for Tourism, Institute of Marketing and Media in the Faculty of Business Administration at Budapest Corvinus University E-mail: jaszberenyi@uni-corvinus.hu
The Market Position of Sarmellek International Airport
Almost the whole territory of Hungary there are airports in good distribution set up for different purposes. In Hungary among the rural airports only the international airports are relevant in terms of passenger transport. Currently only two of these regional airports in Hungary are actually having regular scheduled and/or charter flights departing and arriving. Of over forty rural airports the Fly Balaton (Sarmellek) and the Debrecen Airport were/are being developed into regional centres. Even today from many aspects their infrastructure has misses, but they can count with EU sources, if they can prove the potentials of development in their strategic plans. (Jaszberenyi - Asvanyi 2011)
The airport can be found in the outskirts of Sarmellek, about 10 kilometres from the west end of Lake Balaton and 13 kilometres from Heviz. A good connection was established by the development of M7 highway between the capital and Sarmellek Airport. Analysing the regional opportunities of the region, by the building up of the highway to the Croatian border, Sarmellek Airport will become easily available for Croatian and Slovenian tourists.
The Sarmellek International Airport, one of the five international airports in Hungary, is the most important and also the largest traffic airport in Transdanubia, and the second busiest one. Since 2005 it was known as Fly Balaton, than in 2012 the name of the airport changed, and it is called Heviz-Balaton Airport. Since 2006 the appearance of Europe's largest low-cost airline, the Irish Rynair operated at Sarmellek International Airport for the whole year causing an enormous change in air traffic. In 2006 six airlines were operating, the scheduled and regular charter flights connected Sarmellek with ten European cities. In 2006 the majority of the 80 thousand passenger traffic originated from German and English speaking nations.
In 2008 more than a hundred thousand passengers went to Sarmellek. Contrarily in 2010 only 15.000 people arrived at Sarmellek Airport, almost all of the passengers of the charter flights arrived from the German speech area. In 2011 in
1 gricultural
Bulletin of Stavropol Region
№ 1(21)/1 Supplement, 2016
the summer season, the airport also took flights from Moscow, even though the annual passenger traffic increased by only 25 %. From 2013 there are flights to Russian and Latvia from spring to autumn2, due to this in 2013 the growing of passengers' number was 33 % and in 2014, it was 15%. Now the passenger traffic is almost 30.000. Conclusion
To the operation of the development of Sarmellek Airport the development of Western Transdanubia region's tourism is needed; in which all actors have an important task, including hotels and other tourist service providers. The airport is in relation with three travel agencies and five hotels.
German tourists can be transported from other destinations. 80 % of the foreign tourists arriving to the airport visit Heviz, so the number of guest nights and its revenue grow due to the growing passenger traffic.
The Russian mean a great potential for the region, they continually increase the tourist traffic arriving the airport.3 Most of them stay for two weeks in Hungary; they like and use the wellness and spa treatments, as well as their high spending mean good revenue for the region. Now the Russian Utair Airline cancelled its flights until mid -summer, so Russian come to the region by indirect lines from Budapest or Vienna. It is really important to keep the Russian tourists for several reasons: they spend twice as much time around Heviz than for example Germans and they spend twice as much as other tourists.4
The Ukrainians also pose potentials for Heviz, because they have a long tradition of balneological culture. In 2012, the number of guests from Ukraine increased by 22 % and it also increased by 10 % in 2013.5
Only Budapest has connection to Azerbaijan, but Heviz with a direct flight would be also a good solution for their health problems.6
However to win ourselves the Russian successor states, Heviz and the airport need to have websites in Russian, Russian speaking staff and direct link to the relevant market.7 In this way a new initiative is expected to start in September 2015. A Russian 84-pages brochure will be printed into 200.000 copies, which will show the destination and tourist service providers of Sarmellek and Debrecen Airport.8
For Hévíz the Swiss and Israel guests are also special.9
The direct link with China also creates new opportunities for inbound tourism, which the video clip about the spa city also helps.10 In 2012 6500 Chinese tourist have already came to Hévíz, which number could increase by the further development of the cooperation.11
The launch of flights to Riga the airport can offer a new recreational and wellness destination for northern European countries12, which is positioned as a health tourism destination to the market by the Hungarian National Tourist Office. The cooperation with the Latvian Airline is also important, because Riga Airport is a major hub to Northern European countries, so it ensures a better connection to Hévíz.13
The key is the diversification, the involvement of other countries. Hévíz and its surrounding should not focus only one country, because it can cause great loss for the region. There is a negotiation about the connection to Prague and Swedish and Norwegian charters as well as the launch of passenger and cargo aircraft with Egypt Air. In 2015 the Turkey charters is also a new connection.14
The aviation base also could help involving Zalakaros and other tourist frequented cities of Lake Balaton into this initiative. The common marketing could increase the passenger traffic as the flights ensure thousands of nights to the spa city and also the whole region.
Despite its significant successes the Hévíz-Bala-ton Airport still has problems. Although the number of passenger exceeded the magic limit of 100.000 in 2007, the current traffic is not enough fo the profitable operation of the airport. The Hévíz-Balaton Airport serves a large and important destination with a lot of tourists. In summer the Lake Balaton, all the year Hévíz and Zalakaros could provide attractive area for the visitors. So the airport is built mainly on tourism, the required number of passengers can base on inbound tourism.
The operation of the Hévíz-Balaton Airport is indispensable to the development of Hévíz's tourism, since the Airport is able to generate the largest number of foreign tourists in a relatively short period and thereby increase the revenue.
2 http://www.hevizairport.com/hirek
3 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/aktualis/cikk/aprilisban_ indul_az_1000_ut_chartere
4 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/belfold/cikk/igy_ csabitanak_meg_tobb_orosz_turistat_magyarorszagra
5 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/aktualis/cikk/ismet_ukran_ orvosok_a_dunantuli_regioban
6 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/aktualis/cikk/ismet_ukran_ orvosok_a_dunantuli_regioban
7 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/aktualis/cikk/a_magyar_ egeszsegturizmus_lehetosegei_a_fak_orszagokban
8 http://turizmus.com/kozlekedes/osszefog-debrecen-es-
sarmellek-az-orosz-turistakert-1123210
9 http://www.moderngeografia.eu/wp-content/ uploads/2014/08/2014_III_02_hajnal-kobli.pdf
10 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/aktualis/cikk/videoklip_ nepszerusiti_hevizt_kinaban
11 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/aktualis/cikk/kinaiak_is-merkedtek_zala_turizmusaval
12 http://www.hevizairport.com/hirek/kozvetlen-riga--heviz-balaton-repulojarat-indul
13 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/kozlekedes/cikk/szom-baton_landolt_sarmelleken_az_elo_air_baltic_jarat
14 http://www.turizmusonline.hu/kozlekedes/cikk/ megkezdodott_a_repulesi_foszezon_sarmelleken
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