Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
CENTRE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES
OF HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
DISCUSSION PAPERS
No. 61
Development Issues of the
Balaton Region
by
Attila Buday-Sántha
Series editor
Zoltán GÁL
Pécs
2007
Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
Supported by the OTKA (Hungarian Scientific Research Fund)
Grant No. T 046964 KGJ.
Read by Gyula Bora, Miklós Oláh.
Translated by Zoltán Raffay.
ISSN 0238–2008
ISBN 978 963 9052 92 5
2007 by Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Technical editor: Ilona Csapó.
Printed in Hungary by Sümegi Nyomdaipari, Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Ltd., Pécs.
2
Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
Contents
1 Preface ...................................................................................................................... 8
2 Characteristics and history of the Balaton region ................................................... 11
2.1 The physical geography of the Lake Balaton ................................................. 11
2.2 The administrative conditions of the Balaton region ...................................... 17
2.3 History of the Lake Balaton............................................................................ 18
3 Population, employment and incomes in the Balaton region ................................. 41
3.1 Demographic situation of the Balaton Region ................................................ 41
3.2 Training and education ................................................................................... 45
3.3 Employment of the labour force ..................................................................... 46
3.4 Incomes .......................................................................................................... 47
4 Economy of the region ........................................................................................... 48
4.1 The economic development level of the Region ............................................ 48
4.2 Directions of economic development ............................................................. 52
4.3 Economic organisations .................................................................................. 54
4.4 Tourism .......................................................................................................... 57
4.5 Agriculture...................................................................................................... 73
4.5.1 Significance of agriculture in the Balaton Region............................... 73
4.6 Viticulture and wine production ..................................................................... 76
4.7 Forestry ........................................................................................................... 84
4.8 Erosion ........................................................................................................... 89
4.9 Purchase of real estates by foreign citizens .................................................... 92
5 Development of the Balaton region ........................................................................ 95
5.1 Is the Lake Balaton a natural or a regulated lake? .......................................... 95
5.2 Selected aspects of the development plans ..................................................... 97
5.3 Objectives and experiences of the micro-regional programmes ................... 102
5.4 Infrastructure developments in the Balaton Region ..................................... 103
5.4.1 Transport ........................................................................................... 103
5.4.2 Communal infrastructure................................................................... 106
6 Summary and recommendations .......................................................................... 122
References .................................................................................................................. 134
3
Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
List of figures
Figure 1
The Lake Balaton and its selected holiday region ...................................... 8
Figure 2
Sub-areas within the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton ......... 9
Figure 3
Water catchment area of the Lake Balaton ............................................... 12
Figure 4
Balaton Uplands National Park ................................................................. 17
Figure 5
Changes in the permanent water level of the Lake Balaton ...................... 20
Figure 6
The size of Lake Balaton since 1000 B. C. to date ................................... 21
Figure 7
Lake Balaton and its selected holiday region ............................................ 26
Figure 8
Map of the protective system of the Little Balaton ................................... 33
Figure 9
Chlorophyll A – Annual averages ............................................................. 36
Figure 10 Changes of the water quality of the Lake Balaton .................................... 37
Figure 11 Change of the total stock of water in the Lake Balaton, 1921–2004 ........ 39
Figure 12 Water levels at the beginning of the months and the intervention
zone .......................................................................................................... 40
Figure 13 Change of population per one thousand inhabitants ..................................... 43
Figure 14 GDP per capita in the Hungarian regions (national average = 100%),
2000 .......................................................................................................... 50
Figure 15 GDP per capita in the Hungarian counties and the Balaton Region
(national average = 100%), 2000 .............................................................. 51
Figure 16 Number of operating businesses per 1,000 inhabitants in the Balaton
Holiday Region, 31 December 2002 ......................................................... 55
Figure 17 Number of guest nights by type of hotel ................................................... 63
Figure 18 Number of guest nights in the Balaton shore commercial
accommodations and hotels, 1990–2004 .................................................. 67
Figure 19 Number of guest nights in the commercial accommodations, by type
of accommodation, 2000, 2005 ................................................................. 68
Figure 20 Total number of guest nights spent in the holiday region, 2005 ............... 70
Figure 21 Number of guests at the commercial accommodations of the Balaton
Region, 1996–2006 ................................................................................... 71
Figure 22 Number of guest nights at the commercial accommodations of the
Balaton Region, 1996–2006...................................................................... 72
Figure 23 Wine growing areas in the Balaton Region, 2003 ..................................... 78
Figure 24 Erosion in the water catchment area of the Lake Balaton ......................... 91
Figure 25 Number of permissions for foreigners to buy property in the Selected
Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton ........................................................ 93
Figure 26 Road development plan of the Balaton Region (2007–2013) ................. 104
Figure 27 Railways and developments in the territory of the Balaton Region ........ 105
Figure 28 Airports in the Balaton Region ............................................................... 106
Figure 29 Canalisation in the Balaton Region, 2005 ............................................... 109
Figure 30 Development resources allocated to the Balaton Development
Council .................................................................................................... 122
Figure 31 Amount of state expenditure spent on the development of tourism ........ 128
4
Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
List of tables
Table 1
Total of pollutions reaching the Lake Balaton ............................................... 38
Table 2
Daily water levels of the Lake Balaton from 1 January 2000 to 1 July
2005 ................................................................................................................. 40
Table 3
Permanent population in the settlements of the Selected Holiday
Region of the Lake Balaton (2005) ................................................................ 43
Table 4
Number of population in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake
Balaton ............................................................................................................ 44
Table 5
Average number of children per family in the Balaton region ...................... 44
Table 6
Incomes in the Balaton Region and the counties around the Lake
Balaton ............................................................................................................ 48
Table 7
Estimated volume of the economic capacity of the settlements in the
Balaton Region (GDP, in million HUF) ........................................................ 49
Table 8
Number of foreign tourists using commercial accommodations
(in thousand) ................................................................................................... 60
Table 9
Turnover of commercial accommodations in the Balaton Region
(in thousand) .................................................................................................. 60
Table 10
Number of German guests at the commercial accommodations of the
Balaton (1989, 2004) ...................................................................................... 60
Table 11
Tourism of the Lake Balaton in 1986............................................................. 61
Table 12
Change in the number of accommodations in the Balaton Region,
1998–2004 (beds) .......................................................................................... 62
Table 13
Weight of the Lake Balaton in the tourism of Hungary (2004)..................... 63
Table 14
Turnover of the commercial accommodations in the 10 most popular
holiday resorts, 2005 ....................................................................................... 65
Table 15
Average length of stay at the commercial accommodations (average
number of guest nights, 1998–2005) .............................................................. 66
Table 16
Turnover of the accommodations in the Balaton Region, 1998–2004 .......... 66
Table 17
Change in the number of guests and guest nights at commercial and
private accommodations (2000–2005) ........................................................... 69
Table 18
Game population in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton
(2000) .............................................................................................................. 87
Table 19
Ownerships of forests in the territory of the Selected Holiday Region
of the Lake Balaton ......................................................................................... 87
Table 20
Areas suitable for afforestation in the territory of the Selected Holiday
Region of the Lake Balaton ............................................................................ 88
Table 21
Breakdown of residential homes in the Balaton Holiday Region
(2001–2001, estimation) ................................................................................. 94
Table 22
Canalisation indices in the sewage collection districts around the
Balaton, on the basis of a survey made in 2002 ........................................... 110
Table 23
Organisations of the regional administration ............................................... 120
5
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
1 Preface
The Lake Balaton is one of the greatest natural treasures not only in Hungary
but in Europe as a whole; it is not only one of the many lakes but a lake de-
serving a special attention due to its water of special quality, the varied environ-
ment and the economic value concomitant with the landscape value of the lake.
The Balaton has one of the most spending endowments for bathing in Europe
(shallow and warm freshwater, sandy beach); it is one of the biggest revitalised
natural habitats in Europe, a bird paradise listed among the Ramsar habitats (Little
Balaton), a centre of the European wine culture. Together with its special natural
assets (volcanic cones) and architectural values (settlements, fortress ruins, man-
sions of the petty noblemen, castles of the aristocracy) it is a typical Central Euro-
pean region.
The development of the region, just like that of Hungary and the whole of
Central Europe, have been characterised by belatedness and efforts made for
catching up, which have only been partially successful by now. Looking at the
history of the last century and a half, the same disequilibria and consequently the
same tensions can be seen at the late 19th century, between the two world wars, in
the 1930s, after Wold War II, in the 1960s, 70s and 80s and also these days (in
2007). The Balaton Region was an underdeveloped agricultural area of Europe,
without any large city or an industrial centre, until the late 19th century; from the
middle of the 20th century it was the ever stronger development of tourism and its
economic effect that elevated the region from the other areas of similar character
and development level. The demands of tourism highlighted in a concentrated
way all those demands that were already considered as natural, organic parts of
everyday life, tourism and the management of the settlements in the more ad-
vanced regions of Europe. As tourism was the primary factor determining the
development of the region, the majority of the problems are also connected to
tourism and these problems are interrelated, they have a mutually reinforcing
effect. Century- old problems are the following:
1 Infrastructure is deficient.
2 The pace of development in the service sector lags behind the growth of
demand.
3 The average spending of the tourists is low.
4 The season is short.
5 The demands of the different sectors of tourism (youth, health, bathing,
cultural, family, hiking etc.) are mixed and occasionally exclude each
other.
6 The high prices are not proportionate to the level of the services.
7
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
n
i
o
y
r
e
g
a
l
i
d
o
h
i
t
s
s
e
l
e
c
t
e
d
d
n
a
n
t
o
l
a
a
k
e
B
a
e
L
h
T
e
1
i
gur
F
8
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 2
Sub-areas within the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton
1.
Lower Zala Valley
14. Nagyberek (Great Marshes)
2.
Badacsony-Gulács Group
15. West Inner Somogy
3.
Lake Balaton
16. West Outer Somogy
4.
Balaton Uplands and small basins
17. Sárrét (Marshlands)
5.
Balaton Riviera
18. Sió Valley
6.
Enying Hill Ridge
19. Somogy shore plain
7.
Kalóz-Igaz loess ridges
20. Sümeg-Tapolca Hill Ridge
8.
East Inner Somogy
21. Tapolca Basin
9.
East Outer Somogy
22. Tátika Group
10. Keszthely Plateau
23. Veszprém-Nagyvázsony Basin
11. Keszthely Riviera
24. Zalaapáti Hill Ridge
12. Little Balaton Basin
25. Zalavár Hill Ridge
13. Marcali Hill Ridge
Legend: I. – Boundary of lake shore settlements; II. – Boundary of the Selected Holiday Region
of the Lake Balaton (Balaton Region); III. – Boundary of the water catchment area of the
Lake Balaton.
Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet 1996–2002 [The Balaton Holiday Region 1996–2002]. Veszprém
County Directorate of the HCSO, Veszprém, 2003. p. 6.
9
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
7 The behaviour of the local population (service providers and hosts) to-
wards the guests, and their tourism skills (hospitality, hygiene, foreign
language skills) are inadequate.
8 The developments implemented in the regions are not only insufficient
but also lack harmonisation, so their regional effects are too weak.
9 The marketing of the Lake Balaton is inadequate; the Balaton has not
been introduced on the tourism market as a single brand or product yet.
10 In land use, spontaneous processes are dominant, the level of land use,
landscape development and –management does not meet the require-
ments of international tourism.
If we wish to find the reasons for these problems, the designation of the region
in question is hindered by the fact that the lake and its environment, the catchment
area of 5,755 km2 is a single unit from the hydrological point of view, but the
region is divided as regards public administration, management, economy, devel-
opment level, culture and even physical geography (Figure 2). There are hetero-
geneous characteristics, conditions and interests around the Lake Balaton. The
strongest integrating element among the areas with different endowments is the
lake itself and the destiny of the lake, and also the results of tourism, the primary
economic sector relying on the Lake Balaton. The significance of these economic
and social factors and their effect on the development of the area is strong in the
direct neighbourhood of the lake, where they promoted and still promote the birth
of clearly visible common interests. As soon as in the late 19th century, social and
non-governmental organisations were created for the articulation of these inter-
ests. This cohesive power, however, rapidly decreases and almost completely
disappears as we get farther from the lake – despite the fact that the effect of these
areas on the destiny of the lake and the quality of the water is not negligible.
The common interests along the lake and the direct impact of these areas on the
conditions of the Balaton resulted in the recognition of the necessity of a single
management and development of the lake more than one hundred years ago.
This finally led to the designation of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake
Balaton (in 1979) and the handling of the lake as an independent development
region since 1997. The biggest part of the tensions palpable in the region is still
caused by the fact that this spatial designation, in the absence of real competen-
cies and tools, is only good for the moderation but not the elimination of the
problems occurring in the field of development. Both the catchment area and the
holiday region are divided from the aspect of administration and management;
they belong to three regions with very limited competencies presently, and three
counties that are parts of three different regions. The altogether 164 settlements in
the territory of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton belong to 14
different statistical micro-regions, but these settlements, neglecting the bounda-
ries of the statistical micro-regions, have created a total of 18 municipal asso-
10
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
ciations. In addition to the excessive fragmentation and very low efficiency of
territorial management, another reason for the tensions in the region is that the
Balaton region is the only region in Hungary, apart from Budapest, that is in the
foreground of international interest day by day, so both the local management
and the local population have to continuously face the problems coming from
the inadequate development level.
Because of the above-mentioned reasons, our surveys are primarily focused
on the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton, the so-called Balaton Re-
gion, but we occasionally have to look at processes that took or take place in the
whole of the catchment area.
2 Characteristics and history of the Balaton region
2.1 The physical geography of the Lake Balaton
The Lake Balaton is one of the biggest freshwater lakes in Europe, a dominant
element of the Hungarian landscape. Its surface at an average water level is 593
km2, its shore has a total length of 235.6 kilometres, its total mass of water is 2
billion m3. Its full catchment area is in Hungary, making 5,775 km2, 10.3% of
which is the actual surface of the lake. The distance of the Lake Balaton from
Budapest on road is 92 kilometres for the eastern and approximately 177 kilo-
metres for the western shore.
The Balaton has a length of 78 kilometres and an average width of 7.6 kilo-
metres. Its biggest width is between Balatonalmádi and Balatonaliga (12 kilo-
metres), the narrowest distance between the two shores, only 1.5 kilometres, is
between Tihany and Szántód. Its average depth is 3.25 metres, the deepest
point, 12.2 metres, can be found at Tihany. Due to the shallow character of the
Lake Balaton, its mass of water is small compared to its surface (e.g. the Lake
Geneva, a lake of similar size – 582 km2 – has a volume of 89 billion m3). As a
consequence of this, the temperature of the water in the Lake Balaton is strongly
influenced by the environment and follows the changes of the temperature in the
environment: in hot weather the whole volume of the water quickly gets warm up
to 28 °C (the average summer temperature of the water is 22–25 °C), in cold
weather it cools down just as quick. In the wintertime, according to the observa-
tions made since 1925 the average period of ice coverage is 57 days (ranging
from 14 to 107 days), the average thickness of the ice cover is 24 centimetres (it
was 50 centimetres in the winter of 1953/54). The shallow water has a weak
thermo-regulating capacity, and even that can only be felt at the direct shore. The
quick changes of the temperature of the water of the lake can be best understood
11
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
if we look at the miniature model of the Balaton: it would be a 72-metre-long
object, with a width of 7.7 metres and a thickness of only 3.3 millimetres.
The bottom of the lake quickly deepens at the northern shore, reaching a
constant depth of 3–4 metres in the proximity of the shore. In front of the south
shore the water is extremely shallow in a 300–500 metre, in some places a 1,500
metre wide stripe, where the depth does not exceed 0.5–1.2 metres. In natural
circumstances it gradually gets shallower and shallower towards the sandy
beach.
Figure 3
Water catchment area of the Lake Balaton
Source: Balaton nyugati vízgyőjtı térségi meliorációs tanulmányterve [Amelioration study of the
western water catchment area of the Lake Balaton.]. AGROBER. Budapest, 1984.
The catchment area of the Lake Balaton is made by a western, a southern
and a northern part (Figure 3). The Zala River, collecting the streams of the
western catchment area, supports almost 60% of the total water input of the
Lake Balaton. In addition to the Zala there are approximately 30 permanent and
20 temporary streams supplying water to the Balaton, besides the numerous
springs of limited water output under the surface of the lake. The bottom of the
12
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Lake Balaton is divided into four basins, the Keszthely, the Szigliget, the Sze-
mes and the Siófok Basin. The restored Little Balaton is connected to the
Keszthely Basin, which covers a part of the bottom of the “ancient Balaton” that
has been mostly filled up by the alluvia of the Zala River by now. The biggest
part of the water supply of the Balaton arrives at the Keszthely Basin, making
the water slowly flow from the western basin to the eastern one. More than half
of the alluvium transported by the streams is deposited in the Keszthely Basin,
so the quality of the water gradually improves towards the eastern part. The
pressure of the prevailing north, northwest, south-southeast winds in the Bala-
ton Region can initiate a north-south flow, when the water rising with the wind
is flowing back in the opposite direction as the wind pressure decreases, making
the whole water volume of the lake sway. The pressure of the wind creates
waves that are usually 50–60 centimetres, in storm sometimes 150 centimetres
high and continuously destroy the south shore. The south shore of the lake is
also strongly destroyed by the drifts of ice crashing to the shore. The bottom of
the lake would move one metre southeast per annum in natural circumstances,
with the destruction of the shore induced by the water flow. The water rising as
an effect of the north to south flow of the water builds sand-bars in front of the
shore, from the soil washed away from the south shore, while the more subtle
substance flows back to north under the surface and is sedimented in the form of
ooze at the reeds of the north shore, filling up some sections of the shore. Ac-
cording to tested measurements, the movement of the shoreline in the last 200
years is approximately 300 metres e.g. in the Keszthely Bay, between Keszthely
and Gyenesdiás (Bendefy–V. Nagy, 1969, p. 152.). The destruction of the south
shore by the water made it necessary to build shore-protecting establishments,
with stones imbedded in concrete, in the 1960s and 1970s. These concrete
shores have been a hindrance since then to the self-purification of the water and
the deposition of the ooze on the lake shore.
The shallow water of the Lake Balaton is stirred to the bottom by the strong
winds and the storms, allowing the colloid size alluvium concentrated in the
ooze to get into the water again. This is one of the reasons for the colour of the
water of the lake, which is never as clean as that of the mountain lakes; it is
rather opaque. The “Balaton water” has a special quality. Chemically the water
is alkaline, with Ca and Mg hydrocarbonate content and a pH value of 8.4. The
streams running into the lake, with their high calcium, hydrogen-carbonate and
carbon-dioxide content reach in the lake a balance with the carbon-dioxide
content of the air, and the surplus calcium is precipitated in the form of CaCo3,
making silky, opaque and alkaline “Balaton water”. A significant attribute of
the water and the ooze of the Lake Balaton is the low bacterium content, even as
close as 200 metres from the sewage inflows no significant increase in the num-
ber of bacteria can be demonstrated.
13
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
One of the special features, beauties of the water of the Lake Balaton is the
richness and the constant change of the shades of colours. This is partly due to
the high amount of alkalia in the water and partly a function of the illumination,
and the quantity of the substances solved in the water. Accordingly, the colour
of the water of the Balaton can be dark grey in storm, or any shade of green
from opaque greenish-grey to light green in calm weather.
In its natural condition, the Lake Balaton a lake without an outlet, whose
water supply is provided by the precipitation falling in the catchment area, and
the biggest loss is caused by evaporation. The average annual amount of pre-
cipitation in the catchment area is 650 mm. The amount of evaporation in the
area is 900–950 mm/annum, one and a half times higher than the amount of
precipitation. Without the water supplied from the catchment area the Lake
Balaton would dry out in about ten years. As some 770 mm from the total
evaporation loss occurs in the seven months from spring to autumn, the water
level is determined by the amount of precipitation in the spring months. The
highest water level is usually registered in May. As the breakdown of the pre-
cipitation is extremely uneven and the summer weather is rather changeable,
too, it is very difficult to set a water level in May that will provide a sufficient
depth in then whole of summer but does not lead to rising water level and the
flooding of the south shore. The draining of extreme water levels in a short time
is not possible, because of the capacity of the lock in Siófok and the inade-
quately built out and managed Sió Canal. The balance of the incoming and out-
flowing waters is positive in 96% of the cases, i.e. in 96 years out of 100 it is
necessary to drain some water from the lake. The artificially regulated water
level makes it necessary to drain approximately 400–500 million m3 of water
every year, but in dry years the water level decreases below the desirable level
even without draining, whereas in wet years almost 1 billion m3 of water must
be drained. Depending on the amount of water drained through the Sió Canal,
the total amount of water of the lake is replaced in 4 to 5 years in general, al-
though this time is different across the various basins of the lake.
The physical geographical features of the Balaton are determined by its lo-
cation at the frontier of climatic zones: the continental zone with dry and hot
summer and cold winter, the oceanic zone with a cooler and wetter summer and
the Mediterranean zone with a very dry and hot summer but milder and wetter
winter encounter here, consequently the weather can change unpredictably fast
even within one year. The biggest danger of stormy Lake Balaton for yachtsmen
and bathers is that wind-storm coming form the mountains of Balaton Uplands
usually precipitates on the lake out of the blue and often becomes ruinous near
the southern lake shore when it speeds up above the lake. The impact of the
continental climate reaches the lake from the east (Siófok Basin), the oceanic
impacts arrive from the west (at the Keszthely Basin), resulting in a palpable
14
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
difference between the mean annual temperatures and the amount of precipita-
tion across the eastern and western shore of the Lake Balaton.
The Balaton is located at the meeting point of three physical geographical
units. From the north the lake is bordered by the forehills of the Transdanubian
Mountain Range, the Keszthely Hills and the Balaton Uplands, which partly
protect the lake from the colder streams of air. From the west and the south the
lake is surrounded by the Transdanubian Hill Ridge, while the Danubian Plain
makes the border of the lake from the east and southeast. The encounter of re-
gions of different character (mountain range, hill ridge and plain) makes the
Balaton landscape very versatile, increasing its aesthetic value. The protection
of the lake from the north, and the impact of the Mediterranean air masses
coming from the southwest allow Mediterranean impact to be felt on the south-
ern slopes of the mountains on the north shore. This creates especially good
conditions for viticulture.
The different climatic effects have influenced the formation of the soil and
resulted in the birth of different soil types. In the eastern and southeastern part
of lake the climatic impacts allowed Chernozem soils to be born on the fertile
steppe loess, in the mountainous and hilly areas forest soils made on different
soil generating rocks can be found, while the soil in the deep valleys filled out
with water is wet meadow soil. The soils in the areas covered by water for a
long time and later filled up with alluvia or drained are marsh (kotu) soils. The
encounter of mountainous and hilly areas, of plain land and water, the impact of
the different climatic zones and the presence of soils of various chemical char-
acteristics and fertility resulted in the birth of an extremely varied flora and
fauna. The water and the direct environment of the Lake Balaton are home to
1,200 species of animals (including 278 species of birds and 54 species of fish)
and 1,500 species of plants (Illés, 1981, p. 123, 125, 129). Unfortunately, in the
late 1960s a distinctive animal that was also a good indicator of the water qual-
ity, the Danube crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) became extinct. In 1978 the
blue-green alga (Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii) of subtropical origin, a species
absorbing nitrogen, appeared, and caused in the 1980s and 1990 alga prolifera-
tion affecting the whole of the lake.
Due to this extremely rich and varied environment, the human kind has been
present in the region for at least ten thousand years. Especially in the last centu-
ries the human activity has considerably altered the environment: the environ-
ment has been enriched by constructions (settlements and fortresses) and culti-
vated plants (viti- and horticulture), and impoverished by the quarrying of the
mountains, the deforestations and the drainage of large wet areas. In the begin-
ning the biggest change in the landscape was caused by the cutting down of the
forests and the drainage of the marshes, the regulation of the streams and the
ploughing of the grasslands and altering them into agricultural fields: these inter-
15
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
ventions gradually turned the natural landscape into an agricultural landscape, and
where the types of soil were sensitive, they allowed erosion and deflation, both
endangering the lake through the accelerated siltation. Since Wold War II, the
most important factor altering the landscape has been the development of settle-
ments and even more so of the infrastructure related to holidaymaking (hotels,
holiday homes, catering facilities).
Almost 50% of the catchment area of the Lake Balaton (mountains and steep
hills sides) is strongly endangered by erosion, where the destruction of soil
reaches 3 to 5 millimetres per annum (in vineyards up to 10 mm) and burdens
the lake with hundreds of thousand tons of alluvium. Although the biggest part
of the alluvium is deposited in the valleys and does not reach the lake itself, the
siltation of the lake was estimated to be 0.2 mm per annum in the 1970s, but in
some parts of the Keszthely Bain this reached 5 mm per annum. An annual
400–600 thousand tons of ooze is made from the alluvium of the inflowing
streams, the dust falling into the lake, and the sedimentation of lime through
biological processes (Kovács, 1985, p. 3.).
In order to protect the natural values of the Balaton Uplands, already in the
1940s the idea of the establishment of a Balaton national park was raised. It
would have been necessary because the intensive quarrying (e.g. in Badacsony
or Hegyestő) and also the local inhabitants caused a significant damage to the
natural assets. In order to protect the natural values of outstanding importance,
in 1951 the area of the Little Balaton was protected and in 1952 the Tihany
Peninsula was declared a landscape protection area. This was followed by the
protection of several areas in the Balaton Uplands (e.g. the basalt hills of the
Tapolca Basin, the Kál Basin, the Pécsely Basin etc.). The Balaton Uplands
National Park consisting of several areas with a total of 56,997 hectares, was
established in 1997 (Figure 4). In 2002, the special natural value of the geyser
cones of the Tihany Peninsula was awarded a European Diploma.
2.2 The administrative conditions of the Balaton region
Historically the Lake Balaton made the frontier zone of three counties: Zala,
Veszprém and Somogy. These are still the three counties that share the lake and
its environment, the catchment area and the holiday region. In 1996, with the
territorial reorganisation of Hungary these three counties became parts of the
three Transdanubian regions: Somogy is part of South Transdanubia; Veszprém
belongs to the Middle Transdanubian region and Zala to the West Transdanu-
bian one. In addition, the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton (Balaton
Region) with its 164 settlements in the direct vicinity of the lake is a separate
development region. The territory of the Balaton Region is divided among 14
16
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
statistical micro-regions: in Somogy county these are the Marcali, Fonyód,
Lengyeltóti, Balatonföldvár, Tab and Siófok, in Veszprém the Tapolca, Ajka,
Balatonfüred, Balatonalmádi and Veszprém, in Zala county the Keszthely-
Hévíz, Nagykanizsa and Zalaszentgrót micro-regions. Of these 14 micro-re-
gions there are only four where all settlements belong to the Balaton Region:
the Fonyód, Siófok, Balatonfüred and Balatonalmádi micro-regions; on the
other hand, in the Veszprém, Nagykanizsa and Ajka micro-regions only one
settlement per micro-region is part of the Balaton Region. The self-governments
of the altogether 164 settlements have created 18 Regional Development Asso-
ciations.
Figure 4
Balaton Uplands National Park
Source: Directorate of the Balaton Uplands National Park. Csopak, 2005.
The catchment area of the lake (5,775 km2) is divided among 316 settlements;
3,769 km2 of the catchment area belongs to the 164 settlements of the Selected
Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton (52 settlements on the lake shore and another
112 settlements farther from the lake, in the hinterland). The lake shore area was
basically deficient in towns. The first settlement to be awarded the town status
was Keszthely in 1954, which was followed by the award of this title to Siófok (in
1968) and Balatonfüred (in 1971). The majority of the settlements now owing a
town status have been awarded this title since the systemic change. Presently
there are 16 towns in the area, 11 of which are located on the shore and five in the
hinterland. The Region is characterised by a large number of settlements, with a
17
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
low average population. By their population the 16 towns are small towns (the
smallest is Zalakaros with 1,700 inhabitants, the biggest town, Siófok has 24,000
inhabitants). The 148 villages of the region are divided into the following catego-
ries (2005 data): 20 of them have less than 200 inhabitants; the population of 44
villages ranges between 200 and 500; 40 of them have 500–1,000 inhabitants and
44 have more than 1,000 dwellers.
According to the territorial classification of tourism, on the other hand, 156 out
of the 164 settlements of the holiday region belong to the Balaton Tourism Re-
gion. The division of the region among different administrative, planning and
development regions results in different interests; the altering development em-
phases and ideas continuously confront each other, to the detriment of the whole
of the Region.
2.3 History of the Lake Balaton
The Balaton is a young lake; it is estimated to have been born 12–20 thousand
years ago. The depression making the bottom of the lake was born in several
phases, creating the present basins of the Balaton, resulting in the birth of sev-
eral lakes in the Pleistocene; the final bottom of the lake was created after the
earth banks separating the lakes were washed away.
In its natural state the Lake Balaton is a lake without an outlet, a lake whose
water level is determined and balanced by the amount of precipitation in the
catchment area and the intensity of the evaporation. Accordingly, in the histori-
cal times the water level had ups and downs up to 3–4 metres, which of course
affected the size of the surface. The final boundaries of the lake were the
mountains in the north, the high loess bank in the east and the hill ridge in the
south and the west, but in times of high water the lake deeply intruded into the
valleys between the hills. The deepest part of the lake can be found in the south-
eastern part of the bottom, in the proximity of Siófok, where in the times of high
water the lake stepped out of its bottom and flooded the area that is the bed of
the Sió River now, creating a marshy wetland without an outlet.
Although there had always been people around the lake – maybe even before
the lake was born –, the first civilisation that built durable roads and settlements
only appeared in the period between the 1st and the 5th century, with the conquer
of the Roman Empire. The life of this civilisation was seriously disturbed by the
irregular changes of the water level and the line of the lake shore, so they tried
to stabilise the level of the water by cutting the shore section separating the lake
from the mashes of the Sió River around the present Siófok. The Romans built a
lock there by which they were able to regulate the water level of the lake (Em-
peror Galerius, around 292 A.D.). As a result of these works, in the Roman
18
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Times the size and depth of the Lake Balaton was similar to the present situa-
tion. In the times of the great migrations sweeping away the Roman province
Pannonia and then the Roman Empire itself, the frequently changing population
did not pay attention to maintaining the waterworks built by the Romans; these
establishments were defected and the Balaton became an unregulated lake
again. The Hungarian tribes settling here in the 9th century already encountered
these circumstances, and instead of regulating the lake they adapted to the natu-
ral conditions for centuries, by the choice of their place of residence and the
locations of their fortresses and monasteries. In many cases this adaptation
proved to be unsuccessful, which is demonstrated by the ruins of villages and
earth fortresses washed away by the water. There were two historical times
when the situation was somewhat different: the Tartar invasion in 1241–41 and
the Turk conquest after 1541, when the water level of the Lake Balaton was
consciously increased by the stopping the outflow of the water around Siófok,
in order to disturb the movements of the foreign troops. The biggest depth of the
Lake Balaton was around 13.7–14 metres in the times of the Turkish occupa-
tion, but in the strait of Tihany the water reached a depth of 22 metres
(Bendefy–V. Nagy, 1969, p. 89). At this time the whole of the Nagyberek in the
south was flooded, together with the Tapolca Basin in the north. The fortresses
on the hills of Fonyód and Szigliget became islands, and the Tihany Peninsula
was also surrounded by the Balaton (Figure 5).
In the 18th century, after the war conditions ceased to exist, the rapid increase
of the population resulted in a nature transforming programme that actually
lasted until the end of the 20th century and resulted in the transformation of the
Lake Balaton and its catchment area and the birth of the present conditions. In
this work of transformation the primary objective was the replacement of the
ancient forests and marshes around the Balaton with agricultural lands (plough
lands, meadows and vineyards) suitable for the maintenance of the growing
population. The fastest way to gain territories was the chopping down of the
forests along the shores, which extended to the cultivable slopes of the hills by
the late 19th century. Forests were replaced by plough lands good for crop pro-
duction in the plain lands and vineyards on the hillsides. Parallel to the defor-
estations, the draining of the marshy areas started in the 18th century with the
regulation of the streams. In the times of the cereals boom created by the
lengthy wars of the 19th century, the partial draining of the lake was considered,
in order to gain new plough-lands. A plan for the draining of the lake was made
in 1762–65 by Sámuel Krieger – probably on the basis of Sámuel Mikoviny
made in 1730 – and another one in the 1820s, by József Beszédes (Bendefy– V.
Nagy, 1969, pp. 97–98.). The national reform assembly in 1827 made a decision
on the draining of the Lake Balaton (i.e. the decrease of the water level). Fortu-
nately, this plan was never implemented, probably because of the decrease of
19
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
the water level due to the arid weather of these times. The water management
work accelerated in the early 19th century with the draining of the marshes of
the Sió and Sárvíz rivers (resulting in a one-metre decrease of the water level of
the Balaton in the 1830s), and the possibilities of the regulation and partial
draining of the water of the Little Balaton were also seriously considered this
time.
Figure 5
Changes in the permanent water level of the Lake Balaton
(800 B.C. – 2000 A.D.)
Source: Bendefy – V. Nagy, 1969. p. 52.
A radical change in the regulation of the water level of the Lake Balaton
took place in 1863 after the construction of the Siófok lock: the lake lost ap-
proximately half of its water and its natural self-regulating character, and be-
came a regulated lake (Figure 6). This change was justified by the construction
of the Budapest–Nagykanizsa (Trieste) railway on the sand-bars along the
southern shore of the Balaton, where the changes of the water level, the de-
struction of the shore by the waves and the ice drifts in the winter threatened the
operation of the railway. The construction of the lock was also promoted by the
Society for the Draining of the Lake Balaton. The construction of the Sió Canal
and the lock at Siófok decreased the water level of the Lake Balaton by several
metres, as a result of which the Little Balaton was ultimately detached from the
main body of the Balaton, leaving a wet marshy area in the stead of the open
water, connected to the lake by the Zala river flowing through the Little
Balaton. In the river valley covered by impenetrable reeds, alder and ash, the
Zala River partly widespreads, partly splits into arms by combining islets. In the
area of Zalavár and Esztergály the river has disappeared kilometres long in the
moorland (Bendeffy–V. Nagy, 1969, p. 24).
20
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
)
,
p
0
u
0
1
g
)
,
(
1
0
0
r
f
i
l
l
i
n
0
1
a
j
o
–
0
0
r
m
f
o
.
,
(
6
.
D
a
t
e
d
n
A
2
9
e
s
i
g
2
–
.
C.
r
e
a
s
d
B
A
0
0
0
e
s
)
;
6
)
,
1
t
e
2
l
a
k
a
7
8
d
t
o
,
(
1
0
5
i
r
,
r
e
e
d
.
C.
8
o
B
0
)
,
1
0
0
0
5
(
r
e
s
e
r
v
(
4
n
c
e
1
;
3
n
s
i
n
t
e
c
t
i
o
n
t
o
l
a
t
o
r
o
l
a
a
e
Ba
a
t
e
r
p
a
k
k
e
B
a
f
w
e
L
f
L
f
t
h
r
e
a
s
o
e
l
o
A
e
s
i
z
e
o
h
;
5
T
0
5
a
t
e
r
l
e
v
3
1
w
–
m
0
i
u
3
2
e
d
1
0
.
t
m
6
6
7
8
1
r
e
s
e
n
–
0
P
2
7
z
e
;
o
;
2
2
7
)
,
1
f
o
e
r
e
s
z
t
e
s
i
,
9
8
0
o
1
8
g
K
1
y
e
6
–
5
b
(
1
ur
6
8
s
i
t
i
n
o
i
t
e
d
i
g
1
)
;
4
d
3
e
p
:
1
0
d
d
8
d
e
n
(
1
a
n
r
c
e
:
E
F
u
e
g
o
L
S
21
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
The concept for the regulation of the Zala River and the draining of the
swamps of the Little Balaton was finally implemented one hundred years after
the first efforts, in 1922. These works decreased the territory of the Little Bala-
ton to a minimum, but the lands gained this ways were usually only meadows
and marshy areas of low economic value. However, the now faster flowing Zala
River deposited the carried alluvia almost entirely in the Keszthely Bay, thus
the siltation of the bay with ooze accelerated, which is best indicated by the
changes of the shore line in the territory of the town of Keszthely.
The water level of the Lake Balaton was decreased by 4-5 metres by human
interventions between the 18th and the 20th century. In this period the lake lost,
in addition to the inland bays intruding into the valleys of the streams (e.g. the
Hévíz Bay), the 114 km2 territory of the Nagyberek, the 103.5-km2 Little Bala-
ton and the 30-km2 Tapolca Basin. The construction of the Siófok lock actually
created the present surface of the lake. The marshes of the Nagyberek were
detached from the lake in the 1820s by the sand-bars built by the water, while
the Szigliget-Tapolca Basin was filled up with the alluvia of the streams. Until
the construction of the Sió lock, however, the Little Balaton was navigable with
its average depth of 2–2.5 metres. After the draining of the Nagyberek and its
gradual conversion into agricultural land the previous extremely rich bird fauna
moved to the marshes of the Little Balaton, where their habitats were dramati-
cally decreased after the regulation of the Zala River (in 1922): from the total of
1,400 hectares of the bay the open water is only 30 hectares, the rest is covered
by reeds.
The destruction of the original flora covering the shores of the Lake Balaton
and the whole of the catchment area (especially the deforestation) and the con-
version of these areas into arable lands started intensive erosion, and to a more
limited extent a deflation process. The erosion and the parallel siltation of the
Lake Balaton were especially fast in the 18th and 19th century and were consid-
erably moderated after the 1920s, only. The regulation of the beds of the smaller
streams and the Zala River and the draining of the reedy and marshy areas with
filter functions in the mouths of the streams resulted in the inflow of a large
amount of water carrying a significant amount of alluvia and soil directly into
the lake, without any moderation and pre-filtering, which started the filling up
of the Balaton. As more than 50% of the water carried by the streams flow into
the Keszthely Basin (which makes only 6% of the surface of the lake), the big-
gest part of the alluvium was deposited here, this basin took over the filter
function from the Little Balaton and here was the “Balaton water” of special
quality born, not in the Little Balaton. The burden of the Szigliget Basin, fol-
lowing the Keszthely Basin, was also heavy, as these two basins receive ap-
proximately 80% of all water flowing into the Lake Balaton. The annual silta-
tion of the bottom of the lake was approximately 0.6–0.8 millimetre per annum
22
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
in the last seven thousand years, which grew to 6–8 millimetres between the late
18th and the early 20th century, and even 8–10 millimetres in the bed of the Zala
River in the Keszthely Bay (Bendefy– V. Nagy, 1969, p. 89.). The significant
decrease of the water level after the construction of the lock at Siófok (in 1863)
broke up the natural hydrological balance of the lake, which would be about a
metre and a half higher than the present level (at 106–107 metres above sea
level – the Adriatic Sea –, as opposed to the present 104.5 metres). However, a
new hydrological state evolved gradually, which indicated by the gradual de-
crease of the sedimentation of ooze (Bendefy–V. Nagy, 1969, p. 201.). The in-
tensive siltation of the Keszthely Bay can also be attributed to the special stream
conditions of the lake, as a result of which the sediment arriving at the other
basins is also deposited here, in the Keszthely Bay.
The impact of the decreasing water level and the filling up of the bottom was
already palpable in the late 19th century, first by the rapid penetration of the
reeds and hair-weeds. The penetration of the hair-weed was already visible in
the decade after the construction of the lock of Siófok, and reached an extent by
1890 that made the Parliament deal with the issue. This was followed by the
establishment of the Balaton Committee by the Hungarian Academy of Sci-
ences, whose researchers started to explore the reasons and searched for the
solutions in 1892, under the leadership of Lajos Lóczy. By the 1910 the siltation
of the lake bottom with ooze became a serious problem in the Keszthely Basin.
The first lock (built in 1863) only had a 12 m3/sec draining capacity, so the
regulation of the water level of the lake in order to prevent floods was not pos-
sible in case of heavy precipitations. In 1891 the already deteriorated wooden
lock was replaced by a concrete-based lock of 50 m3/sec capacity, the capacity
of which was increased to 80 m3/sec only in 1977, after the enlargement of the
Sió Canal. Even after the construction of the first lock and the extension of its
capacity, the difference between low and high water was extremely large: it
could reach 235 centimetres, depending on the weather (Lukács, 1931, p. 10.).
In years of drought (e.g. in 1866 and 1885) the inhabitants living on the lake
shore protested that the “Balaton was being stolen” by letting too much water
go; in years with more precipitation they said “we are flooded like susliks (large
central Eurasian ground squirrel, Spermophilus citellus)” (Lukács, 1931, p. 10.).
Because of the uncertain amount of precipitation it is extremely difficult to de-
cide how much water must be drained in spring to secure the adequate water
level in summertime, so as soon as in the late 19th century the possibility of
water supply from other catchment areas (Rába, Dráva, Mura or Danube River)
was raised. Already then the conclusion was that it was not only expensive but
absolutely unnecessary, apart form a few years in a century, and the change of
the quality of the water was also a significant ecological threat.
23
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Until the late 19th century the impact of the population, limited in number
and mostly living from agriculture, was negligible on the lake. The fish of the
water and even more so the reeds were sources of supplementary income, but
were only able to sustain a limited number of people in themselves. The lake
was hardly used even for transportation; in winter the ice was a bridge across
which horse-draught carriages managed the exchange of goods between the
north and the south shore. From the north shore it was mainly wine, fruits,
stones, wood and reed that were transported to the south short, in return for
cereals.
The bathing culture of the area was underdeveloped. The origins of this cul-
ture date back to the 18th century; however, the inhabitants of the neighbouring
settlements did not use the water of the lake but the medicinal waters of Bala-
tonfüred for regular bathing. The inhabitants of the Balaton did not bathe in the
lake, they could not even swim. There was only one exception, the short period
after the harvest and the threshing of cereal crops when the inhabitants of the
nearby villages travelled to the lake shore with their horse carriages for a day or
two, in order to clear the dust and the glume and hull of the cereals.
The construction of the southern railway (in 1861) and within a few decades
the railways in other directions (northern railway, 1910) made the Balaton more
easily accessible, promoting the slow development of the bathing tourism. In
the 1890s the construction of the hotels on the lake shore started (in Siófok,
Keszthely and Balatonfüred), together with the establishment of baths and
bathing settlements (Siófok-Balatonfürdı Inc., Balatonberény, Fonyód,
Balatonföldvár and later Máriafürdı). In many cases these were founded in the
neighbourhood of railway stations built in formerly unused lands, on the sand-
bar between the rail and the lake shore or on the railway ditch.
The development of the bathing culture of the Lake Balaton accelerated after
World War I. After the loss of the baths of the Adriatic Sea, the former Upper
Northern Hungary and Transylvania, the medicinal waters in the new territory
of Hungary and the Balaton were appreciated. As a result of this, bathing estab-
lishments along the whole south shore, from Siófok to Balatonmária, were built.
The development of the bathing culture created new jobs and this resulted in the
increase of the population of the lakeside settlements. In the absence of ade-
quate infrastructure background, however, the mostly temporarily increasing
population was already a threat to the water of the lake. This was indicated by
the proliferation of the algae and the hair-weed starting in the 1930s.
A radical change in the life of the Lake Balaton only took place after World
War II, starting from the 1950s (in the late 1940s the quality of the water of the
Balaton was excellent in all respects). This was the consequence of the impact
of several factors. Tourism started to develop rapidly in the 1950s. A significant
change was the replacement of the former, one-day bathing sessions allowed by
24
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
railway lines running to the bathing resorts – usually in the weekends – by
longer holidays lasting for several days or a week. The mass demand for holi-
days, the organisation of the holidays by the trade unions, the establishment of
youth camps resulted in a boom of the number of summer holidaymakers in the
1960s. As an affect of the easing of the international political tensions, the travel
conditions became more favourable too, and more and more tourists arrived at
the Lake Balaton firstly from the neighbouring socialist countries – Czechoslo-
vakia, Poland, East Germany –, then from the nearby capitalist countries, moti-
vated by the low prices of the holidays (Austria, Germany, Italy). After the 1970s
the Lake Balaton became a legal meeting place for the inhabitants of Germany
torn into two parts.
Due to the increased popularity of the Balaton, more and more people wanted
to get hold of a permanent holiday home suitable for family holidays. The chance
for this was improved by the fact that the large agricultural holdings were allowed
to divide and sell those areas that were unsuited for large-scale mechanised culti-
vation. The best areas for this were the less fertile lands in the vicinity of the
shore that were more difficult to cultivate anyway, due to the presence of tourism,
and also the former, derelict vineyards. On the too small sites, because of the bad
infrastructure conditions, holiday settlements of rather inferior quality were built.
The political effort to allow the working people to have holiday homes of their
own seriously deteriorated the aesthetic value of the landscape and was also a
serious threat to the quality of the water of the Lake Balaton.
Parallel to this, those wishing to build holiday homes on the outskirts of the
settlements bought more and more sites and buildings in the vineyards and gar-
dens, former cellars and pressing houses, and they either built new holiday homes
on the sites or converted the existing buildings into holiday homes, often without
any permission. The unregulated and often low quality building up of the out-
skirts did not only deteriorate the aesthetic value of the landscape and resulted in
the elimination of former wine producing areas but also made the infrastructure
provision of these areas more difficult (Figure 7).
Already in 1972 it was clear that the rapidly growing demand for holidays
cannot be met by private holiday homes, only, because the capacity of the shore
of the lake is too limited for this. Thus the different form of communal holidays
were promoted, and only the construction of holiday hotels was allowed the on
the filled up shore of the Aranypart (“Golden Beach”) in Siófok. However, the
desire to build private holiday homes was unstoppable, amounting to the
construction of large numbers of holiday homes both in the inner parts and the
outskirts of the settlements, often without permission. Due to the deficiencies of
the infrastructure, in 1983 the construction of holiday lodgings and hotels etc. on
sites without public utilities was prohibited, and the possibilities of building new
private homes was also limited from 1984, with little success: the number of
25
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 7
The Lake Balaton and its selected holiday region
Legend: 1 – Wine region; 2 – Thermal and medicinal spa; 3 – Swimming pool; 4 – Museum; 5
–
Monument;
6
–
Castle
or
fortress;
7 – Watchtower; 8 – Lake cave; 9 – Airport; 10 – Ferry; 11 – Port; 12 – Tourism
information; 13 – Nature protection area, landscape protection area, natural value; 14 –
National park; 15 – Boundary of nature protection area or landscape protection area.
26
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
permanent inhabitants in the settlements on the lake shore continuously
increased, reaching its peak in 1985 with 131 thousand people.
In the Balaton Region the building of holiday homes was motivated not only
by the growing desire for holidays but also by the possibility of a certain income:
because of the unsatisfied demand for the summer accommodations, even the
holiday homes f relatively low quality could be let to visitors. Also, because of
the restrictions of the private enterprises – for political considerations –, the con-
struction of holiday homes was a good investment because of the growing real
estate prices, a possibility to preserve and increase the value of the incomes ac-
cumulated at some families.
With the development of tourism, the established hotels, company holiday ac-
commodations and service units created more and more jobs and this accelerated
the growth of the permanent population.
The development of infrastructure could not keep up with the boom of the
population on the lake shore. In order to prevent the deterioration of the health
conditions and provide the population crowded in the area, first of all the water
pipeline and the commercial network had to be developed and beaches built out.
Even in the lake shore settlements, the complete tapwater system was only built
out by 1982. This pace of development could not be followed by the much more
expensive development of sewage canals, the construction of sewage treatment
and waste management plants, so the sewage flowed into the water either un-
treated or after a superficial purification, extremely increasing the pollution of the
lake with organic substances, plant nutrients (N, P) and bacteria. The environ-
mental stress of the population living on the lake shore was also increased by the
settlement network almost completely occupying the whole shore by the 1980s,
where the sewage, in the absence of sewage collection system, was simply depos-
ited in the soil. The underground water of the sand shores, however, have a direct
connection to the water of the Lake Balaton, thus the pollution finally reached the
lake. Because of the insufficient infrastructure provision of the beaches, over-
loaded in the summer peak season, in the water of almost all beaches harmful
bacteria of human origin could be demonstrated. The underdevelopment of com-
munal infrastructure is best shown by the fact that in 1959 only three towns had
canal networks (Keszthely, Balatonfüred and Siófok), with a total length of only
19 kilometres, and the sewage was deposited without any treatment in the reeds.
The intensive development of the countryside industry also started in the
1960s. Although this concerned few of the settlements on the lake shore, the sew-
age of the chemical plant of Balatonfőzfı was let into the Balaton for a long time
(causing a serious pollution of the water), after the elimination of this pollution
(when the sewage was pumped into the Séd Stream in Veszprém) the chemical
industry caused such a smell pollution that deteriorated the value of the nearby
27
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
settlements, in fact, it even damaged grape and fruit production as the smelly
ingredients absorbed by the fruits worsened their scent and taste.
The sewage of the dairy plant and slaughterhouse built in Keszthely and the
Wine Plant of Balatonboglár also reached directly the lake, without any treatment.
In Balatonfüred, in addition to the communal sewage, the shipyard, in Főzfı the
paper mill, and in Fenékpuszta the flax weaving plant and the furniture plant pro-
duced sewage that worsened the problems.
The largest scale industrial developments, however, were implemented in the
non-lake shore towns of the catchment area. Among these Marcali and Tapolca
are situated in the holiday region, while Nagykanizsa, Zalaszentgrót and Zalae-
gerszeg are outside that. The selected industrial development of Zalaegerszeg was
a serious burden for the water quality of the lake, because the sewages of the
cold-storage plant, the dairy and cheese plant, the poultry processing plant and the
meat production plant, all very rich in organic substances, flowed into the Zala
River only after a superficial pre-treatment and got into the Lake Balaton. The
water of the lake was heavily burdened by the dairy plants of Marcali, Zalaszent-
grót etc. The industrial developments of the countryside towns resulted in the
rapid growth of the population of these settlements, consequently the volume of
communal sewage increased as well. The capacity of the existing plants became
insufficient for the treatment of the sewage, so sewage flowed into streams with
practically no purification. The sewage of Zalaegerszeg and Zalaszentgrót com-
pletely polluted the Zala River carrying water into the Lake Balaton, and the sew-
age of Marcali also reached the Balaton almost directly.
The burden of the Lake Balaton was further increased, in addition to the com-
munal sewages, by the growing amount of partly sporadic and partly diffuse pol-
lutions of agricultural origin. In the1960s, after the reorganisation of agriculture
into large-scale holdings, the Hungarian agriculture adapted so-called industrial-
ised technologies, which resulted in the intensive use of chemicals and machin-
ery, and the construction of animal farms with a large number of animals and
producing a large amount of liquid manure. Considerable sporadic pollutions
were caused by the big animal farms built in the holiday region and the catchment
area. The large pig and cattle growing farms using a liquid manure system in the
holiday districts were especially dangerous, each producing hundreds of cubic
metres of liquid manure every day, the major part of which got into surface wa-
ters, a smaller part into the underground waters – and ended up in the lake. Ac-
cording to surveys made in the 1970s, in the holiday districts alone a total of 129
animal farms operated, in not one of which a professional treatment of the manure
was solved – in the absence of constructed manure deposition places –, and the
outflow and leakage of a significant amount of liquid manure polluted the surface
and the subsoil waters. The amount of liquid manure produced in the southern
holiday area alone was estimated to be around 600 thousand cubic metres.
28
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Around the cattle farms another source of serious pollution was the silo liquid
flowing out.
The diffuse pollution of agricultural origin was caused by the chemicals
washed out by the rainfall. The increase of the use of the chemicals was not fol-
lowed by the creation of the conditions of professional storage. In the beginning,
the rain washed out large amount of nutrients from the big heaps of fertilisers
deposited at the plough lands. From the fertilisers dispersed on the agricultural
lands a large-scale leakage of N could take place especially after the mulching
done in late winter. The major part of the fertiliser pollution was due to either the
rain washing out the fertiliser ploughed into the soil (N) or the erosion carrying
the fertiliser away together with the soil (P). According to the surveys made, the
whole of the region was not over-fertilised, but some holdings used much more
fertilisers than it would have been necessary, while some used less (Csernátoni,
1982. p. 30.). The erosion was especially serious in the vineyards planted parallel
to the hillsides, which was especially harmful as the vineyards often cultivated by
large-scale holdings almost reached the lake of the Balaton, and the filtering ef-
fect of the vegetation was absent because of the elimination of the forests and
grasslands along the lake shore.
The water of the Lake Balaton may have been even more burdened by the
pesticides drifted away by the wind or washed down from the plants or the soil by
the rain. Some of the slowly degrading or very aggressive pesticides used in the
1960s (e.g. atrasin) can still be detected in the ooze of the lake bottom. Probably
the pesticides caused the first mass decay of fish that took place in 1965.
The excessive burden of the Balaton with nutrients was thus due to both the
pollution of the settlements and of the industry and agriculture. The primary
sources of the degradation of the water may have been the communal and indus-
trial sewages and the liquid manure that reached directly the surface waters and
the lake.
The burden of the Balaton with plant nutrients was also increased by the pre-
vention of the natural destruction of the shore in order to protect the holiday
homes and hotels built on the sand-bar between the southern railway and the lake
shore. This was done by stones embedded in concrete in the major part of the
shore line. The concrete wall, however, stopped the water from running to the
shore and depositing the polluting materials, which remained and rotted in the
water. The protection of the water was inevitable, as the waves and the ice drifts
destroyed more than one metre of soil from the south bank each year, but in some
years the loss of the lake shore was more than 10 metres. Of the lake shore areas
divided into sites in the 1930s, the 20-metre-wide alleys on the lake shore disap-
peared first, after this the majority of the sites on the shore were destructed or
flooded. The major part of the shore protection works was constructed along the
shore section between Balatonfőzfı and Balatonberény, where there was no natu-
29
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
ral protection. In 1985, 31% of the 235 kilometre long Balaton shore was pro-
tected by concrete and another 12% by stone banks (Kovács, 1985, p. 2.). Ex-
periences suggest that active shore protection is needed at a 110 kilometre section,
i.e. 46% of the total length of the shore (of which 107 kilometres was completed
until 2005), but the most practical technical form of this protection has been a
subject of debates for decades. The self-purification capacity of the water was
heavily deteriorated by the destruction of the reeds by the owners of the sites on
the shore and the anglers in order to settle boat ports or fishing stands.
A drastic deterioration of the quality of the water in the Lake Balaton was first
indicated by the massive fish decay in 1965 (600 tons of fish were killed). This
was probably caused by the newly marketed pesticides that were extremely dan-
gerous to the wildlife.
The Keszthely Basin, receiving 60–70% of the pollutions and alluvia carried
by the surface waters, suffered from the penetration of hair weed already in the
mid-1960s, and vegetation typical of the marshes (e.g. water chestnut) appeared
in this part of the lake. By 1972 the water of the basin became hypertroph and the
blue algae proliferating in the water killed the hair weed. The colour of the water
turned green, caused by the proliferation of algae. The mass penetration of the
algae was the first sign of the start of the dying of the lake and already threatened
holidaymaking, causing skin and eye irritations for some bathers. This was still
not enough to make the authorities, engaged with the creation of the basic infra-
structure, carry out radical measures. This was promoted by another spectacular
fish decay that took place in 1975. To this disaster sharp reactions were given, not
only by the academics but also by the press and the public opinion of Hungary,
not to mention the holiday home owners who were afraid of the depreciation of
their investments. The government then assigned the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences to explore the reasons for the deterioration of the water quality and de-
fine the measures necessary for the stopping of the dangerous tendency and for
the restoration of the good water quality of the Lake Balaton. The examination
found (in 1978) that the rapid worsening of the quality of the water in the Balaton
was caused by the unlimited and concentrated communal, industrial and agricul-
tural (liquid manure) sewages, and also by the diffuse pollution washed into the
lake with the alluvia from the nearby areas and the agricultural lands. In addition,
there was serious air pollution, burdening the Lake Balaton with some 400 tons of
sedimenting dust every year. It was also stated that the main reason for the prolif-
eration of the algae was the increase of the phosphor content in the lake, which
directly built into the body of the algae and was a limiting factor for the prolifera-
tion of the algae, as the blue algae are able to satisfy their nitrogen need from the
nitrogen of the air as well. The solution was the elimination of the big sources of
pollution and the establishment of a protecting system similar to the natural sys-
tem of protection of the lake, and also the at least partial removal of the alluvium
30
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
and nutrients that had already been in the lake. In order to a chieve this, the fol-
lowing recommendations were made, among other things:
• construction of a sewage and rainwater canal system for the whole holiday
region of the Balaton, construction of at least two-phase sewage treatment
plants;
• on the south shore, the pumping of the purified sewage out of the territory
of the catchment area of the Balaton, whereas in the north shore bordered
by mountains the application of three-phase technology also removing
phosphor;
• closedown of the animal farms using a liquid manure technology and
causing concentrated pollution, in the remaining farms a shift to the use of
strawbed and the creation of the possibilities for the professional treatment
of the manure;
• creation of the possibilities for the professional storage and use of the
fertilisers and pesticides, causing just as dangerous concentrated pollution;
• in order to decrease the diffuse pollution from the agricultural areas,
afforestation or grassing in the too steep plough lands susceptible to ero-
sion, and a complex amelioration of the damaged areas suitable for agri-
cultural production;
• full purification of the industrial sewages and the prohibition of the loca-
tion of industrial plants dangerous to the environment;
• in order to decrease noise and air pollution, the moderation of the traffic
on the shore, construction of speedways managing transit traffic farther
from the lake;
• establishment of waste deposits safeguarding the professional deposition
of communal waste;
• prevention of the unregulated and unplanned building up of the holiday
region;
• protection of the reeds assisting the self-cleaning of the water and the
creation of the possibilities of professional reeds management (regular
reed cutting in the winter);
• closing down of the quarries decreasing the aesthetic value of the land-
scape, recultivation and afforestation of derelict quarries.
An important part of the recommendations was the slowing down and sedi-
mentation of the surface waters arriving at the Balaton. In order to achieve this the
following was recommended: restoration of the Little Balaton for the cleaning of
the Zala River; construction of reservoirs on the streams running into the Lake
Balaton where the streams can deposit their alluvia; establishment of filtering reed
areas at the mouths of the streams where the vegetation can absorb the floating
substances and the nutrients solved in the water. For the removal of the ooze on
31
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
the lake bottom, rich in nutrients, ooze dredging was recommended, to prevent
the phosphor from being solved in the water again. The recommendations placed
a special emphasis on the cleaning of the water and the protection of the reeds
absorbing the alluvium and the nutrients. The implementation of canalisation
(sewage and rainwater canals) in the settlements, and the storing and sedimenting
of the polluted rainwater flowing out from the settlements were also recom-
mended.
It was emphasised that the stress of the Lake Balaton by the holidaymakers
should be counterbalanced by the development of holiday regions in the other
parts of Hungary. These developments started all over Hungary, but because the
other holiday regions were less attractive and less built out than the Balaton re-
gion, they did not serve as counterpoles considerably decreasing the stress of the
Balaton.
The recommendations of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences were built into
the long-term and ambitious development plan of the Selected Holiday Region of
the Lake Balaton approved in 1979 and setting the tasks until 2010. The objective
was to stop the process of deterioration until 1987 (grade A), to reach a continu-
ous improvement by the total exclusion of the critical situations until 1995 (grade
B) and to reach the water quality of the early 1960s again with further measures
after 1995 (grade C) (Kovács, 1985, p. 2.). The protection of the water could not
be postponed any longer, as the water showed the sign of eutrophication in all
basins of the lake, starting from the Keszthely basin, and a very intensive bloom-
ing of the blue algae took place in the summer of 1982. In the 1980s, strict meas-
ures were made for the moderation of the damages:
• The construction of sewage collection system, and the construction and
modernisation of sewage treatment plants started;
• The large pig farms using a liquid manure technology were closed down;
• The agrochemical centres of regional tasks, where the professional condi-
tions for the storage of the fertilisers and pesticides were adequate, were
built out;
• The use of liquid fertilisers requiring a closed technology became wide-
spread in the region, in the hillside vineyards and orchards the empty
spaces between the rows of plants were grassed, in order to stop erosion;
• The construction of the first phase of the Little Balaton reservoir was
started in 1983 and finished in 1985 (Figure 8);
• The reservoirs collecting the water of the streams running into the Balaton
were built at Marcali and Monostorapáti, together with filtering areas;
• Complex amelioration works were started in the catchment area of the
lake, in the Zala valley, the Tapolca Basin, and terraces were established
on the steep hill sides of the Badacsony in order to prevent erosion;
32
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 8
Map of the protective system of the Little Balaton
Source: A Balaton környezetének védelme [Protection of the Balaton
Environment]. Magyar vízgazdálkodás. 1981. Vol. I. p. 4.
33
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
• The purification of industrial sewages was done;
• Construction restrictions came into effect in areas without public utilities;
• Extended alder forests were planted in wet areas and valleys occasionally
flooded, in order to filter the waters flowing into the lake;
• Large-scale ooze dredging was done in the Keszthely and the Szigliget
Basins;
• Several quarries were closed down and some of the derelict quarrying ar-
eas were regenerated and forested.
The basic problem was the economic crisis already visible in Hungary in the
1980s, which significantly limited the amount of financial resources available for
the protection of the Lake Balaton. In the time of the systemic change taking
place in the 1990s not only the economic crisis deepened but also the attention
turned away from the Balaton. The situation became especially incomprehensible
in the agricultural areas covering 80% of the territory of the region, where the
disintegration of the large state holdings and the privatisation of the land created a
very large number of new owners, with different interests and skills. The division
of the territories among the new owners often questioned the meaning of the for-
mer investment developments (e.g. irrigation systems, water drainage ditches).
Consequently the formerly started developments slowed down or even came to a
halt.
This is demonstrated by the following facts:
• The construction of the sewage system was finished only in 2006 even in
the settlements on the lake shore, and majority of the settlements in the
hinterland have still not been equipped with such a system;
• The modern regional waste deposits have still not been built (they are ex-
pected to be implemented by 2010);
• The 2nd phase of the Little Balaton reservoir has still not been completed,
it is expected to be finished by 2010 (as opposed to the originally planned
date of 1995);
• The alleviation of the burden of the road running along the south shore,
carrying a heavy international traffic, is expected by 2007, with the com-
pletion of the M7 motorway;
• The majority of the reservoirs for the storage and sedimentation of the wa-
ter and the filtering areas have still not been built and the continuous
cleaning of the existing ones is inadequate too, so they are slowly filled up
with alluvium;
• The rainfall reservoirs planned to be built along the shore are still missing;
• Only a fraction of the areas designed for afforestation have actually been
forested.
34
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
The water of the lake indicated again in the early 1990s that the developments
that had been made were insufficient, and as it had been indicated before, the
puffer capacity of the 1st Phase of the Little Balaton reservoir came to its limit in
less than a decade. The uncertainty was increased by the fact that the pollution
carried by the inflowing streams was still considerable; also, a large amount of
nutrients had been accumulated in the ooze of the lake which could be solved in
the water again at any time. The deterioration of the quality of the water that had
stopped in the 1980s, took a new momentum in the 1990s, indicated by the re-
peating fish decays (of eel in 1991 and bream in 1994). In the summer of 1994,
the worst quality ever in the history of the Lake Balaton was registered, the algae
proliferated in the whole mass of water to an extent that the lake became hyperto-
phic. This made the government deal again with the issue of the Balaton and de-
fined in the framework of a so-called Balaton Action Plan the tasks of the respec-
tive ministries and the municipalities, together with the deadlines. The action plan
actually consisted of tasks approved a decade ago but mostly not implemented
(draining and treatment of sewage; waste management; water regulations and
amelioration; construction of Phase II of the Little Balaton reservoir; ooze dredg-
ing from the lake bottom; forestation of the area etc.) (Figures 9 and 10).
In the years after 1994, not only the development of the sewage collection
system in the settlements on the shore and in the major towns in the catchment
area (Marcali, Zalaegerszeg, Tapolca etc.), together with the construction of the
three-phase sewage treatment plants, contributed to the improvement of the qual-
ity of the water but also the economic crisis that decreased the use of fertilisers
and pesticides by some 60–70%. Also, animal husbandry almost ceased to exist in
the Balaton region. The industrial plants were closed down (e.g. the dairy and
meat processing works of Keszthely), or their production declined significantly
(cold storage plant in Zalaegerszeg), resulting in the decrease of industrial pollu-
tion. The Little Balaton is more and more suitable for its water cleaning function
after the partial instalment of the 2nd phase (Ingó swamp). On the other hand,
serious problems are caused by the worsening economic conditions of the region
after the drastic fall of tourism. The quality of the water considerably improved
by the late 1990s, became mesotrophic as opposed to the hypertrophic state of the
early 1990s, approaching the water quality indices of the early 1960s. After the
late 1990s a slight worsening of the water quality took place again, partly due to
the extremely low water level. According to the water quality surveys conducted
in 2005, the water of the Lake Balaton is oligotrophic in the eastern (Siófok) Ba-
sin and mesotrophic in the other three basins. As the external pollution fell back
considerably, the quality of the water of the lake is more and more influenced by
the internal processes (solution of the formerly absorbed substances). The Little
Balaton is performing better and better in its pre-filtering function, in 2004 it held
back 82% of the floating alluvium, 72% of all nitrogen and 26% of all phosphor
35
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
carried by the Zala River (Katona–İrsi, 2004, p. 22.). The quality of the water of
the Lake Balaton was acceptable (class 3) in 2004, from a microbiological aspect
it had a splendid quality (of class 1 and 2). The quality of the water in the beaches
showed similar indicators, it was acceptable (class 3) from most aspects and good
(class 2) as regard microbiology (Katona–İrsi, 2004, pp. 31–32.). It is still a
problem that the majority of the streams running into the lake carry polluted water
(Table 1).
In order to prevent the appearance of other threats, the programme started in
the 1970s must be continued, by the completion of the construction of the sewage
collection system and the treatment of the sewage, first in the holiday region of
the Balaton and then in the whole territory of the catchment area.
Figure 9
Chlorophyll A – Annual averages
Key: 1 – Siófok Basin; 2 – Szemes Basin; 3 – Szigliget Basin; 4 – Keszthelyi Basin.
Source: Katona–İrsi, 2006.
36
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 10
Changes of the water quality of the Lake Balaton
Source: Katona–İrsi, 2006. p. 26.
37
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Table 1
Total of pollutions reaching the Lake Balaton
Year
Rivers
Direct
Washed from
Directly
Atmospheric
Estimated
sewage
urban areas washed from
pollution
total load
other areas
Nitrogen load of the Lake Balaton (in tons)
1975–79
1599
229
118
200
590
2736
1985
2331
72
115
230
561
3309
1990
964
23
104
128
591
1810
1995
1266
35
207
236
1836
3580
2000
699
4
135
200
1448
2485
2004
1032
4
125
157
1448
2766
2004, %
37.3
0.1
4.5
5.7
52.4
100.0
Phosphor load of the Lake Balaton (in tons)
1975–79
157
32
58
18
62
327
1985
171
7
57
70
19
324
1990
72
2
47
38
34
193
1995
77,1
0,8
41,4
70,7
10
200
2000
36
0,3
33
73
12,4
155
2004
36.6
0.5
31
58.2
12.4
139
2004, %
26.4
0.4
22.4
41.9
8.9
100.0
Source: Katona – İrsi, 2006. p. 23. Based on the appendix
The proportion of homes linked to the sewage collection system must be raised to
95% in the lake shore municipalities and to 72% in the settlements of the hinter-
land until 2013. In the whole of the catchment area, the large regional waste man-
agement and deposit plants must be built. The construction of reservoirs must be
continued, together with the establishment of natural filtering systems and the
development of reed management. The instalment of the full 2nd phase of the Lit-
tle Balaton reservoir, the Fenék Lake is of special importance (Phase 1 of the
Little Balaton, the Hídvég Lake has a surface of 18 km2, that of the 2nd phase, the
Fenék Lake 50 km2), as the Little Balaton with its approximately 70 km2 territory
would be able to filter out all pollutions coming with the Zala River. On the north,
east and west shore the burden caused by transit traffic must be decreased, just as
it has happened on the south shore.
In the whole catchment area of the Lake Balaton – similarly to the whole of
Hungary – at least 10% of the agricultural lands (and 30–40% of the gardens) is
unutilised. These uncultivated areas have become derelict and degraded, they are
sources of diseases and damage the aesthetic value of the landscape, and they
reflect negligence and a low level of culture. The professional forestation of the
38
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
lands has never kept up with the pace of their abandonment, and the consciously
directed forestations actually ceased to exist in the decade following the systemic
change. The forests are the most durable, most effective and most cost-saving
tools of the protection of the water, elements of the landscape with the most posi-
tive impact on the aesthetic value of the regions and also representing a signifi-
cant economic value. The aesthetic value of the landscape would be increased by
foresting the abandoned agricultural lands (especially the former vineyards, gar-
dens, grasslands and pastures of the south shore) and the steep hill sides in the
Zala valley. The total of the areas concerned reaches 10,000 hectares in the holi-
day region and exceeds 20,000 hectares in the total catchment area.
Due to the lasting drought, the water level of the Lake Balaton on the Siófok
water gauge at a height of 104 metres above sea level reached the lowest value
in the 20th century history of the lake, at 30 centimetres, in 2004 and the Balaton
showed the signs of drying out (Figure 11 and 12; Table 2).
Figure 11
Change of the total stock of water in the Lake Balaton, 1921–2004
Source: Katona–İrsi, 2006. Figure 7.
39
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 12
Water levels at the beginning of the months and the intervention zone
Source: Katona–İrsi, 2006. Figure 1.
Table 2
Daily water levels of the Lake Balaton from 1 January 2000 to 1 July 2005
Date
Water level
(cm)
1 January 2000
110
1 July 2000
85
1 January 2001
70
1 July 2001
75
1 January 2003
65
1 July 2002
60
1 January 2003
50
1 July 2003
50
1 January 2004
30
July 2005
96
Source: A balatoni turizmus fejlesztési koncepciója és programja. .
[Development concept and programme of the tourism of the Lake Bala-
ton], Appendixes. LT. Consorg Kft. Balatonfüred, 2005. p. 5.
40
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
The arid weather of the last decade and the repeated extremely low water level
of the Balaton suggested that a higher level of the water than presently should
be kept in the lake in order to preserve the quality of the water. This purpose
was already served by raising the highest permitted water level from 100 to 110
centimetres at the Siófok gauge in 1997.
The Balaton Region can only be set on a track of long-term development if,
in addition to the natural values, the quality of the water and the diversity of the
wildlife, the economic foundations are also provided. This takes complex,
harmonised and state-of-the-art economic improvement, and within that
especially tourism, cultural and health care developments that provide a good
quality of life in the whole region and attracts highly skilled inhabitant and the
location of high-level services.
3
Population, employment and incomes in the Balaton
region
3.1 Demographic situation of the Balaton Region
The Act No CXII of 2000 specifies 164 municipalities in the Selected Holiday
Region of the Lake Balaton, of which 16 are towns. Within this group, the cate-
gory of the “shore settlements” involves a total of 52 municipalities, while that
of the “non-lake shore settlements” has 112 municipalities. The number of
population in the holiday region did not change in 1990–2001, it remained at
255 thousand; it has been decreasing since then.
The population of the whole of Hungary decreased significantly in the period
in question. In the early 1990s the crisis following the systemic change, the in-
creasing impoverishment of the population and the uncertainty of existence, to-
gether with the increase of unemployment resulted in the worsening of the health
situation of the population, which is especially visible in the high mortality rates
of men. Life expectancy of men fell back by 1994 to the level in 1960, and the
mortality rate of middle-aged men tripled compared to the figure of 1960. An
improvement in this respect only started in 1996. Parallel to this, the number of
marriages decreased and the number of divorces grew, also, people get married
and women give birth to the first child later, which radically decreases the number
of births. The decrease in the number of births became significant after 1995,
when the number of births per one hundred women fell to 1.28; in 2000 it grew to
1.32 and has been stagnating at this level since then. The number of births re-
mains below the number of deaths; accordingly the population of Hungary is
continuously decreasing. The magnitude of the loss of population is moderated by
41
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
the immigrants coming from the Hungarian-inhabited regions of the neighbouring
countries, but this process only counterbalances the decrease of the population.
The demographic indices of Hungary are also influenced by the deceasing in-
ternal migration, movements. In the 1990s the process of people moving from
villages to towns slowed down, in fact, a process in the opposite direction became
typical. Some of the people leaving the towns moved back to their villages after
the loss of their jobs, also, many tried to make an easier living by moving to the
villages. Both groups were motivated by the hope of a cheaper living and a higher
degree of self-subsistence in the villages. For the majority the decision proved to
be a fatal mistake, as the job opportunities in the villages were even worse and the
increasing travel costs made it almost impossible to have access to the jobs in the
towns. The movement from the towns to the villages is most of the times ex-
plained by the phenomenon of suburbanisation, i.e. when people move from the
town to the nearby villages but keep their jobs and use services (kindergarten,
school, health care, trade) in the city. At the turn of the millennium, the move-
ment of the population between the villages and the towns was balanced.
In the changes of the number of population and the migrations of the popu-
lation both the consequences of the economic and social crises (e.g. a drastic
increase of deaths, a flight to the villages and self-subsistence) and the tenden-
cies typical of the Western European countries (decrease in the number of
births, growing age of people marrying and having children, suburbanisation)
can be seen at the same time. The phenomenon of suburbanisation can be best
seen in the small town of Keszthely. The well-off layer of the population moves
to the more pleasant areas of the nearby villages (Cserszegtomaj, Gyenesdiás),
causing a decease of population in Keszthely and a rapid growth of population
in the surrounding villages.
The population of the Balaton Region started to decrease after 2000. As the
national tendencies are also valid here, the preservation of the number of popu-
lation was due to the positive international migration balance of the region, but
even that proved to be insufficient to counterbalance the constant loss of popu-
lation (Figure 13; Tables 3 and 4).
The largest towns of the region (in number of population) in 2005 were Siófok
(23,791 inhabitants), Keszthely and Tapolca (21,367 and 17,000 inhabitants,
respectively). The smallest town that at the same time shows the highest growth
of population is Zalakaros, presently with a population of 1,686.
The number of children per family has decreased in the Balaton region even
faster than the national average; in 2000 there were only 126 children per 100
women, as opposed to the national figure of 135. This index, however, shows
considerable differences between the urban settlements on the lake shore and the
rural ones farther from the lake. In the rural areas farther from the lake the
42
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
traditional old values are still stronger, which is shown in the higher number of
births, among other things (Table 5).
Figure 13
Change of population per one thousand inhabitants in the
Balaton Holiday Region
Source: Tourism in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton in 2000–2005. Veszprém
Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, Veszprém, p. 9.
Table 3
Permanent population in the settlements of the Selected Holiday Region
of the Lake Balaton (2005)
Lake shore
Hinterland
Total
settlements
settlements
(inhabitants)
(inhabitants)
(inhabitants)
(%)
Somogy county
60,678
52,077
112,755
44.6
Veszprém county
49,503
40,132
89,635
35.4,
Zala county
37,482
12,976
50,458
20.0
Total (inhabitants)
147,663
105,185,
252,848,
(%)
58.4
41.6
100.0
100.0
43
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Source: Tourism in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton in 2000–2005. Veszprém
Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, October 2006.
Internet source: http://portal.ksh.hu/pls/portal/docs/page/veszprem/kiadvanyok/elemzesek/
2006ev/balaton2005.pdf p. 55.
Table 4
Number of population in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton
Area
1990
2001
2005
thousand
%
thousand
%
thousand
%
Towns
137
54
135
53
135
53
Villages
118
46
120
47
118
47
Region total
255
100
255
100
253
100
Source: Hablicsek, 2003. p. 10; The Balaton Holiday Region. 2000–2005. Veszprém County
Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office 2006. Internet source.
Internet source: http://portal.ksh.hu/pls/portal/docs/page/veszprem/kiadvanyok/ elemzesek/
2006ev/balaton2005.pdf. p. 55.
Table 5
Average number of children per family in the Balaton region
Specification
Average number of children per family in the Balaton region
1990–1994
1996–2000
Lake shore settlements
1.60
1.24
Other settlements
2.00
1.49
Balaton region total
1.73
1.36
Source: Hablicsek, 2003, Manuscript. p. 10.
Among all towns in the Balaton Region, the lowest fertility could be observed
in some towns on the lake shore (Balatonalmádi: 0.95; Balatonfüred: 1.03;
Fonyód: 1.13 and Balatonlelle: 1.16), while the highest figures of this index were
measured in Lengyeltóti (1.69) and Tapolca (1.31), both towns being at some
distance from the shore of the lake (Hablicsek, 2003, p. 10.).
On the regional average, the age of giving the first birth rose from 25.8 years
to 27 years between 1990 and 2000.
Life expectancy is higher in the settlements in the proximity of the lake shore
than in the settlements of the hinterland, which is due to the better economic
situation and health care.
The positive balance of international migrations has allowed the preservation
of the number of the population in the Balaton Region – without the international
44
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
migrations, the number of population would have decreased by 5,000 already in
the 1990s.
To sum it up, the low and still decreasing level of live births and the growing
average age result in the ageing of the Balaton Region. The unfavourable devel-
opment of the age pyramid of the region is influenced by the fact that the more
skilled youth move out from the region, due to the housing and job conditions
inadequate for them, and to the fact that the significant part of those moving in
from Hungary or abroad are pensioners who settle down in the settlements on the
lake shore (e.g. in Keszthely). In the future, even the rise in the number of live
births cannot preserve the number of population if the moving into the region
decreases – not least because formerly the moving of the youth from the villages
to the towns was typical, whereas today we can witness the gradual moving away
of the skilled youth, mostly those with higher education diplomas, from the re-
gion, including the towns of the Balaton Region (Keszthely, Tapolca etc.). This
tendency is expected to continue in the future, because 5% of the local population
plan to leave the region in the short run (Oláh, 2006, p. 31.). These are not only
regional phenomena, of course; the whole of Hungary is characterised by the
ageing of the population and the growing share of the employment of the skilled
youth in Budapest or abroad.
3.2 Training and education
The average level of education of the region’s population exceeds the national
average – this is demonstrated by the lower share than the national average of
those who only finished the eight years of the primary school or even less. The
share of those with finished higher education is around the national average,
largely due to the outmigration. There are only a few municipalities that are
exceptions to this rule, including Keszthely (a centre of education and health
care), Balatonfüred (a health centre), or Tihany (a research centre). The con-
centration of the institutions of education is shown by the fact that more than
50% of the expenditure of the settlements on education in the Balaton Region is
realised in only 5 towns out of the 164 municipalities: Keszthely, Siófok, Mar-
cali, Tapolca and Hévíz. The secondary school network of the region is devel-
oped and matches the market demands and the economic structure of the region.
Secondary education of commerce, hotel and catering industry is available in
Fonyód, Keszthely, Siófok, Tapolca, Balatonfüred and Zánka, the demand for
viti- and horticulture experts is met by the trainings taking place in Balatonfüred
and Balatonboglár.
University level training in agricultural sciences is done in Keszthely, a col-
lege level training of tourism in Siófok and Tapolca (in the latter town environ-
45
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
mental and health training is available too), higher education of informatics is
provided in Balatonfőzfı, while Keszthely is home to environmental training.
Although the University of Veszprém is outside the Balaton Region, its impact
is strong in the whole region, due to the trainings of chemical industry, tourism,
environmental protection and teacher training.
At each level of the school education, one of the most important tasks is the
development of the language trainings (especially of German and English), as
the language skills of the inhabitants working in the service sector (hotels,
catering industry, medical treatments, trade) is inadequate for a high-level
tourism service.
3.3 Employment of the labour force
In 2000 the number of inhabitants in the employable age was 156,081, of whom
106,800 people were economically active, which is a 69% economic activity
rate (c.f. the national average of 70%). In the last decade the employment level
declined significantly, to 62%, the number of the unemployed is around 10,000
(2001). The low employment and high unemployment level is an especially
serious problem in the densely populated parts of the south lake shore. The
activity rate and the unemployment rate are somewhat better now than the
national average. The main problems of employment are as follows:
• The majority of the unemployed have finished only 8 classes of the pri-
mary school, or even less. In the settlements of the hinterland of the Lake
Balaton they make almost 50% of the unemployment;
• Employment is strongly seasonal. The demand for labour force in the sea-
son can only be met by the inclusion of labour from outside the region –
the majority of whom are unskilled, e.g. students –, while the seasonal
workers are usually unemployed outside the holiday seasons. In the set-
tlements on the lake shore, the number of the unemployed is doubled off-
season, unemployment rate increases by 4–5%;
• The supply of jobs requiring higher qualifications is relatively little, which
increases the unemployment rate among the highly skilled women in the
first place;
• In the high tourism season the number of those employed illegally or
semi-legally is extremely high;
• In the tourism season the employment of foreign employees is high and
still growing, both in legal and illegal employment;
• The wages are low because of the over-supply of labour force in the sea-
son, even lower than the national average;
46
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
• The approximately 10,000 real estate owners employ some 12,000 per-
sons in their households mainly for gardening or housekeeping, usually
illegally (Kovács E.–Oláh M.–Bokor I., 2005, p. 3.);
• Seasonal employment is a work opportunity mainly for those who live on
the lake shore or in the proximity thereof, those who live farther from the
shore are less concerned.
3.4 Incomes
The average taxable income was only 86% of the national average in 2000, by
which the Balaton Region has an around-average position among the Hungarian
regions: only Central Hungary, West Transdanubia and Middle Transdanubia
feature higher taxable incomes. It is more likely, however, that the incomes in
the Balaton Region are higher, as the construction activities on the lake shore,
the trade and tourism services (e.g. letting of rooms) or wine sales offered an
opportunity to receive significantly higher untaxed incomes than in other parts
of Hungary. This is reflected by the indices indirectly showing the incomes (e.g.
average flat size, equipment of the houses, number of cars and telephone lines
etc.), which are even better than in more advanced regions.
The region, however, is extremely heterogeneous as regards the amount of
income per capita:
• The incomes of the population on the north shore are significantly, 30–
40% higher than of those living on the south shore;
• Those whole live on the lake shore have a considerably, 20–40% higher
income than those in the hinterland have;
• The incomes on the lake shore and in the towns are higher than incomes
earned in the villages.
The main reason for the differences in the incomes is that tourism and the
services required by tourism are mostly concentrated in the lake shore
settlements, primarily in the towns. The earnings made in the region, however,
have different impacts on the income positions of the respective counties (Table
6).
47
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Table 6
Incomes in the Balaton Region and the counties around the Lake Balaton
Regions
Taxable income per
Position in the order of
person (thousand HUF) the Hungarian counties
Somogy
Including settlements of the
270.0
16
Balaton region
Without settlements of the
264.8
17
Balaton region
Veszprém
Including settlements of the
359.5
7
Balaton region
Without settlements of the
371.4
5
Balaton region
Zala
Including settlements of the
334.0
8
Balaton region
Without settlements of the
340.3
8
Balaton region
Balaton Region
With whole counties
299.1
12
With parts of the counties
299.1
12
Source: Balaton Régió stratégiai fejlesztési program helyzetelemzése és SWOT aktualizálása
(Munkaanyag) Balatoni Integrációs Kht. Siófok, [Strategic Situation Analysis of Strategic
Development Programme of the Balaton Region 2002–2006.] 2005. p. 11.
4
Economy of the region
4.1 The economic development level of the Region
The investments realised in the region in the 1960–1985 period and the boom of
tourism raised the income generating capacity of the Balaton Region to a level
considerably exceeding the national average, especially in the settlements on the
lake shore. As a result of the economic decline following the systemic change
(in 1990) and the drastic decline of tourism, the development of the region has
slowed down, and the Balaton Region is quickly losing its former economic
advantage measured by the GDP per capita, compared to both the national aver-
age and the so-called countryside average (i.e. the national average calculated
without Budapest), as a consequence of the relatively faster development of the
other regions. The surveys of Lıcsei, Hajnal and Németh, Sándor (Lıcsei–
Németh, 2006. p. 12.) clearly demonstrate that the development rate of the Ba-
laton Region lagged behind both the national average and the average of the
counties making the region in 1994–2004, decreasing the share of the Balaton
Region from the GDP production of Hungary from 2.9% in 1994 to 2.5% by
2004. By this decrease in the GDP, in the order of 21 counties including Buda-
48
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
pest and the Balaton Region, the so-called “Balaton Region” would have the
14th position (Table 7).
Table 7
Estimated volume of the economic capacity of the settlements in the Balaton
Region (GDP, in million HUF)
Area
1994
2000
2004 2004 in % 1994
2000
2004
of 1994
Estimated GDP production
GDP per capita in % of the
(billion HUF)
national average
Counties of the region total,
8.2
7.9
7.8
–
83.2
79.7
78.9
in per cent of Hungary
Actual territory of the
126.4
343.0
507.2
401
117.4
104.0
99.0
Balaton Region
Of which: Somogy
52.6
141.0
213.1
405
108.3
95.2
92,8
Veszprém
42.8
127.0
174.0
407
111.7
108.0
95,7
Zala
30.9
74.9
120.0
388
149.4
118.0
118,6
Lake shore
99.3
258.0
377.5
380
162.0
138.0
127,0
Hinterland
27.1
84.5
129.7
479
58.4
59.5
60,3
Towns
82.4
216.0
313.7
381
141.9
122.0
114,1
Villages
44.0
127.0
193.5
440
88.7
83.3
81,4
Actual territory of the Balaton
2.9
2.6
2.5
–
–
–
–
Region in per cent of Hungary
Actual territory of the Balaton
4.4
4.0
3.8
–
–
–
–
Region in per cent of Hungary
without Budapest
Actual territory of the Balaton
35.2
32.9
31.9
–
–
–
–
Region in % of the three
counties
Source: Lıcsei – Németh, 2006. Comipilation based on p. 11. and p. 15. o., Tables 1. and 3.
The position of the Balaton Region in the order of the counties by the GDP per
capita is much better, the region has the 5th position here, but the slowing down of
development is indicated by the fact that the Balaton Region came second after
Budapest in 1994–1996. As a result of the slowed down development, while GDP
per capita in the Balaton Region was 17% higher than the national average in
1994, it was only 99% of that in 2004 (nevertheless still 26% higher than the na-
tional average without Budapest – c.f. the 45% advantage in 1994) (Figure 14).
The fall is even more striking in the settlements of the lake shore, where GDP
production per capita exceeded the national average by 62% in 1994 and “only”
49
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
27% in 2004. If we compare the indices of the Balaton Region to the average of
Hungary calculated without Budapest, we can see that the indices of the region as
a whole (125.8%) and of the settlements on the lake shore (161.3%) or of the
towns of the region (145%) are higher than that, only the development level of the
settlements in the hinterland (76.6%) is below the countryside average. In the
long run, however, the advantage of the region seems to be vanishing. Among the
three sub-regions of the selected holiday region of the Lake Balaton, the lowest
amount of GDP per capita can be found in the Somogy sub-region (the south
shore), the highest in the Zala sub-region (the west coast). Despite the different
pace of development in the respective sub-regions (the Veszprém and the Somogy
ones featured faster development), the disparities in GDP production are still
considerable and the proportions within the region have not changed significantly.
Figure 14
GDP per capita in the Hungarian regions (national average = 100%), 2000
Source: Lıcsei – Nemes Nagy, 2002. p. 6.
The slowing down of the development of the Balaton Region is also indicated
by the decrease of the share of the Holiday Region from the GDP production of
the three counties involved, from 35.2% in 1994 to 31.9% in 2004 (Lıcsei–
Németh, 2006. p. 11.). Of the total population of the three counties,
approximately one-fourth of the inhabitants in each county live in the Balaton
Region, while the proportion of the Balaton Region part from GDP production in
the respective counties were as follows: 30% in Veszprém, 47% in Somogy and
22% in Zala county (Lıcsei–Németh, 2006. p. 12.). The weight of the parts of
the counties belonging to the Balaton Region is indicated by the fact that without
50
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
them the positions of the respective counties in the order of the Hungarian
counties by GDP production would be quite different: Zala would have the 17th
position instead of the 13th, Veszprém would fall from position 12 to position 18,
Somogy from position 18 to position 20. These figures demonstrate that the parts
of the respective counties belonging to the Balaton Region are more developed
than the averages of the respective counties (Figure 15), but also the fact that the
weight of the Balaton Region within Hungary and the respective counties is
continuously decreasing, and the centres of development are now outside the
holiday region (Lıcsei–Németh, 2006. p. 12.).
Figure 15
GDP per capita in the Hungarian counties and the Balaton Region
(national average = 100%), 2000
Source: Lıcsei – Nemes Nagy, 2002. p. 6.
The economy of the Balaton Region is considerably concentrated. Seventy-
four per cent of the GDP of the region is produced by 52 settlements on the lake
shore, and 62% of that in the 16 towns. The disparities decreased from 1994 to
2004, due to the faster development of the settlements in the hinterland and the
villages, nevertheless the differences are still considerable. In 1994, the GDP
production of the settlements on the shore was 3.7 times higher than that of the
settlements in the hinterland, and towns produced 1.9 times more GDP than vil-
51
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
lages did; these figures decreased to 2.9 and 1.6 by 2004, respectively. These
figures are slightly more favourable if we look at the production of GDP per cap-
ita, due to the smaller number of population in the settlements of the hinterland
and the villages, but the differences are still significant: 2.1 times between the
settlements on the lake shore and in the hinterland and 1.4 times between the
towns and the villages. The amount of GDP production is thus determined pri-
marily by the distance from the lake and secondarily by the status of the given
settlement (town or village) (Lıcsei–Németh, 2006. p. 12.).
The breakdown of the settlements of the region on the basis of their
development level is relatively stable. In 2004, of the 50 settlements exceeding
the regional average (in GDP per capita) 43 were lake shore settlements (of the
total of 52 such settlements) and only 7 were settlements in the hinterland: six in
Veszprém county (north shore) and one in Zala. In the latter group, the above-
average position of Zalakaros is due to the medicinal spa, of Kékkút to the
income made from mineral water. In the other five villages, Kapolcs and four
tiny villages around it (Taliándörögd, Vigántpetend, Óbudavár, Salföld) it is
tourism and the summer festivals that have significantly improved the living
standards of the population.
The Balaton Holiday Region is a development region organised not around a
big city but a lake, where the pace of economic development is determined by the
development of the services connected to holidays. Those villages that cannot join
tourism and do not have special natural endowments, either (mining or mineral
water) cannot keep up with the development and are getting into a more and more
unfavourable situation (e.g. Siójut, Zala, Kapoly and Lulla in Somogy county,
Lesenceistvánd, Lesencefalu, Kisapáti in Veszprém county etc.).
4.2 Directions of economic development
The inhabitants of the water catchment area of the Lake Balaton lived from
agriculture for centuries, until the 1960s. The region had an urban deficit and an
underdeveloped industrial sector, let alone a few settlements, e.g. Balatonfőzfı
(chemical industry) or Balatonfüred (ship building). On the other hand, the lake
also secured a living for a very few people, only. A significant change occurred
in the 1960s, with intensive industrial development (dairy-, meat processing-,
grape and wine- and poultry processing industry) and the booming development
of tourism that forced the rapid development of the service sector. This was the
period when, after the reorganisation of agriculture into large state-owned es-
tates, the industrialised production of agriculture started, which resulted in the
drastic decline of the agricultural earners and the demand for the education of
the agricultural employees. The economic weight of agriculture (e.g. the num-
ber of the employees in the sector) continuously decreased in the whole of the
52
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
region, which was considerably accelerated after the systemic change by the
disintegration of the agricultural holdings and areas and the loss of the markets
of agriculture. From the 1960s it became clear that, owing to the good endow-
ments of the Balaton Region, it was tourism and the connected services that
were suitable for the production of the largest amount of new value (GDP) and
accordingly should become special development priorities. The experiences of
the half century since then also show, on the other hand, that the given region is
too big and the incomes of tourism are not enough to develop the whole of the
region (the hinterland), also, the number of population is too big for one sector
– tourism – to provide employment for all. This will remain the case in the fu-
ture, even if tourism is further developing and tourism season is prolonged – not
last because 90% of tourism is concentrated in a few-kilometre stripe along the
shore and in the settlements on the shore, and the development of the wellness
and health tourism in the background settlements can only moderate the spatial
disparities of tourism in the region. This means that the development of both
industry and agriculture are definitely necessary, in addition to the development
of the services. The desirable situation would be if the respective sectors mutu-
ally reinforced each other, creating a demand for one another. The activities
most organically connected to the needs of the region can be construction in-
dustry, manufacturing of building blocks and garden equipment and furniture,
ship- (boat-)building – but not only these. It is very important for tourism to
have a range of services as wide as possible, from health care through financial
services to bicycle repair. It is important to see that presently there is not one
single sector that can provide the total employment and finance the mainte-
nance of the region in a civilised condition.
One of the biggest economic problems in the region was and still is that the
interests of the respective sectors have never been reconciled in a way that the
development of each sector should result in better conditions for the other sectors
as well and have a multiplier effect in the whole of the region. There is no rela-
tionship e.g. within tourism, among the development of the hotel chains and the
production of vegetables and fruits in the region; the purified sewage of the Ba-
laton Region is removed from the region – at high cost –, although a part of it
could be used for the irrigation of the vineyards and orchards of the region.
53
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
4.3 Economic organisations
The Balaton Region was the part of the socialist world system where the busi-
nesses could freely operate two or three decades before the systemic change,
already. This was mainly due to the fact that after tourism became a mass phe-
nomenon within a decade, the service demands of the tourism season, which
was actually limited to only three months of the year (in reality not more than 4
to 6 weeks annually) could only be satisfied by a mass of small businesses
adapting to the situation. The systemic change taking place in the late 1980s
changed this situation inasmuch as the private enterprises became activities
enjoying state support and a higher prestige, but many businesses became the
only source of living, as well, after the elimination of jobs (Figure 16).
The economic development of the region and the volume of the incomes of
the inhabitants are determined by tourism. Consequently, the development level
of the settlements in the region are influenced by the distance from the lake
shore, the size of the given settlement (the towns are in a better situation in the
whole of the region) and the better (e.g. Keszthely and Hévíz) or worse (e.g. the
area of Lengyeltóti) endowments of some micro-regions. The only excerptions
to this rule are the settlements with old bathing traditions or medicinal baths
(Hévíz, Zalakaros), with individual natural assets (Tihany), or a special water
that is a specific economic asset (e.g. Kékkút – mineral water).
The business opportunities offered by tourism and the decades of
entrepreneurial traditions explain the highest figure of businesses per 1,000
inhabitants in the whole of Hungary in the Balaton Region in 2003 (109
businesses per thousand inhabitants), after Budapest (109 businesses per
thousand inhabitants). The countryside average, i.e. the national average
calculated without Budapest is only 62 businesses per thousand inhabitants,
which is significantly exceeded by the Balaton Region. Of all businesses
operating in Hungary, 3.7% can be found in the Balaton Region. In the early
1990s, the former large state-owned entities were disintegrated and after a
profile clearing, the respective units were separately privatised. This resulted
in the doubling of the number of businesses by the end of the decade; the
number of companies grew by 4 to 5-fold, that of the private enterprises to
one and half-, twofold. The increase of the number of private enterprises was
also forced by the considerable decrease in the number of workplaces. Partly
this explains the 35% share of the private enterprises, above the national
average; the other reason is the profile of the businesses (e.g. catering). Self-
employment was especially needed in the settlements of the hinterland,
struck by a lack of jobs anyway; this explains the high number and pro-
portion of enterprises in this region.
54
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 16
Number of operating businesses per 1,000 inhabitants in the Balaton Holiday
Region, 31 December 2002
Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet 1996–2002. [The Balaton Holiday Region. 1996–2002. Veszprém
County Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office], Veszprém, 2003. p. 12.
In the holiday season, the local businesses are supplemented by businesses
from outside the region, which are present in 31% of the settlements of the holi-
day region. Of all businesses from outside the region, 97% operate in the set-
tlements on the lake shore, leaving only 3% to the hinterland. The consequence
is that on the lake shore the number of businesses (132 per 1,000 inhabitants) is
well above the national average, whereas it is around that in the settlements of
the hinterland (74 businesses per 1,000 inhabitants), which is still relatively
high, owing to the demand of tourism radiating to the settlements of the hinter-
land.
55
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Szántód is the only settlement where the businesses external to the holiday
region outnumber the local ones. Forty per cent of the external businesses come
from Budapest, followed by entrepreneurs coming from the non-holiday region
settlements of Veszprém county, then Baranya and Pest county, and the non-
holiday region parts of Zala county. The majority of the businesses coming to
the holiday region are from Budapest and Transdanubia. The areas most fa-
voured by the external businesses are Siófok and Balatonfüred. Ninety-seven
per cent of the businesses coming to the region work in one settlement, only,
but a few per cent of them operate several units in one settlement or have built
out their business activity in several settlements (Dombi, 2004, p. 18.).
In the settlements of the shore stripe, 64% of the private entrepreneurs were
active in real estate, leasing and services assisting economic activities, whereas
the proportion of trade made 15%, that of catering 5% (Belyó, 2000. p. 255.).
The majority of the businesses are small businesses with less than 10 em-
ployees and a shortage of capital, unable to carry out significant
developments. This is one of the reasons why approximately 2,200 small
businesses active in the accommodation and catering industry had to be
liquidated between 1999 and 2003, due the hectic character of tourism.
The total number of businesses working in the region was 26,562 in 2003,
but this number exceeded 28 thousand in the peak season, in which a significant
role was played by the approximately 2,000 businesses seated outside the Se-
lected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton and mostly operating in the high
season, only.
The breakdown of the operating businesses by economic sectors in 2004 was
as follows:
Trade and repair
21.5%
Real estate
19.8%
Accommodation and catering
16.2%
Construction industry
11.9%
Industry
7.0%
Transport, storage, post and telecommunication
4.8%
Agriculture, forestry, game and fishing
4.7%
Financial mediation
2.7%
Health and social care
1.9%
Source: Balaton régió helyzetelemzés és SWOT aktualizálása [Strategic Situation
Analysis of Strategic Development Programme of the Balaton Region 2002–2006.].
Balatoni Integrációs Kht. 2005. p. 21.
The breakdown of the businesses by sectors is uneven across the Balaton
Region: in the settlements on the lake shore, approximately 60% of the businesses
deal with real estate, leasing and services assisting economic activities. The
higher share of businesses in construction industry, on the other hand, is typical in
56
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
the settlements of the hinterland, where significant constructions took place in the
last years, as opposed to the lake shore where restrictions apply. Surveys showed
a lack of services assisting economic activities (e.g. bookkeeping), as these tasks
are usually done by businesses from outside the holiday region.
The employment of the inhabitants of the region is exacerbated by the
fact that the industry of the region has never been developed. Although many
branches of industry are present (chemical industry, paper industry,
shipbuilding, textile industry, manufacturing of telecommunication devices,
mills, wine and champaign production, bottling of juices and mineral water
etc.), the industrial plants employ a small number of labour force and have
local significance, with the exception of the Nitrokémia Co. in Balatonfőzfı.
Sixty-seven per cent of the settlements of the region are home to some
industrial activity, but almost half of the employees work in three towns:
Marcali, Keszthely and Balatonfőzfı. Industry employs only 12,000 people.
Approximately 20% of the industrial employees work in service-related jobs
(water production, water management, energy supply etc.), chemical
industry (Nitrokémia Co. in Balatonfőzfı) employs 25% of industrial
workers, whereas some 10% of the labour force is employed by the rapidly
developing sector of telecommunication devices manufacturing. Only the
production of beverages has a product range typical of the region (wines, BB
Champaign, Sió juices, mineral water of Kékkút and Fonyód). The
favourable effects of the chemical industry concentrated in Balatonfőzfı in
employment and the annihilation of the hazardous waste produced in the
region is counterbalanced by its direct threat to the environment and tourism,
also, its smell is rather disturbing for both the local population and the
tourists.
4.4 Tourism
Tourism is a leading economic sector in the Balaton Region, a sector that ele-
vated the region from among the other regions of similar development level.
The history of tourism at the Lake Balaton goes back to just over a century. By
the late 19th century, the several decades of peaceful economic development
resulted in the birth of a bourgeois layer – especially in Budapest – who had the
means and also the demand to spend time on sport and longer holidays for the
regeneration of their health. The Lake Balaton offered a splendid opportunity
for this, due to the proximity to the capital city and its natural beauties. The
construction of the southern railway, the Budapest–Nagykanizsa line (in 1861)
“brought the lake close” to Budapest, and then the construction of the northern
line between Budapest and Tapolca (in 1910) and the side-lines in the north and
57
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
the south provided a better accessibility of the lake from all directions. This was
the time when the construction of inns, boarding houses, hotels and of private
accommodations and family villas started for the reception of guests. The at-
traction of the region was increased by the steam ship traffic starting in the
1880s; ports were built in the major settlements on the lake shore. Until Wold
War I, however, the total number of holidaymakers was only a few tens of thou-
sands; the contemporary statistics registered approximately 25,000 guests ar-
riving at the Lake Balaton in 1900 and 55,000 in 1910.
Between the two world wars, the growing demand for holidays and the muti-
lation of the territory of Hungary, with the concomitant loss of the former bathing
resorts resulted in the growth of the number of holidaymakers to 230,000 by
1937. In the 1930s, in addition to the domestic demand, the interest of foreigners
in the Lake Balaton significantly increased. In 1937, the number of foreign guests
exceeded ten thousand; most of the visitors came from Austria (5,363 guests),
Germany (4,340 people) and Czechoslovakia (1,695 guests). The majority of the
guests were received by six bathing resorts of selected importance: Siófok, Föld-
vár, Fonyód, Keszthely, Balatonfüred and Balatonalmádi.
The attraction of the Balaton was increased by the growing popularity of
water sports (swimming, rowing, and sailing). Sailing clubs were founded,
boathouses built and sailing races organised. The most important sailing race of
the Balaton, the “Blue Ribbon Race” was first organised in 1936. With the par-
tition of the lands along the lake shore, the organised and demanding construc-
tion of the holiday settlements started, together with the construction of beaches
and alleys on the shore.
The number of holidaymakers dropped to 70,000–80,000 after Wold War II,
then the gradual improve in the living standards, the organised holidays of the
trade unions (after 1948) and the development of youth tourism resulted in a
mass demand from the late 1950s. By the summer of 1972, in addition to the
120,000 permanent inhabitants there were another 320,000 holidaymakers
staying for a longer time at the Lake Balaton and another approximately
140,000 people who only visited the lake on the weekends (Balaton, 1984. p.
18.). In the summer of 1982, the number of permanent residents was already
125,000, and there were 410,000 holidaymakers and approximately 140,000
weekend visitors in the settlements along the Lake Balaton. In some settlements
on the shore, the summer population was 5 to 7 times higher than the number of
permanent residents (Balaton, 1982. p. 18.). In summer weekends and when the
weather was fine, the number of population on the shore was estimated to be
around 800,000 – 1 million. The growing demand for holidays was followed by
the increase in the number of holiday homes: in 1910 there were approximately
1,900, in 1927 3,236, in 1941 8,000, in 1970 14,500, in the 1980s 40,000–50,000
and already some 70,000 by 2000 (Lukács, 1931. p. 58; Illés– Kovács, 1983. p.
58
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
35.; Oláh, 2003. p. 6.). The Lake Balaton was popular with foreigners because
of the relative cheapness of holidays, the good accessibility of the bathing
resorts, the more liberal atmosphere of Hungary compared to the other socialist
countries, which was not only a novelty for the citizens of the socialist states but
also provided a legal and safe opportunity of encounter for the citizens of the two
German states divided by political borders. All these factors contributed to the
rapid growth of foreign tourists.
A break in the growth of the number of holidaymakers occurred after the
systemic change (Tables 8 and 9). After the stagnation of the quality of the
water in the 1980s, a very rapid deterioration took place in the early 1990s,
spectacular indicators of which were the repeated fish decays (of eel and silver
carp). The water of the lake became hypertrophic, showed the sign of the ageing
of the lake, which was enough for the foreign travel agencies to launch counter-
propaganda. Simultaneously, there were much less organised trade union
holidays, domestic tourism declined too, a significant part of the population felt
their situation uncertain in the crisis following the systemic change (high
unemployment, mass reduction of jobs), their solvency and demand for holidays
considerably decreased. Due to the uncertainty caused by the systemic change,
and partly to the appearance of foreign criminals, crime grew by leaps,
including the growing number of stealths on the beaches, burglaries and car
stealths. The mass of the unskilled entrepreneurs did not improve the quality of
the services, either, but increased the prices, and the new entrepreneurs often
tried to raise their profit by cheating the guests. These negative phenomena
were very much off-putting both for the Hungarian and the foreign guests.
Another fall in the number of visitors was caused by the fact that the winning,
solvent layer of the systemic change, not only in Hungary but also in the
neighbouring countries of origin (Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia) used the
new possibilities and preferred the travels to the west or the seaside resorts. The
German reunification eliminated the former position of the Lake Balaton as a
meeting place of the East and West Germans. This is well indicated by the fall
of the number of guests nights spent by German tourists at the commercial
accommodations: from 4.2 million in 1989 to 2.9 million in 1990, 2.1. million
in 1992 and 1.6 million by 2004. Simultaneously there was a decrease in the
number of foreign guests visiting the Lake Balaton: from 834 thousand to 473
thousand; meanwhile, the number of guests nights spent by them dropped from
6.5 million to 2.7 million (Michalkó–Vizi, 2006, p. 37.) (Table 10).
The tourism of the Lake Balaton is determined by the guests coming from
four countries: Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark. They account
for 85% of the turnover of the commercial accommodations, within that the
Germans alone make some 60%.
59
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Table 8
Number of foreign tourists using commercial accommodations (in thousand)
Specification
1980
1986
1990
2000
2005
Number of guests
825
1,008
725
823
976
Of which foreign
473
686
561
419
386
Number of guest nights
6,188
7,897
5,341
3,735
3,941
Of which foreign
3,358
5,492
4,280
2,457
2,189
*Without B&B.
Source: Statistical yearbook of the HCSO. 1980. p. 350.; Tourism yearbook of the HCSO 1986.
pp. 240–256. Statistical yearbooks of the HCSO, 1999. p. 258., 2005. p. 291.
Table 9
Turnover of commercial accommodations in the Balaton Region* (in thousand)
Specification
1980
1986
1990
2000
2005
Proportion of foreign tourists (%)
57
68
77
51
40
Proportion of foreign guest nights (%)
54
70
80
66
56
Source: By the author after HCSO data.
Table 10
Number of German guests at the commercial accommodations of the Balaton
(1989, 2004)
Specification
Number of guests nights spent by
Share of the guests nights spent by
Germans
Germans within all foreign guest
nights, in per cent
1989
2004
1989
2004
Balaton
4,236,965
1,592,423
65
59
Hungary total
6,898,473
3,439,627
40
33
Source: Michalkó –Vizi, 2006, p. 37.
The fall of the tourism of the Lake Balaton is not demonstrated by the
figures of the commercial accommodations and B&B establishments, because
formerly the number of guests at company-owned holiday houses was about the
same as the number of guests at commercial accommodations; by the
closedown of the company-owned establishments, this layer of tourists
significantly decreased. The impact of this can be seen not so much in the
60
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
turnover of the commercial accommodations, rather in the declining demand for
the local services (catering, beaches etc.). The same is true for the also
significantly decreasing youth tourism. These tendencies could not be
counterbalanced by the growth in the number of private holiday homes.
Examples for this are the data of 1986 (Table 11).
Table 11
Tourism of the Lake Balaton in 1986
Specification
Commercial
Accommodations in
Total
accommodations
other holiday facilities
Number of guests
1,008,039
761,277
1,769,316
Of which: foreign
686,021
53,699
739,720
Number of guest nights
7,896,683
7,833,948
15,730,631
Of which: foreign
5,492,100
572,076
6,064,176
Source: Statistical yearbook of tourism. 1986. HCSO, Budapest, pp. 250–256.
The decline in the organised trade union and youth holidays considerably
increased the seasonality of tourism and its susceptibility to the weather,
because in bad weather the tourists left the lake shore holiday resorts.
Looking at the number of holidaymakers at the Lake Balaton, we can say
that the radical decline in number of guests, including the continuous decrease
in the number of German guests who make the bulk of the guests, is a crisis
phenomenon of tourism. This of course is also manifested in the declining share
of the Balaton from the tourism incomes of Hungary: in the 1980s the Lake
Balaton accounted for some 30% of the tourism revenues in Hungary; in 1990
this was still 27–29%, to drop to 21% by now. Parallel to the very significant
developments (e.g. large-scale hotel developments in Siófok, Balatonalmádi,
Balatonfüred, Zalakaros, Hévíz and Kehidakustány) improving the conditions of
tourism, the Lake Balaton was depreciated at the international level (Table 12). A
promising sign is that after the nadir in the 1990s, due to the improving economic
performance of Hungary, the increased prices of foreign holidays, and not last the
introduction of the travel cheques available for a wide layer of the Hungarian
population, the number of Hungarian visitors is growing again. However, the
growth in the number of private holiday homes cannot counterbalance the
decline in the number of foreign tourists and the guests nights spent by them. A
serious problem is the failure to stop the decrease in the number of German
guests or to substitute them with guests coming from other countries.
Table 12
61
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Change in the number of accommodations in the Balaton Region,
1998–2004 (beds)
Specification
1998
2004
Change
(in per cent, 1998 = 100.0%)
Commercial accommodations
86,719
93,170
107
Private accommodations
120,477
148,682
123
Total
207,196
241,852
117
Source: A balatoni turizmus fejlesztési koncepciója és programja [Development concept and
programme of the tourism of the Lake Balaton.]. Appendices. LT Consorg Kft. Balatonfüred.
2005. p. 14.
Sixtus Lanner, an Austrian expert of regional development, who travelled
around Hungary in 2005 and published a paper on his studies, has an opinion
that partly explains the decreasing number of tourists. “Tourism is one of the
pillars of rural development. The region of Lake Balaton has exploited it for
decades, and even now is not able to keep up with development. Spare bedroom
facilities have had much room for improvement yet. Hosts have got used to
accommodating tourists among each other and hoping that they will be satisfied
with the amenities, so several families use one common bathroom at these
accommodations. The hosts are even not prepared to realise that tourists do not
accept this, and they are just surprised when western guests do not show up.”
(Lanner, 2005, p. 14.). Although this picture is rather one-sided, as there was no
adequate demand for high-class accommodations, either, a significant number
of foreign guests must have had experiences like those described above.
Both the Hungarian and the foreign guests have become more demanding; an
increasing share of them uses commercial accommodations, including four-star
hotels, while the proportion of B&B is continuously decreasing. The role and
turnover of tourist hostels and campsites offering low level of service have
especially depreciated (Figure 17).
The Balaton Region is the second most important tourism region in Hungary,
after Budapest. According to the statistics of 2004, 16% of the Hungarian and
foreign tourists (a total of 10.1 million people) visited the lake that concentrates
28% of all commercial accommodations, in which 23% of all guest nights are
spent. Among the commercial accommodations, the capacity of the private
accommodations is outstanding (66%): private accommodations at the Lake
Balaton accounted for 49% of the turnover of all private accommodations in
Hungary in the case of Hungarian guests, in the case of foreign guests their
share was 67% (Table 13).
62
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 17
Number of guest nights by type of hotel
Source: A Balaton üdülıkörzet idegenforgalma 2000–2005. [Tourism in the Balaton Holiday
Region. 2000–2005. Veszprém County Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical
Office] Veszprém County Directorate of the HCSO, Veszprém, p. 25.
Table 13
Weight of the Lake Balaton in the tourism of Hungary (2004)
Specification
Hungary
Balaton Holiday Weight of the
Region
Balaton (%)
Hungarian and foreign visitors total (million)
62.7
10.1
16
Capacity of commercial accommodations
336,494
93,170
28
(beds)
Turnover of commercial accommodations
18,899
4,369
23
(thousand guest nights)
Of which: foreigners (thousand guest nights)
10,508
2 539
24
Capacity of private accommodations (beds)
196,011
148,682
66
Turnover of private accommodations
3,094
1,510
49
(thousand guest nights)
Of which: foreigners (thousand guest nights)
1,633
1,097
67
Total revenues from tourism (billion HUF)
1,000
210
21
Source: A balatoni turizmus fejlesztési koncepciója és programja [Development concept and
programme of the tourism of the Lake Balaton.]. Extract. LT Consorg Kft. Balatonfüred.
2005, p. 3.
63
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Approximately 95% of the accommodations can be found in the settlements
on the lake shore; the majority of the capacity in the hinterland is in the two
resorts with medicinal waters, Hévíz and Zalakaros. Recently the turnover in
Alsópáhok, a village in the vicinity of Hévíz, and in Kehidakustány has been
rapidly growing. Within the commercial accommodations, the capacity of three
and four star hotels, wellness hotels, boarding houses and holiday homes has
been expanding fast since 1999, whereas that of the one and two star hotels,
tourist hostels and camping sites is decreasing. Tourism is strongly concentrated
spatially, the 10 most popular resorts (all on the shore or in the resorts with
medicinal waters) concentrate more than 70% of the registered turnover of
guests in the Balaton Holiday Region (Table 14).
The tourism of the Lake Balaton preserved its strongly seasonal character
until 2005, the three summer months make 60.4% of the total turnover of the
year (Mester–Polgár–Kiss, 2006, p. 65.). The time spent by the guests in the
commercial accommodations and the private accommodations was almost the
same in 2004, the difference being only 0.5 guest night for the favour of the
private accommodations.
The average length of stay of the guests is continuously decreasing at the
commercial accommodations: in 2005 the average stay of foreign guests was
5.7 nights, of Hungarians 2.9 nights, in the average of all guests it reached 4
nights, only (Table 15).
The ratio of foreign and Hungarian guest nights considerably changed from
1998 to 2004. The fall in the number of guest nights spent by foreign tourists,
however, could not be fully compensated by the increase of the Hungarian guest
nights. The ratio of the Hungarian and foreign guest nights changed from 1:3 to
1:1.5 (Table 16).
According to the surveys, only 5–6% of the permanent residents, i.e. ap-
proximately 14 thousand people with a total of some 5,600 houses were in-
volved in the letting of private accommodations, and no more than 13–15% of
the population had access to the revenues from catering industry (Oláh, 2003, p.
6.). The local people dealing with the letting of private accommodations live in
the settlements on the lake shore.
According to the official statistics, the major part of the letting of private ac-
commodations is not done by the permanent local residents but the owners of
the 15,000–16,000 holiday homes. According to the data of the HCSO, there are
11 guests for one host annually, two guests for one bed and a total of 13 guest
nights. Compared to the data of the 1980s, after the turn of the millennium the
turnover of private accommodations decreased much more than the guest nights
spent in the commercial accommodations (Figure 18).
64
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Table 14
Turnover of the commercial accommodations in the 10 most popular holiday
resorts, 2005
Spatial unit
Guests
Guest nights
Average length of stay,
nights
number
in % of data
of which:
number
in % of data
of which:
total
of foreign
(thsd)
share of
(thsd)
share of
guests
foreign guests
foreign guests
Hungary
7,064
–
48.8
19,737
–
54.6
2.8
3.1
Balaton Holiday
1,125
100.0
37.3
4,456
100.0
53.4
4.0
5.7
Region
of which:
Siófok
209
18.6
40.1
676
15.2
54.6
3.2
4.4
Hévíz
172
15.2
51.2
915
20.5
68.8
5.3
7.2
Balatonfüred
112
10.0
56.4
472
10.6
72.9
4.2
5.5
Zalakaros
87
7.7
24.3
323
7.2
42.5
3.7
6.5
Keszthely
56
5.0
43.6
189
4.2
55.7
3.4
4.3
Tihany
50
4.4
40.1
165
3.7
61.7
3.3
5.1
Zánka
39
3.5
9.5
125
2.8
22.7
3.3
7.8
Balatonföldvár
30
2.7
35.9
111
2.5
46.4
3.7
4.8
Balatonszemes
29
2.6
18.4
107
2.4
26.9
3.8
5.5
Alsópáhok
26
2.3
19.0
111
2.5
37.0
4.3
8.4
10 settlements total
110
72.0
-
3194
71.6
–
–
–
Source: A Balaton üdülıkörzet idegenforgalma 2000-2005. By the author after the data of the
Veszprém County Directorate of the HCSO (Veszprém, 2006).
65
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Table 15
Average length of stay at the commercial accommodations
(average number of guest nights, 1998–2005)
Specification
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005*
Balaton
5.1
5.1
4.8
4.8
4.6
4.5
4.3
4.0
Hungary
3.1
3.1
3.1
3.1
3.0
2.9
2.9
2.8
* Preliminary data.
Source: Mester – Polgár – Kiss, 2006. p. 64.
Table 16
Turnover of the accommodations in the Balaton Region, 1998–2004
Specification
Number of guest nights
Change
(1998=100.0%)
1998
2004
Total turnover of commercial accommodations
4,636,925
4,369,000
94.22
Of which: Hungarian
1,397,750
1,830,000
130.92
foreign
3,239,175
2,539,000
78.38
Total turnover of private accommodations
2,215,476
1,509,000
68.11
Of which: Hungarian
316,503
412,000
130.17
foreign
1,898,973
1,097,000
57.77
Total turnover of all accommodations
6,852,401
5,878,000
85.78
Of which: Hungarian
1,714,253
2,242,000
130.79
foreign
5,138,148
3,636,000
70.76
Source: A balatoni turizmus fejlesztési koncepciója és programja [Development concept and
programme of the tourism of the Lake Balaton.], Appendix. LT Consorg Kft. Balatonfüred.
2005, p. 10.
Local experts, however, have serious doubts about the reliability of the reg-
istered data of turnover at the private accommodations; the considerable amount
of untaxed revenue from unregistered supply of accommodation is divided
among the 70 thousand holiday home owners, including 10 thousand foreign
owners.
Calculated this way, one-third of the actual revenues of Hungary from
tourism is still produced around the Lake Balaton (according to local calcula-
tions), and the total value of this third can be as much as approximately 5 billion
Euros in better years (Oláh, 2003, pp. 7–9.).
Contradictory processes were going on in the Balaton Region after 1998.
Parallel to the growth in the number of accommodations (the total number of
commercial accommodations was 86,700 in 1998, 102,000 in 2005; that of the
private accommodations was 144,700 in 1999 and 158,500 in 2005), there was a
66
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
decreasing demand for accommodation. The fall in the number of guests at the
accommodations stopped in 2000, but the loss of the foreign guests using the
accommodations for longer time could not be compensated by the growing
number of Hungarian guests visiting the Lake Balaton for a few days only
(Figure 19; Table 17).
Figure 18
Number of guest nights in the Balaton shore commercial accommodations
and hotels, 1990–2004
Key: 1 – Foreigners at commercial accommodations; 2 – Foreigners at hotels; 3 – Hun-
garians at commercial accommodations; 4 – Hungarians at hotels.
Source: Mester–Polgár– Kiss, 2006. p. 68.
The decline of the national importance of the tourism at the Balaton is
demonstrated by the fall of the turnover of commercial accommodations within
the total of Hungary from 16.9% in 1998 to 15.8% in 2005; the proportion of
the guest nights spent in region within the total of Hungary fell from 24.7% to
22.5% in the same period. In the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton,
7.1 million guest nights were spent at all accommodations in 2000, which fell to
5.8 million by 2005. In 2005 the decline in the number of guest nights
continued, together with the shortening of the average length of stay, to not
more than 3.78 days. The biggest turnover and the largest number of guest
nights at the settlements on the lake shore were registered, in decreasing order,
in Siófok, Balatonfüred, Keszthely and Tihany (Figure 20).
The statistical surveys done until 2006 reveal a further decline in the number
of foreign guests, which cannot be compensated by the growing number of
Hungarian guests, due to the significantly shorter average length of the
67
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
holidays
Figure 19
Number of guest nights in the commercial accommodations, by type of
accommodation, 2000, 2005
Source: A Balaton üdülıkörzet idegenforgalma 2000–2005. Veszprém County Directorate of
the HCSO, Veszprém, 2006, p. 24.
68
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Table 17
Change in the number of guests and guest nights at commercial and private
accommodations (2000–2005)
Year
Number of
Number of
Number of
Number of
Number of
Number of
foreign
Hungarian
guests total foreign guest Hungarian guest nights
guests
guests
(thousand)
nights
guest nights total (thsd)
(thousand)
(thousand)
(thousand)
(thousand)
2000
786
562
1,348
5,101
2,024
7,126
2001
801
571
1,372
5,142
2,039
7,181
2002
753
653
1,406
4,573
2,293
6,866
2003
710
664
1,374
4,165
2,284
6,449
2004
637
706
1,343
3,637
2,243
5,880
2005
587
828
1,416
3,303
2,536
5,839
2005 in % of
74.7
147.4
105.0
64.7
125.3
81.9
the year 2000
Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet idegenforgalma 2000–2005 [Tourism in the Balaton Holiday
Region. 2000–2005. Veszprém County Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical
Office]. Veszprém, 2006, pp. 68–69.
made by Hungarian guests. The decline in the number of tourists in the com-
mercial accommodations is especially striking on the north shore, whereas a
slight increase was registered on the south and the west shore. This can be
partly due to the growing traffic at the airport of Sármellék (70 thousand pas-
sengers in 2006), and also to the better accessibility of the south and the west
shore. Approximately seventy per cent of the tourists using the commercial
accommodations see the lake shore settlements as destinations, whereas the
majority of those visiting the hinterland travel to the two resorts with medicinal
water, Hévíz and Zalakaros (Figures 21 and 22).
Interestingly, the structure of the expenditure of the tourists arriving at the
Lake Balaton differs from the national average. The better spending capacity of
the region is referred in the touristic expenditure structure: 36% accommodation
costs, 64% were spent on food, cloths and other services, in contrast to the
national average of 56% and 44%. The registry of the actual number of tourists
and the amount of revenues is made difficult by the significantly increased
number of illegal (mostly Hungarian) travel agencies and the accommodations
working in the black economy. Tourism revenues are also decreased by the use
of the free travel available for people aged 65 or more by the foreign tourists
too, thus they do not use the services of the Hungarian travel agencies.
69
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
The development of the tourism in the Balaton Region is blocked by the lack
of considerable foreign investments in tourism in the region. While the share of
foreign capital in the hotel industry in Hungary as a whole was approximately
39%, in the Balaton Region it was not more than 10%, and even that was mostly
concentrated to the resorts with medicinal waters. A more expressed presence of
the foreign capital is expected in the development of the Lake Balaton from
2007.
Figure 20
Total number of guest nights spent in the holiday region, 2005
Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet idegenforgalma 2000–2005 [Tourism in the Balaton Holiday
Region. 2000–2005. Veszprém County Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical
Office]. Veszprém, 2006, 2006, p. 20.
70
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 21
Number of guests at the commercial accommodations of the Balaton Region,
1996–2006
Key: 1 – Number of guests at commercial accommodations. Of which: 2 – Hungarians; 3 –
foreigners.
Source: Oláh, 2007. p. 3.
71
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 22
Number of guest nights at the commercial accommodations of the Balaton
Region, 1996–2006
Key: 1 – Number of guest nights at the commercial accommodations. Of which: 2 – Hungarians;
3 – foreigners.
Source: Oláh, 2007. p. 3.
72
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
4.5 Agriculture
4.5.1
Significance of agriculture in the Balaton
Region
Agriculture is of vital importance for the region. The agriculture of the Balaton
Region is very important in the utilisation of the agricultural potential, in em-
ployment and in keeping the lands in a cultivated condition. At the same time,
agriculture is a significant threat to the quality of the water of the lake and to
tourism, through promotion of erosion and deflation, thought the hazards of
animal husbandry (carcasses and liquid manure) and the pollution of chemicals
(pesticides, fertilisers). For agriculture, tourism is both an economic advantage
as the population arriving at the lake is an important local market – due to the
bigger purchasing power of the tourists – and a threat, because the labour ab-
sorbing effect of tourism increases the production costs and the wages; also, the
environmental inspections more serious than in other parts of Hungary require
the farmers to meet more rigorous environmental norms and force them to im-
plement more expensive investments.
The most precious natural and also economic asset of the Region is the water
of the Lake Balaton; tourism has the biggest economic potential in the area.
Agriculture must adapt to tourism, the conditions of farming must be set with
keeping the needs of tourism in mind. The agricultural endowments of the re-
gion are around average, if not worse (the average golden crown value of the
plough lands is only 17.5), but the region is extremely heterogeneous, allowing
almost any kind of agricultural activity to be pursued (field crops, vegetables,
viti- and horticulture) in excellent conditions. The only agricultural potential of
the region that has an international recognition is the production of quality
wines, however, in order to increase its economic importance the markets
should accept the costs of the quality and the extra expenses occurring in order
to meet these quality standards.
The respective parts of the Balaton Region offer extremely varied opportu-
nities for agricultural production. Splendid agricultural endowments are in the
loess plain, with extremely fertile soils, in the south-southeast part of the Bala-
ton Region (Balatonkenese – Siófok). The loess soils in the southern water
catchment area, around Fonyód and Marcali are also very fertile. Soils of worse
quality can be found in the hilly area of Tab south of the lake; also, the soils of
the Zala hills in the western part of the water catchment area are eroded and less
easily cultivable. With the exception of grapes, soils of the lowest quality, least
favourable for agricultural production, can be found in northern part of the re-
gion, the Balaton Uplands (shallow, less fertile soils) and in the former swamps,
drained in the southern part of the catchment area (wet peat and marsh – kotu –
73
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
soils). The studies of the 1970s (Bora–Kulcsár, 1979, p. 14.) already demon-
strated that the structure of agricultural production in the Balaton Region
showed no significant differences from the national average (with the exception
of the Balaton Uplands where the production of corn and sugar beet was insig-
nificant on the shallow and less fertile soils), and no special features, character-
istic of the Region could be detected (e.g. the share of vegetable and fruit pro-
duction was even lower than the national average). The explanation for this
phenomenon is the fact that the production structure was set in accordance with
the central regulations, and the agricultural cooperatives and state farms tried to
produce crops for which higher amounts of central support were available. In
the last decades there were no regulations that selectively and continuously sup-
ported either the use of the agricultural advantages of the region (e.g. production
of grapes and quality wines in the mountainous areas, or vegetable and fruit
grown directly for the local markets) or developments for the extensive use of
the marshlands and the soils in the Balaton Uplands (almond plantations, exten-
sive beef and mutton production etc.).
Consequently, the agriculture of the Balaton Region – similarly to all other
parts of Hungary – was characterised by intensive developments (increase of the
size of the plantations, amelioration and improvement of the soils, intensive use
of chemicals, establishment of large animal farms) and by an extensive trans-
formation after the systemic change (decrease of the size of plantations, or-
chards and vineyards, the almost complete closedown of amelioration interven-
tions, growth of the areas left uncultivated, a radical decrease of the use of
chemicals). In the plough lands the large-scale production of cereals was typi-
cal, animal husbandry almost completely ceased to exist. Before the systemic
change, an evidently positive phenomenon – although underutilised compared
to the possibilities – was the forestation of the steep hillsides and the stream
valleys (with alder), but it almost completely stopped after the 1990s, in fact, a
significant part of the formerly professionally planted and maintained forests
deteriorated in quality, due to the lack of adequate management.
The presence of a lake shore and the weaker production capacity explains
the proportions of land use different from the national average: a high share,
well above the national average, of forests (85,435 hectares), fish ponds (1,740
hectares) and reeds (3,032 hectares). The only sector of agriculture with excel-
lent endowments in all parts of the water catchment area is viticulture; the vine-
yards cover more than 6,000 hectares in the holiday region. Lower than the na-
tional average is the share of orchards (only 1,674 hectares), despite the very
good endowments, and the share of plough lands (94,666 hectares), whereas the
size and proportion of grasslands is around the national average on the whole
(approximately 11%). A large number of fish ponds were built as soon as in the
early 19th century in the Balaton Region, but a significant part of them were
74
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
filled up with sediments and ceased to exist, due to the lack of adequate man-
agement. The presently operating fish ponds cover a total area of 1,654 hec-
tares; it is still significant in a national comparison. Most of the ponds can be
found south of the Balaton (a total of 1,210 hectares); in the western and north-
ern parts of the water catchment area there are 303 and 141 hectares of fish
ponds, respectively. The large difference between the south and the north shore
in this respect is caused by the lowest quality and rocky soils on the north side,
having much less plough lands and fish ponds but a significantly higher share of
vineyards, grasslands and forests.
Vegetable and fruit production could have had an outstanding importance in
the supply of the Region. There were splendid areas for the production of all
kinds of fruits in the Balaton Region. In the 1960s and ‘70s, huge fruit planta-
tions were carried out in a campaign, partly motivated by the authorities and
partly for the acquisition of the supports available for plantations. In the cam-
paign-like plantations, the destiny of the plantations was often determined by
the inadequate selection of the places of cultivation, the low quality of the plants
and the inadequate preparation of the soil for the trees; also, there was a short-
age of well-trained experts for the maintenance of the orchards. All these factors
resulted in low yields, and fruit growing had a deficit. The majority of the farms
tried to get rid of the orchards that only produced a loss for them. One of the
reasons of the economic failure of horticulture was the lack of infrastructure
conditions (the fruit sorting plants and the cold storage plants were not built
parallel to the plantations of the trees); also, the market relations of the produc-
ers were not established. The chains of shops necessary for direct sales were
missing, there was no large-scale marketplace in the Region, and the harvest of
the fruits could not be adapted to the short and, due to the weather, extremely
uncertain holiday season. This made the majority of the farms – especially after
the over-production crisis in the 1980s – finish fruit production, the whole pro-
duction of fruits was concentrated in a very few large farms in the Balaton
Holiday Region. These farms had long-term processing contracts with the can-
ning factories and liquor factories, or exported their products. The biggest pro-
ducers on the north shore were a company in Nemesvámos (production of sour
cherry liquor and sweets), the Holding of Balatonboglár (nuts and hazelnuts),
and the State Farm of Siófok. The latter, in order to decrease the losses, built an
own canning factory and juice plant, and created an own brand called Sió, pro-
ducing extremely popular and very high quality juices. In the Selected Holiday
Region of the Balaton, the largest orchards operated in the territories of these
three companies, and a fruit production culture, keeping production still alive,
was born in these three firms. During the privatisation following the systemic
change, the former large companies were divided into smaller economic units
whose market positions and regional impact became practically negligible.
75
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
A factor contributing to the failures of fruit production was the shortage of
labour in the holiday season, making labour expensive; also, the sector of viti-
culture and wine production, with its better conditions and great traditions, was
a serious competitor for fruit production. This led to the gradual disappearing of
fruit production from the shore of the Lake Balaton and its concentration in a
few large farms outside the holiday region of the water catchment area, where
neither viticulture nor tourism was competition (e.g. the state farms in Kutas,
Nagykanizsa, Zalaszentgrót and Zalaegerszeg, or the co-op of Vése), occasion-
ally creating very important production areas, e.g. a pears growing area around
Nagykanizsa.
Vegetable production had a situation similar to that of fruit production. After
some initial attempts, local vegetable production lost its significance and was
not able to permanently integrate into the vegetable trade of the Region. The
development of vegetable production too was held back by the lack of cold
storage plants, the lack of a large-scale marketplace in the region and the lack of
direct commercial relations. Vegetable production thus either had to produce for
the canning factories or sell their products in the large-scale marketplace in
Budapest, whereas the shopkeepers purchased the vegetables for the supply of
the Balaton shore in Budapest or the Great Hungarian Plain.
Vegetable and fruit production were the clear signs indicating that the agri-
culture of the area was unable to integrate into the supply of the Balaton Holi-
day Region; agriculture has never played and still does not play a dominant role
in the area. The only sector for which the possibility is given in this respect is
viticulture and wine production. The unprepared, undemanding and narrow-
minded tourism “experts” are condemned for this situation. Tourism of the
triumvirate of accommodation-bathing-roadhouse has not pushed an advantage
of that the former co-operatives, as exotic farms, could mean for westerners,
and tourist experts also have not made local relationships while purchasing
fresh products. This paradox was also perceptible by Sixtus Lanner, previously
mentioned Austrian expert.
“… Lake Balaton is a tourist region: there were beautiful cherry-trees in the
gardens and in the lands, fructifying fantastic cherries. No one picks them and
hotels serve fruit salad of tinned fruits. Everything can be bought in the local
Spar supermarket. Except for cherry.” (Lanner, 2005, p. 16.).
4.6 Viticulture and wine production
Viticulture and wine production, going back to almost 2000 years in history, is
the most important agricultural activity in the Selected Holiday Region of the
Lake Balaton. Besides water, vine is the primary element shaping the landscape;
76
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
viticulture is an economic activity, a source of living or supplementary income
and an attraction for tourism, on the one hand; and a tradition, a part of local
culture and a decisive element of the regional identity, on the other hand. It is also
a hobby. Viticulture and wine production are one of the most capital- and labour
intensive branches of agriculture that cannot be sustained only for the sake of
tradition and the preservation of the landscape; it only becomes feasible if the
economically competitive forms of viticulture and wine production, meeting the
requirements of the 21st century, are created. The natural endowments for this
are splendid, as 84.4% of the potential total of 32,075 hectare area of the vine-
yards in the wine regions of the Balaton Region are 1st class areas, of which
only 10,744 hectares – i.e. just over 30% – are actually areas covered by vine-
yards. Both the milder, sunlit slopes of the mountains on the north side and the
warm hillsides on the south shore are very good for grapes, but the southern
slopes of the hills in the Zala valley also offer good opportunities for the plant-
ing of large vineyards. The difference is that the shallower and less fertile soils
on the north shore can only be utilised in a competitive way – as opposed to the
other areas – by producing quality grapes and wines. Viticulture this is an eco-
nomic opportunity and an economic must at the same time, which is reflected in
the high proportion of vineyards from all arable lands in the north part of the
region. This is largely due to the fact that the wines produced in the Balaton
Region are better in quality than the average, with a considerable and historical
recognition not only in Hungary but also abroad (especially in the German-
speaking areas), which makes their marketing easier. The historically most
renowned place of wine production in the Balaton Wine Region is Badacsony,
but there are other areas where wines of similar quality can be produced – e.g.
Szent György Hill, Keszthely Mountains etc. (Figure 23).
The present situation of viticulture and wine production can be realistically
judged by the processes that have taken place over the last 100 years. For centu-
ries, especially in the Balaton Uplands, the production of grapes and wine was a
major source of living for the population. Consequently, the sector was charac-
terised by the large number of farmers and the limited spatial concentration of
the activity. The vineyards covered the biggest areas by the late 19th century;
then, after the phyloxera epidemic taking place at that time, the areas more dif-
ficult to cultivate and producing smaller yields – approximately 2,200 hectares
on the mountain- and hillsides – were not re-planted (Weininger– Kántor, 1998.
p. 16.). This deficiency was mostly recovered by the new plantations at the
foothills and in the crop-growing fields. Due to the economic crisis following
Wold War I, and then agricultural policy of the one and a half decades
following Wold War II, resulting in divestment of capital from agriculture,
viticulture was abandoned in large areas, especially on those farther from the
settlements, with worse accessibility and endowments, and producing lower
77
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
yields, but many times also in the areas with the best potentials. The renewal of
the plantations was neglected, too. After the reorganisation of agriculture into
large state-owned farms, the state farms could not manage effectively the newly
acquired small-scale vineyards, leading to the abandonment of further areas,
especially smaller plots that were more problematic to cultivate.
Figure 23
Wine growing areas in the Balaton Region, 2003
Source: A Balaton üdülıkörzet 1996–2002 [The Balaton Holiday Region. 1996–2002. Veszprém
County Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office], Veszprém, 2003, p. 43.
The plantation of large-scale vineyards started in the 1960s, and it was espe-
cially the 1970s and ‘80s whose plantations still determine the grape and wine
culture of the region. The plantations led to the establishment of large, contiguous
vineyards with up-to-date product structure and cultivation methods. A process of
specialisation and concentration started in the region, as a result of which the
farms with good endowment for viticulture developed their grape and wine sector,
78
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
while others abandoned this activity. The scale of concentration is well reflected
by the proportion of the five largest holdings of the total area of vineyards in the
respective water catchment areas in 1982:
• North catchment area (Veszprém county) 70.6 %
• South catchment area (Somogy county)
79.6 %
The holdings with the largest areas in the region were the following:
• State Farm of Balatonboglár
1,050 ha
• State Farm of Badacsony
849 ha
• Co-operative of Nemesvámos
576 ha
• Co-operative of Zánka
484 ha
• Co-operative of Nemesgulács
436 ha
The increasing spatial concentration was evidently advantageous for viticul-
ture and wine production. This is proved by the fact that parallel to the significant
decline in the area of vineyards nationally and the liquidation of a large part of
both the large and small plantations, in the Balaton Region the territory of vine-
yards grew and the yields of grapes in the region considerably exceeded the na-
tional averages. Also, the share of the Balaton Region from the export of wines
was well above its share from the territory of all vineyards.
In the 1980s, the farms paid more and more attention, in addition to the
quantitative growth of production, to the quality requirements, including both the
selection of the production areas and the development of the wine processing
techniques. A problem for the quality of the wines, still valid today, was that the
large holdings created their new plantations in the milder slopes or plain areas,
easily cultivable with machinery, as opposed to the hardly cultivable mountain-
and hillsides. Some farms attempted to cultivate the steeper slopes again (e.g. the
macro-terraces of the Grapes and Wine Research Centre of Badacsony, or the
grassed plantations of the State Farm of Badacsony in Badacsonylábdi, perpen-
dicular to the slopes). This was limited, however, by the approximately 50%
extra cost of the plantation and cultivation of the steep areas, the return of which
was uncertain, due to the possibly better quality but lower yields. A significant
part of these areas were finally abandoned, in the lack of cultivation karst bush
forests grew in their stead.
In addition to large-scale farming, small farms have always been important
in the region. On the one hand, large areas remained in private property; on the
other hand, from the 1970s, specialised farmers’ associations implemented
large-scale plantations especially in the southern catchment area, in which the
raw material for the large wineries was produced. In the areas cultivated by the
farmers’ associations, the members joining the association cultivated the areas
allocated to them as a part-time activity. It was a very big advantage for small-
79
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
scale production that both the demand of the large wineries and the enormously
grown tourism created a certain market for the grapes and wines produced.
Viticulture and wine production has been the sector to date that has most or-
ganically joined the supply of the Balaton Region. It is attributable to a large
part by the ever growing market created by the extremely rapidly growing tour-
ism after the 1960s. Both the large and the small holdings used this opportunity.
The large holdings and farmers’ associations established and operated commer-
cial wine cellars (e.g. the State Farm of Balatonboglár), wine bars and catering
facilities, producing a continuous income. Some large holdings created regular
chains in the Balaton Region (e.g. the 29 wine bars of the Co-operative of
Nemesgulács) and also all over Hungary, in the larger places of consumption
(Budapest, Gyır, Pécs etc.). The large holdings wanted to pursue the largest
possible range of activities in the grapes and wine sector. The State Farm of
Badacsony produced a popular beverage called “Traubiszóda”, the State Farm
of Balatonboglár produced pasteurised wine juice and sparkling wine, marketed
under the brand name B.B.; also, the latter produced and marketed Martini after
an Italian recipe.
The small holdings usually sold their wines through the farmers’ associa-
tions, but they also supplied a considerable amount directly to the catering fa-
cilities; in addition, the consumption of the tourists visiting the cellars was sig-
nificant.
Tourism contributed to the better recognition of the wines of the Balaton
Region both in Hungary and abroad. An important part of this was due to the
significant growth of the East German export.
Another very important fact contributing to the development of the grapes
and wine sector of the region was the fact that from the 1970s, the large- and
small-scale grapes and wine production were not competitors to each other;
instead, they organically supplemented one another.
The brief overview of the past demonstrates that a still palpable problem in the
grapes and wine production of the region is the decline of quality. The reasons for
this were manifold:
• Above all it has to be emphasised that neither the Hungarian nor the for-
eign markets acknowledged the better quality by willing to pay higher
prices. They demanded an average quality, significantly below the quality
typical in the Balaton Region, so the extra expenses of quality wine pro-
duction (lower yields, longer period of fermentation etc.) did not return.
Although the Western European (Austrian and German) buyers were
keener on quality – which they did not pay for, either –, they did not mar-
ket the wines transported from the region in barrels and tankers as Balaton
wines, they used them to upgrade their wines of inferior quality. This way
not only the introduction of the Balaton wines to the markets was undone,
80
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
but the wines of the Balaton Region became active, although absolutely
innocent, participants in the wine scandals of Germany and Austria, which
did a lot of harm to the image of the Balaton Wine Region.
• The farms were only able to produce cheaper wines by abandoning
viticulture on the mountain sides, more expensive to plant and cultivate,
and creating plantations in the so-called outskirts formerly used for cereal
production. This way, although the possibility for the production of wines
of high quality were given, the Balaton Wine Region lost its advantage,
coming from the better quality of the steep mountain sides, over the other
wine producing areas.
• In order to reach high yields and an expected quality, many species of
grapes were planted, which in turn made it difficult to market large quan-
tities of single quality as the market demands grew. Despite the fact that
more than 50% of all vineyards in the Balaton Region produced a classic
type, Italian Riesling, and the French world brands (Chardonnay and Sau-
vignon) were also planted in large areas, together with other types of red
grapes (e.g. Merlot, Cabernet etc.) to meet the market demands, several
types of grapes producing lower quality wines arrived at the Balaton Wine
Region, which should not have been planted here. Simultaneously, several
quality grapes (e.g. the Kéknyelő), founding the fame of the Balaton Wine
Region, almost completely disappeared.
• The adequate processing and storage capacities were not built out parallel
to the large-scale plantations of grapes. Typical for this is the fact that
formerly the desirable ratio of grapes production and storage was set at
1:1.3–1.5, nevertheless there were years when the capacity was not
enough to receive the yield. This way the objective was the as simple as
possible processing and the soonest possible sales of the grapes harvested,
which further deteriorated the quality of the produced wines. Although
this was accepted by the market that demanded cheaper wines, this was
harmful for the recognition of the Balaton wines that need a long riping
time.
• The low prices did not make the direst sales of even the good wines
reasonable; lower quality and cheap wines from Zala county and the Great
Hungarian Plain were imported to the Balaton Wine Region and the local
wines were used to improve their quality. The mass sales of these wines
made production profitable.
The positions of the grapes and wine production, slowly strengthening in the
1980s, became uncertain again following the systemic change, and the perma-
nent problems already present in the sector (lack of capital, the technical and
81
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
technology deficiencies of the sector) were supplemented by new problems. The
following problems appeared almost at the same time:
• loss of the Soviet and Eastern European export markets;
• disintegration of the large holdings, and the privatisation of their territo-
ries and assets;
• decrease or complete closedown of the integrating activities of the former
large holdings, annihilating this way the formerly certain market for the
grapes and wines produced by the small holdings.
The privatisation of the territories and assets of the large holdings worsened
the utilisation of the existing assets and increased the deficiency of certain assets
(state-of-the-art processing and storage facilities, bottling facilities etc.) Privatisa-
tion increased the number of small holders (whose number was too high anyway),
farming fragments of a hectare with a shortage of capital, who did not have either
integration and market relations, or assets necessary for a high level viticulture
and wine production. Privatisation made it possible to have precious vineyards for
many people who had never grown grapes and did mot even want to pursue this
activity. During the privatisation of the vineyards on the shore of the Lake Bala-
ton, real estate speculation was very important, where it was not the actual value
of the vineyard but the expected value of the future residential or holiday sites on
the same land that mattered the most. Consequently several unfavourable phe-
nomena occurred, including the fragmentation of the vineyards perpendicular to
the tillage direction.
Privatisation resulted in the division of the plantations that had been created
with great efforts and in modern block forms among the new owners, and a
large number of owners with very different interests appeared in the Balaton
Region. The consequences, the deterioration of the vineyards, were visible very
soon, after a year or two. The harmful effects could have been lessened by the
cooperation of the new owners, if they had established collectives or producer
groups for the cultivation of the areas, the processing or the marketing of the
grapes grown. The party propaganda overrating importance of private property
and economic independence preached the importance of individual success in-
stead of cooperation, however, the conditions for getting on individually were
missing for such a wide circle of owners, and this led to a long-term crisis last-
ing for a decade and a half. This crisis resulted in a selection process – still go-
ing on – of the owners, when several owners quit producing grapes and they
either sold or leased their plots, or, in the worst case, left their sites to their own
devices. The selection of the new owners was influenced by the fact that a ma-
jor part of the privatised areas was given to elderly people who, coming from
their age, were unable to cultivate their lands, whereas their children had other
professions and often lived elsewhere. The concentration of the sites, reasonable
82
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
and desirable from professional aspects, is slowed down by the high speculation
expectations related to the appreciation of the lands. This leads to a prolonged
concentration process, but privatisation also led to the appearance of a new
group of owners with enough capital – usually participating in the privatisation
of the lands of the former state farms –, who used the selected support for plan-
tation of vineyards before the accession of Hungary to the European Union, and
carried out significant winery developments. Also, a group of owners with sev-
eral hectares of lands emerged, who already process wine and bottle and sell them
under their own names. These two groups are the main basis and the future of
wine production. Actually these two circles, the large grapes and wine produc-
ing holdings (economic entities created from the units of the former coopera-
tives and state farms) and the small and medium-sized holdings also suitable for
direct sales are the – much more limited than the previous – groups of owners
on which the viticulture and the wine production of the Balaton Region can be
built. The latter are able to create the wine producers’ associations with state-of-
the-art equipment and management, safeguarding the joint processing and stan-
dard quality (an example of this can already be seen in Zánka), that buy and proc-
ess the grapes grown by the small-scale producers. A separate group is the group
of those owners appearing after the liquidation of the producers’ associations on
the south shore whose role has been from the very beginning the production of
goods, the supply of the wineries, and whose existence and survival can only be
guaranteed by the integrating activity of the wineries, or, in the lack of such win-
eries, by the establishment of joint grapes and wine processing facilities.
Viticulture and wine production in the region can only be competitive if up-to-
date and quality-oriented methods of production are applied; a condition for the
survival of wine economy in the region is the restoration of the recognition and
credit of the Balaton wines. The concentration process promoting this is advanc-
ing very problematically and slowly, which leads to the gradual deterioration and
final defect of certain areas. It is very important, however, that
• areas of splendid endowments and easy to cultivate should not fall victims
to real estate speculation;
• the re-labelling of wines produced in other regions and the mixing of the
Balaton wines with other wines of lower quality, typical at the catering fa-
cilities of the Badacsony areas, should be stopped, as these phenomena do a
lot of harm to the recognition of the Balaton wines. The north Balaton wine
region can only be competitive with quality wines, and a precondition of
this is credibility;
• the wine region, fragmented into five areas, should be able to appear at the
Hungarian and foreign markets with a few characteristic wines typical of
the Balaton Wine Region;
83
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
• organically linked to tourism, the internal consumption of the Balaton
Wine Region should be increased, which requires the production and ade-
quate supply of typical local wines of excellent quality (e.g. the Kéknyelő
and Szürkebarát in Badacsony);
• special support should be found for the maintenance and enlargement of
the vineyards on the steep slopes producing a special quality, where the
“flagship wines” of the region can be produced;
• the Institute for Viticulture and Aenology in Badacsony, the professional
and consulting centre of the Balaton Wine Region should be preserved.
To sum it up, the grapes and wine economy of the Balaton Region is still tur-
bulent today. Signs of deterioration (derelict lands, ageing of the owners, unpro-
fessional plantations of vines, lack of renewals etc.) and of modern goods pro-
duction (competitive grape farms and wineries, promotion of quality, up-to-date
bottling facilities, demanding labels and bottles, foundation of wine routes, or-
ganisation of wine weeks and wine fairs, slowly building out network of wine
houses, cellars etc.) are present in the Balaton Wine Region at the same time. A
good sign is the significant efforts made for the unification of the species assort-
ment and for the improvement and re-planting, proliferation of the types of grapes
founding the fame of the Balaton Wine Region (e.g. Italian Riesling, Szürkebarát,
Kéknyelő, Cserszegi főszeres). It is also very important that efforts have been
made, in order to harmonise the professional work and the marketing activities of
the five wine producing regions around the Lake Balaton, for the creation of a
single Balaton Wine Region; the respective wine regions in themselves are not
big and influential enough and do not produce enough wine to allow them to be
competitive on the international markets. This objective is much more visible for
the time being in the intentions than in the actually implemented operational pro-
grammes.
4.7 Forestry
One of the most important environmental elements in the surroundings of the
Lake Balaton is the forests. The region was originally covered by forests, until
in almost all cultivable areas forests were chopped in the late 19th century, in
order to gain agricultural lands. After the phyloxera epidemics in the late 19th
century, however, in the difficultly accessible, two steep areas the high costs of
cultivation did not make it worthwhile to re-plant the dead vineyards; a total of
2,200 hectares of vineyards were left alone; on the impoverished and deterio-
rated soils of the former vineyards karst bush forests of negligible economic
value developed.
84
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
As soon as before Wold War I, the Keszthely Mountains, the barren hill
sides of Litér and Diszel and the sand soils of Fenyves were reforested. In the
1930s, in order to decrease the danger of landslides and improve the aesthetic
value of the landscape, forests were planted on the hills of Fonyód, Boglár and
Földvár, as well as on the Tihany Peninsula.
Following Wold War II, in 1962 an afforestation plan was made for the ad-
ministrative area of the 128 settlements around the Lake Balaton, for a total of
229,000 hectares. In the framework of the long-term afforestation plan around
the Lake Balaton, a recommendation was made for the afforestation of a total of
5,768 hectares, of which 4,200 hectares was implemented until 1975: 3,500
hectares of forests and 700 hectares of trees along roads, railways and in the
outskirts.
In 1980 there were altogether 67,175 hectares of forests in the Selected
Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton, the rate of forestation in the region was
19.6% on the whole, 23% on the north shore and 15.6% on the south shore. The
rate of forests was low in all parts of the region, lower than should have been,
given the unfavourable agricultural endowments; an even bigger problem was
the almost complete lack of forests on the direct lake shore. Forests are very
important not only for decreasing erosion but also for the moderation of air-,
noise- and water pollution. The lack of forests is well indicated by a survey
made in 1980, which demonstrated that forests could be found in no more than
34 kilometres along the 268 kilometres of the 12 major streams running into the
lake (without the Zala river) (Illés, 1981, p. 215.).
The detailed physical plan of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Bala-
ton, made in 1980, demanded afforestation and planting of trees in 12,500 hec-
tares until 2010. In 1982 a long-term forest development plan was made for the
Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton, in which recommendations were
made for the afforestation of 9,929 hectares. Of this, only 3,450 hectares have
actually been forested. In the development programme of the water catchment
area of the Lake Balaton, significant areas, including the beds of the streams,
were forested from the 1980s. Following the systemic change and the privatisa-
tion of the lands, however, the afforestation slowed down considerably. Between
1980 and 1990, 3,450 hectares of forests were planted; in the decade from 1990 to
2000 this figure was only 1,600 hectares. It is especially bad that the forests pro-
tecting the high bank at Balatonkenese and the one separating the industrial site of
Balatonfőzfı were not or only partially planted and practically no attention was
paid to the afforestation of the derelict gardens and vineyards. The magnitude of
the problem is demonstrated by the fact that around the turn of millennium, al-
most 50% of the former gardens and vineyards in the Balatonfüred area were left
uncultivated (Weininger–Kántor, 1998, p. 16.). Another serious problem of the
protection of the Lake Balaton was the lack of afforestation in the high banks of
85
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
the Zala River, extremely endangered by erosion, and the barren hillsides on the
Balaton Uplands. In 2000 the rate of forests was 25.9% in the Selected Holiday
Region of the Lake Balaton, but in the settlements along the lake shore only 12%
of the territory was covered by forests. The pace of afforestation always lagged
significantly behind the planned and necessary level. There were several reasons
for this:
• In the 1980s even the management of the agricultural sector did not con-
sider afforestations important from an economic aspect. The primary ob-
jective was the preservation and enlargement of plough lands (“cereal-
centred thinking”).
• The holdings were eligible for supplementary state support for their least
favourable areas. The afforestation of the worst lands resulted in the im-
provement of the average quality of the agricultural areas. This, however,
would have led to the decrease or loss of supports, which the stakeholders
did not want. It was easier to leave a land uncultivated and to let clover
grow on it.
• The major part of afforestations was implemented on the south shore,
where the better soils made it easier to grow good forests, whereas the
plantation of forests was more expensive and riskier on the bad rocky soils
on the north shore, so the holdings did not strive for afforestations.
• The growing of the new forests was always made difficult and risky by
the excessive game population kept for hunting purposes. The population
of big game is still significantly higher in the region than desirable (Table
18).
• The privatisation of the forests and the new small private forests of a few
hectares resulted in incomprehensible ownerships. The owners possessing
only a few hectares of forests or even less do not have a meaningful
income from their forests; accordingly they do not care much about them.
This means that the forests are not managed and maintained in a
professional way, so the existing forests worsen in quality, too (Table 19).
• In the afforestation concepts, an exaggerated emphasis was given to the
afforestation of the former plough lands, instead of planting forests in the
derelict and deteriorated pastures, derelict gardens and vineyards. The
later solution would not only bring more economic benefit but also lead to
the increased agricultural potential of the region and a considerable im-
provement in the state of the environment.
• At the plantations of forests, the short-term interests of the owners are
given a too big emphasis. It would be unfortunate if the forests consisting
of indigenous trees were replaced by locust trees and energy forests.
86
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Table 18
Game population in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton (2000)
Species
Maximum
Minimum
Estimated
Average number
sustainable
sustainable
population
of games shot,
population
population
1997–2000
Red deer
2,576
877
4,174
1,534
Fallow deer
78
2
321
85
Roe deer
6,094
2,246
5,548
1,256
Moufflon
32
–
329
71
Wild boar
1,844
890
3,581
3,249
Hare
–
5,380
1,766
104
Pheasant
–
5,642
13,478
14,396
Partridge
–
1,835
281
–
Waterfowls
–
–
–
1,254
Snipe
–
–
–
453
Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet területén az erdı- és vadgazdálkodás, halászat-horgászat és a
turizmus összehangolt fejlesztése [Harmonised development of forestry and game economy,
fishing, angling and tourism in the area of the Balaton Holiday Region], Study assigned by
the Balaton Development Council. Balatonfüred, 2000, pp. 56–57.
Table 19
Ownerships of forests in the territory of the Selected Holiday Region
of the Lake Balaton (Hectares)
Ownership form
Proportion (%)
Forestry Co.
45.3
Other state-owned
17.7
Local government + other
0.2
Forest owners association + private
18.4
Unsettled
18.4
Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet területén az erdı- és vadgazdálkodás, halászat-horgászat és a
turizmus összehangolt fejlesztése [Harmonised development of forestry and game economy,
fishing, angling and tourism in the area of the Balaton Holiday Region], Study assigned by
the Balaton Development Council. Balatonfüred, 2000, p. 16.
In the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton the forests would fully ex-
ert their economic, aesthetic and soil protection effects if efforts were made for
the plantation of forests consisting of long-life indigenous trees. In the hills and
mountains the hardwood trees living for 80–120 years, in the lower, wet areas
87
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
softwood trees living for 40–60 years should be planted. In deteriorated areas
even pine trees as pioneer species could have an important role. Another condi-
tion for the complex use of the forests would be the establishment of large con-
tiguous forests instead of the forest patches. There are many opportunities for that
in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton. Besides the forests serving
economic purposes, aesthetic park forests should be planted in the holiday resorts
(Table 20).
• Veszprém county 2,163 hectares
• Somogy county
6,274 hectares
• Zala county
1,090 hectares
• Total
9,527 hectares
Table 20
Areas suitable for afforestation in the territory of the Selected Holiday Region
of the Lake Balaton (hectares)
County
Present agricultural use
Plough land
Grass
Other
Total
Veszprém county area
2,169
1,498
62
3,729
Zala county area
1,282
810
76
2,168
Somogy county area
1,880
2,286
899
5,065
Total
5,331
4,594
1,037
10,962
Source: Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet területén az erdı- és vadgazdálkodás, halászat-horgászat
és a turizmus összehangolt fejlesztése [Harmonised development of forestry and game
economy, fishing, angling and tourism in the area of the Balaton Holiday Region], Study
assigned by the Balaton Development Council. Balatonfüred, 2000, p. 26.
According to the Balatonfüred Regional Development and Green Space
Planning Office of the Hungarian State Forestry Service, in 2005 there were
85,435 hectares of forests in the region; the forestation rate reached 26.9 %. It
seems to be a favourable index, but there are a few things that we have to take
into consideration. The role of forests changed partly because the agricultural
sector is continuously forced by the competitive pressure to abandon the lands of
worst quality, and the abandoned lands can only be used by afforestation; also, the
value of a selected holiday region (from aesthetic, air quality etc. aspects) in
considerably increased by the forests, whereas the sight and the biological
pollution of the uncultivated lands is simply unacceptable. We also have to
mention that the best natural barriers to the sediment from erosion and to the dust
pollution are the forests. Due to these facts, when defining the desirable rate of the
88
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
forests, we cannot start from the national average figures; in the Balaton Region,
every opportunity should be used to increase the size of the forests. Another
motivation of afforestation is the soil and climate in the non- or underutilised
Somogy and Zala part of the region, which are splendid for forests; also,
afforestation is the only economically sustainable land use in the north shore with
worse endowments. The Green Area Planning Office recommended the following
sizes of lands to be afforested in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton
in 2005:
4.8 Erosion
The erosion of the agricultural lands is a natural phenomenon, on the one hand,
and a failure of economic policy and agricultural technology, on the other hand.
On cultivated slopes, the disturbance of the vegetation covering the soil almost
inevitably leads to the destruction of soil by erosion. The extent of erosion,
however, is determined by the vision of economic policy and the level of the
agricultural technique used. The measures of economic policy influence the long-
term thinking of the land owners, the economical use of their lands; if their energy
is not fully absorbed by the survival from year to year, they are able to deal with
the preservation of the land. They may implement investments returning only in
the long run (e.g. use of organic manure, lime treatment of acid soils, water man-
agement, creation of terraces on the slopes) that promote the preservation and
improvement of the soils. The control (support) system of economic policy (agri-
cultural policy) also determines what areas can be cultivated and in what areas
should be used differently (e.g. afforestation of steep and hilly areas or areas lying
deep, with high subsoil water level) by adequate support, what species of plants
and in what order should be planted. The quality of farming and the equipment of
the holdings determine if the farmers, even if they possess the adequate profes-
sional skills (in the creation of which agricultural policy plays a dominant role),
have any chance at all to pursue soil-protecting means of cultivation (e.g. deep
ploughing of the soils, application of direct sowing cultivation technologies).
The basic principles and technological solutions of soil-protecting farming
have been known for a long time and the necessary tools are available in an ever
improving quality. Hungarian agriculture had a clear vision and income positions
in 1970–1985 that allowed the farmers to deal with soil protection issues, which
was manifested in several measures (water management measures, deep plough-
ing of soils, lime treatment of soils etc.). It was actually the contradictions of eco-
nomic regulations that only allowed soil protection to be considered only partially
even in this period. One of the major problems was that agricultural policy was
not rational enough, it was one-sidedly “plough-land centred”; it did not evaluate
soil protection with the economic aspect of land use, what mattered was how
89
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
much plough lands could be enlarged and the specific yields increased. This did
not inspire the farmers to change the structure of farming for the favour for soil
protection (e.g. afforestation of derelict pastures and steep plough lands); only
limited supports were available for soil protection measures. This explains that
despite the measures made, the destruction of soil by erosion did not decrease; in
fact, it occasionally increased in the big land plots.
The destruction of soil by erosion is one of the biggest dangers for the Lake
Balaton and the other similarly shallow lakes, as the precipitation can transport an
extremely large amount of nutrients from the fertilised agricultural lands by eluvi-
ation (nitrogen and potassium) or by the particles of soils carried by the water
(phosphor). The streams and rivers transport these elements directly into the lake,
which can start eutrophication processes. It is just as important and is organically
linked to the previous issues that the inflowing precipitation fills up the lake bed
with ooze, which is favourable for the proliferation of vegetation and accelerates
the ageing and dying of the lake.
The water catchment area of the Lake Balaton is one of the most erosion-
endangered areas of Hungary. More than 50% of the area is susceptible to de-
struction by erosion, approximately one-third of the plough lands and almost the
total area of the vineyards with vine rows parallel to the slopes is seriously
damaged by erosion. The annual destruction of the soil is estimated to be
around 1 to 10 mm in these areas. This mans that approximately 6 to 10 million
tons of soil moves every year, of which only 1% is estimated to reach the lake –
approximately 300–400 thousand m3 annually –, which is nevertheless a huge
amount. Erosion occurs in all parts of the catchment area (north, south and west
sides), but it is the biggest burden for the lake in the Keszthely Basin that re-
ceives 60% of the inflowing waters. This leads to the filling up of the small
basin and the enrichment of the water with nutrients, which in turn leads to a
constant threat of the start of eutrophication (Figure 24).
The areas most prone to erosion are the vineyards on the mountain sides
where erosion damages can be decreased either by the establishment of terraces
or the grassing of the land between the vine rows.
In erosion-threatened plough lands, if the fertility of the soils justifies culti-
vation and the size of the plots allows deep ploughing perpendicular to the
slopes, regular deep ploughing and direct sowing techniques should be used,
and possibly the proportion of those hoed plants whose cultivation promotes
erosion should be decreased to a minimum (especially maize). In the too steep
and less fertile areas, ploughing should be finally abandoned. The use of these
areas could be grassing and extensive animal husbandry. The large proportion of
totally uncultivated grasslands clearly proves that the gassing of new areas is
only justified where large grasslands of possibly hundreds of hectares can be
established, in accordance with the requirements of extensive animal keeping.
90
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
In all other areas afforestation can be the best solution both from economic and
soil protection aspect, also, it provides a long-term protection of the Lake Bala-
ton.
Figure 24
Erosion in the water catchment area of the Lake Balaton
Source: Illés, 1981. p. 41.
The region is in the forest zone, the areas not flooded by water used to be
covered by prime forests almost completely down to the lake shore. The major
element in the regeneration of the environment is the afforestation of all areas
where agricultural cultivation is stopped. Like in the whole of Hungary, in the
Balaton Region too the rate of afforestations lagged behind the pace of the
abandonment of agricultural lands. This is bad for the landscape and the envi-
ronmental conditions of the region. Especially important would be the affore-
station of the slopes on the north shore (derelict gardens and vineyards), the
uncultivated loess sides on the south shore and the steep hill sides all along the
Zala River. In order to decrease the dust pollution of the Lake Balaton, it would
be of special importance to plant forests on the low quality and underutilised
grasslands created on the several thousands of hectares of karst areas. This is a
must for the decrease of the sediment pollution of the Lake Balaton, as well.
The importance of afforestation for soil and water protection purposes is dem-
onstrated by complex economic and ecological surveys that necessitate the af-
forestation of approximately 60,000 hectares in the whole of the catchment area
91
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
(taking the steepness of the slops, the hydrology, the composition and the
chemical features of the soils and the costs of cultivation into consideration).
The situation, however, would only be favourable if these areas were covered by
forests, already.
Presently the rate of forests in the water catchment area exceeds the national
average, but the majority of the forests can be found in the north and west parts
of the water catchment area, the share of forests is low on the south shore. An-
other problem is that the gallery forests directly in the south zone, most impor-
tant for water protection, have completely been eliminated, which is also detri-
mental for the aesthetic value of the region – not last because derelict, weed-
covered areas can be seen in also the areas most visited by tourists.
4.9 Purchase of real estates by foreign citizens
“In the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton, 40% of all real estates
(80% of them in the settlements on the lake shore) are holiday homes. Twenty-
seven per cent of all holiday homes in Hungary can be found in the Balaton
Region; 98% of these are owned by Hungarians. The average age of holiday
homes is 26 years; that of the holiday homes owners is approximately 60 years.”
(Lengyel, 2006, p. 8.)
After the systemic change, a large number of foreign citizens purchased real
estates in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton; the number of
foreign holiday homes is estimated to be around 10,000. Most of the real estates
were bought between 1996 and 2001 (Figure 25).
The valuable study by Kovács, Ernı – Oláh, Miklós – Bokor, Ibolya (2005)
gave us a realistic picture of the main characteristics of the often mentioned but
hardly examined phenomenon. According to the given survey, calculating with
an average family size of 2.9 people, approximately 30,000 foreigners live
permanently in the 10,000 houses bought. The major part of the houses was
bought by the foreigners in settlements on the lake shore or with medicinal spa,
mostly in the towns. Of all real estates bought by foreigners, 43% can be found
in the Somogy part, 37% in the Zala part and 20% in the Veszprém part of the
Balaton Region (Table 21).
The overwhelming majority of foreigners are from the German speaking
countries: 76% of them are Germans and 14% of them Austrians; the remaining
10% are citizens of 43 other countries (including the Netherlands, France etc.).
Forty-seven per cent of the foreign citizens bought flats or houses, 17% of them
purchased holiday homes, another 36% real estates of other categories (site,
cellar etc.). Most of the foreign owners are middle-class, 36% of them have sec-
ondary school education and 28% of them have higher education diploma. The
socio-economic status of the foreigners is well indicated by the fact that they
92
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
usually bought the non-expensive real estates; the average price was around
45,000 € (approximately 11 million HUF).
It is a recurring question what are the advantages and the disadvantages the
mass purchases of real estates by foreign citizens and the presence of these peo-
ple in the holiday region.
According to estimations, the purchases of real estates by foreigners brought
some 0.5 billion €, and a further 145 million € flowed into the region by the
renovations and constructions (calculating with 20,000 € on the average). This
had a considerable impact on the real estate market otherwise declining after the
systemic change and a positive effect on the demand for construction industry
services, and also on the turnover of companies dealing with construction materi-
als and interior design articles.
Figure 25
Number of permissions for foreigners to buy property in the Selected Holiday
Region of the Lake Balaton
Source: Michalkó– Vizi, 2006. p. 38.
Table 21
Breakdown of residential homes in the Balaton Holiday Region
(2001–2001, estimation)
93
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Specification
Holiday
(%)
Residential
(%)
Real estates
(%)
homes
homes
total
(thousand)
(thousand)
(thousand)
Houses total
73.70
100.0
104.70
100.0
178.40
100.0
Hungarian owners
72.00
98.0
100.00
96.0
172.00
96.0
Foreign owners
1.70
2.0
4.70
4.0
6.40
4.0
Of which: German
1.29
1.7
3.57
3.0
4.86
3.0
Austrian
0.24
0.3
0.66
1.0
0.90
1.0
The number of foreign holiday home owners is underestimated; a figure around 10,000 is more
realistic (the Author).
Source: A Balaton turizmus fejlesztési koncepciója és programja. [Development concept and
programme of the tourism of the Lake Balaton.] Appendices. LT Consorg Kft., Balatonfüred,
2005, p. 8.
The average duration of stay of the foreign owners is approximately 4.6
months, thus they increase the number of population off-season, and create a
demand mostly for commercial units, catering facilities, hair dresser’s saloons,
and physicians and other medicinal services. Their permanent expenditure is
approximately one thousand € per month; in addition, the estimated 10,000 real
estate owners employ approximately 10,000-12,000 people as gardeners, re-
pairmen, cleaners or caretakers, by which the local inhabitants get 22 million €
per month (calculating with 150 €/person monthly expenditure). It is just as
important that the real estates of the foreign owners are well maintained and
well equipped.
The other side of the coin is that 64% of the foreign owners are estimated to
receive guests as a business. According to the information based on self-as-
sessments, in the foreign owned real estates some 680,000 guest nights are spent
by the guests, on 165,000 guest days – it means an annual 15–20 million € un-
taxed income. The real estate capacity of the foreign owners is enough for up to
3 million guest nights, i.e. many times the number in the self-assessments.
However, only 6–7% of the foreigners pay tax after the main activity, whereas
the income of the businesses receiving guests and paying local tax is decreasing.
Another problem at settlement level is that real estate prices are increased by the
demand of the foreigners, which makes it more difficult for the local youth to
buy a flat or a house, and this forces many of them to move.
The major problem then is that the foreigners do not have their share from
the local contributions and this is why the self-governments are not too happy
to have foreign citizens. The preparation and skills of the staff of the local self-
governments, and the quality of the operation of the self-governments are also
to blame for the contradictory situation. The lack of foreign language skills and
the imperfect real estate registries prevent the local governments from having
adequate information even on the owners in their own settlements.
94
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
The foreign owners are usually satisfied with their situation that meets their
expectations, which is proved by an average score of 4.3 on a scale up to 5, given
by them in the survey. Their unpleasant experiences, however, are of special in-
terest. These are as follows:
• The products are services are too expensive for their quality.
• The service providers are undisciplined, unpunctual, not trustworthy and
not reliable.
• The local society has changed since the real estate was bought, they have
become selfish and envy, the service providers charge foreign citizens dif-
ferent prizes.
• The neighbourhood is messy and dirty, the neighbours are too noisy and
their animals are disturbing.
• Safety is not good enough.
• The office administration is lengthy and bureaucratic.
• The local transport moral is inadequate.
• The neighbours are very difficult to get on with.
• The local people get up early even on the weekends, and thus they disturb
the rest of the foreigners.
• The local inhabitants are not demanding.
• The water level of the lake is too low (this has been solved by nature since
then).
The objections of the foreign citizens are not surprising, they listed phenom-
ena that we all know and suffer from. The opinion of the foreigners is different
inasmuch as they do not derive their problems from the general state of the coun-
try; they summarise their direct unpleasant experiences.
5
Development of the Balaton region
5.1 Is the Lake Balaton a natural or a regulated lake?
In the last 300 years, human activities were targeted at economically utilising
the natural potential of the Lake Balaton and its environment. The result was the
draining of the swamps and wetlands and the cutting down of the surrounding
forests, by which the Balaton lost its natural filters preventing the filling up of
the lake, and has been susceptible to huge burden of sediments from erosion and
deflation. The decrease of the water level and the regulation of the lake resulted
in a loss of 30% of the surface and half of the water of the lake; the breakdown
and removal of the sediments arriving at the lake is blocked by the destruction
95
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
and fragmentation of the reeds, and the concrete walls built. In the early 19th
century the complete draining of the lake was planned, in the great drought in
the late 19th century (1866 and 1885) people complained that “water is being
stolen from the Balaton” and the missing water should be replaced by water
drained from the Dráva, Mura, Rába, Marcal or Danube River. When there were
heavy rainfalls and high water levels and the buildings in the deeper lying areas
became damp because of the high levels of subsoil water, this was the problem.
The situation was quite the same a century later, the lasting drought in the first
years of the 20th century revived the seriously considered plans for the artificial
filling up of the lake. It was grotesque that in 2004 the lock of Siófok had to be
welded, in order to prove that “water is not drained in secret” (no water was
drained from the lake from July 2000 to July 2005), nevertheless the buffet and
restaurant owners on the lake shore threatened to sue the government to recover
their losses coming from the low water level. The Lake Balaton is “our ser-
vant”, we can say, we expect the lake to have clean and pleasant water, to attract
many guests who spend their money here; we expect the lake to have a lot of
big fish fort the anglers, the Little Balaton to abound in birds to mesmerise the
foreigners and give a romantic feeling when admiring the extended reeds. And
what do we do to allow the Lake Balaton to meet our expectations? The state
has done evidently much for its limited means, even if this has never been
enough. In a period of 30 years, the conditions for a high-level tourism on the
lake shore were created, mostly from state budget. The behaviour of the settle-
ments is more contradictory; their measures and developments motivated by
their short term economic interests led to the too dense building up of the lake
shore; they did not care what impact the destruction of the reed, the natural fil-
ters along the lake shore would have on the quality of the water. And finally,
how do the real estate owners and the inhabitants of the settlements on the shore
behave? Their activity was also motivated by the direct profit. If somebody
wanted to enlarge their sites or build a place for their car, they filled up the part
of the lake in front of the shore; if they wanted a path for their boats, they de-
stroyed the reeds; if they wanted to fish, they built a fishing stand in the reeds; if
they wanted a big catch, they caught the fish gathering for spawning in the river
mouths.
By the 1860s, the Lake Balaton lost its natural character, including the water
occasionally flooding the lake shore, the several metres of ups and downs in the
water level, by which the lake could get rid of the surplus vegetation and the
sediments; later, the regulation of the Zala River and the construction of con-
crete walls on the lake shore created an ever more regulated lake. The Lake
Balaton can now be taken as a quasi-natural lake with a restricted self-regu-
lating system, as the level of the water is determined by the humans; marshes,
reeds and a real water bird paradise can only be found where men want them to
96
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
be found. Presently the major task is the preservation of this quasi-natural con-
dition. It can only be done if individual interests are restricted and the long-term
interests of society are in the focus. The Hungarian state committed a serious
crime when, in order to favour the interests of some groups or narrow layers of
the population, it did not stop the privatisation of the community areas along the
lake shore, or the building up of the Balaton shore and the mountains at the will
of the owners, or the real estate speculations deteriorating the aesthetics of the
landscape and resulting in derelict areas. Despite the efforts of nature protec-
tion, the former conditions cannot be restored without serious conflicts of inter-
ests. The former conditions were not stable, anyway; they changed from century
to century. The possibly best solution is to try to create conditions that are natu-
ral enough for providing a habitat for the flora and the fauna and also allow the
human, economic and natural interests to be taken into consideration. We can-
not create extended marshes again, as it would be against the well-being of the
people and against tourism; but it is possible to create large forests in the dere-
lict areas, both serving human well-being (aesthetic and single landscape) and
economic and natural interests (rich flora and fauna).
5.2 Selected aspects of the development plans
On the basis of its natural values, the aesthetic value of the landscape, the Se-
lected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton is one of the most important and
valuable areas not only in Hungary but also in the whole of Europe. In order to
preserve this value and simultaneously use the economic potential coming from
the natural endowments, we do not need to make extraordinary measures and
developments, only ones that are needed all over Hungary. The lack of these
measures and developments is much more striking in the Balaton Region than in
other parts of Hungary, because of the two-month concentration of the population
in every year and the environmental threats and economic damages coming from
the inadequate conditions for the reception of the mass of people. Accordingly,
the solution of the problems is more urgent here than elsewhere in Hungary. The
tensions that come from the discrepancy between demands and the development
possibilities and are typical of the whole of Hungary, but have much more serious
consequences in the Balaton Region. The Balaton Region is characterised by a
century of lagging behind in developments (e.g. in Keszthely there was no tap
water until 1941, in 1957 only three settlements – Siófok, Balatonfüred and
Keszthely – had canalisation with a total length of 19 kilometres, only; the un-
treated sewage was flowing into the reeds). The region actually became a se-
lected holiday region in a decade (1950s and 1960s), attracting hundreds of
thousands of tourists without having the necessary conditions for their recep-
97
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
tion. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that neither the visitors nor the
local population were aware of the fact the landscape and the water, i.e. the at-
tractions themselves, had a natural tolerance and assimilation capacity that must
not be exceeded, the preservation of which is everybody’s interest. Everybody
wanted to use the Lake Balaton, everybody wanted to exploit the lake, without
having sacrifices, neglecting the most elemental norms of behaviour. It is not a
new phenomenon but a problem at least 50 years old that the businesses making
profit from the Balaton (approximately two thousand entrepreneurs, commercial
facilities, hotels etc.) did not pay tax locally; the hosts – including the foreigners
nowadays – deny 40–50% of their incomes, and the local population expects all
developments from the state. The boom of the demands could not be followed
by the developments to date; developments were only suitable for the decrease
of the tensions and the prevention of the public sanitary threats coming from the
deficient infrastructure. The developments were concentrated on the lake shore,
within that in some selected settlements; this deepened the development dispari-
ties among the respective settlements and concentrated the guests even more to
the lake shore zone. The lack of harmony between the demands and the condi-
tions, the simultaneously present lack of regulations and the inconsistent behav-
iour of the authorities all contributed to the attitude of the people who wished to
solve their problems on their own, occasionally using anti-social and anti-nature
solutions. I somebody did not have a pier for their boat, they destroyed a part of
the reeds filtering the water; if they did not have a fishing stand, they built one in
the reeds; if they lacked sewage canal, they connected their cesspools to the rain-
water canal, if they did not have construction sites, they built their new houses in
the gardens or vineyards on the outskirts of the settlements, if they did not get a
building permission, they built the house without permission, if there was no or-
ganised waste collection, they created waste deposits for themselves etc. The list
could be many pages long. The biggest problem is that this anti-social behaviour
has become accepted, so there is no strong community pressure that could change
this behaviour after the formerly missing conditions are created. The regulations
have still not stopped the ultimately selfish assertion of the individual interests,
and the subordination of community interests to narrower group interests is still a
problem for developments; e.g. for involving the occupied or sold out public ar-
eas, like the shore of the Balaton, into the developments.
Development plans have been made for the Balaton Region for several dec-
ades. A fundamental problem has been the lack of coordination for 50 years, the
missing reconciliations of the county, municipal and sectoral interests. This is
true for the development of tourism, transport, education, sports and culture. The
lack of development resources is present as well as the implementation of par-
allel developments. The only exceptions from this are the large-scale state in-
vestments enforcing adaptation (e.g. road constructions, tap water and canalisa-
98
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
tion developments etc.). This is a problem today and probably in the future too,
because no coordinating organisation with strong competencies, significant de-
velopment resources and prudent management has been born in the region.
Probably the only thing in the region on which there is a consensus is that the
Balaton Region should become an independent statistical region instead of a
planning region. Everybody expects the increase of the development resources
from this, but a thing less often mentioned is how much it would actually
strengthen cooperation, joint thinking and the capacity of making compromises.
A common feature of the development plans made so far is that the objec-
tives have always been too ambitious in the given circumstances, and even the
most important objectives (e.g. canalisation, development of sewage treatment,
construction of roads, and installation of the Little Balaton reservoir) have only
partially been realised, decades after the originally planned deadlines. This is
also true for the most recent development plans. The “Strategic development
programme of the Balaton Region”, determining the developments in the 2002–
2006 period, and the “Detailed development strategy of the Balaton Region”
and the “Detailed development plan of the Balaton Region” made for the 2006–
2013 period are too ambitious, not realistic enough (e.g. they talk about bicycle
roads all across the Transdanubian region, instead of creating the conditions for
cycling around the Lake Balaton); the development resources are not concen-
trated enough, either (e.g. the possibilities of medicinal spa developments are
raised in 6–8 places, instead of aiming at the development of two or three, pos-
sibly already operating spas, like Csisztafürdı or Nagyberény). The develop-
ment plans list all the known solutions and principles of regional development
(environment-friendly, sustainable, innovative, knowledge-based, clustering
integration etc.), without actually clarifying the conditions for their implemen-
tation.
During the development of the Balaton Region, a key factor is the harmoni-
sation of developments and the single appearance of the Lake Balaton on the
tourism market.
Harmonisation is of special importance in the following areas:
• transport development and transport organisation, harmonisation of differ-
ent means of transport (Regional Transport Association);
• development and provision of health services;
• development of education, training, culture and sports. There should not be
a school in every settlement, but the schools in the central settlements
should be equipped with sports facilities (e.g. gymnasium, swimming
pool) that can be used for tourism purposes in the summer. The Balaton
Region needs 2–3 major sports halls, covered tennis courts, equestrian fa-
cilities, major open-air stages, theatres etc.;
99
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
• establishment of yacht ports, boat ports and anglers’ camps in order to
create the conditions of tourism.
The harmonisation should also be done among the settlements on the lake
shore and those in the hinterland, as they can well complement each other in cer-
tain activities.
As regards economic development, the noisier service and industrial activi-
ties (e.g. smiths, locksmiths, tinsmiths, car mechanics, auto body mechanics,
auto body painters etc.) should be concentrated in the settlement of the hinter-
land, in incubators built for them. The extraction and processing of construction
materials (quarries, sawmills) should be done here, and the logistics centres and
large-scale marketplaces for the supply of the Balaton Region should also be
built here.
As regards social development, due to the lower income demand of the
population of the hinterland, the elderly people’s homes could be established
here in a more relaxed environment, and in the settlements closer to the lake
shore those residential homes could be built at a lower price that could promote
the settling down of the youth.
As regards tourism, several forms of this activity can be introduced in the
hinterland, coming from their character: equestrian, hiking, rural, enological,
cycling and hunting tourism are a few examples. Also, off-road cycling tracks,
tracks for off-road motor sports and air sports (e.g. gliders, hot air balloons) can
be built in the hinterland which may mean an organic part of tourism and in-
crease the tourism capacity of the Balaton Region. Similarly, the possibility to
create golf courses, an important part of high quality tourism, is given in the
hinterland.
During the developments, adequate attention should be paid to the lakes of
the hinterland settlements, which could be used for angling tourism; also, the
Sió Canal could be utilised for water sports using combustion engines, the use
of which is prohibited on the Lake Balaton.
However big and versatile the Balaton Region is, it still appears as a single
image for the foreigners. This single image should be enhanced by the creation
of a single Balaton Brand. This is true for the marketing of tourism and wine
alike, but at the handicraftsmen products too the Balaton character should be
emphasised (dolls – Balaton dolls; wood carvings; ceramics – Balaton jar, Ba-
laton hussar, Balaton plates and dishes etc.).
The Balaton landscape attracts the visitor not with its astonishing endow-
ments (high mountain peaks, straits, waterfalls) but with its tranquillity, har-
mony and mild hills. It is no good using exaggerating attributes (e.g. the Hun-
garian Sea, unique etc.); it is just the human-centred character and the mildness
that should be built on. It is also true for the built environment that the region
has monuments attracting international visitors (Fenékpuszta – Roman castrum,
100
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Somogyvár – abbey, Zalavár – prince’s centre), but these ruins are only inter-
esting for the professionals and the local population. This can also be said for
the fortress ruins and castles (e.g. Tátika, Szigliget) that have a significant aes-
thetic value and can only be supplementary programmes. Built heritage of inter-
national significance can only be found in Keszthely (Festetics castle) and Ti-
hany (Tihany Abbey, together with the sight over the lake). The mansions of the
petty noblemen in the neighbourhood (e.g. Berzsenyi – Nikla, Jókai – Balaton-
füred, Kisfaludi – Badacsony) are mostly of historical, literature and art history
significance or values of folk architecture that are mostly interesting for the
Hungarians, only. The built heritage of neither the middle noblemen nor the folk
architecture remained in an organic unit that could have an international recog-
nition like e.g. Hollókı. Unfortunately, no typical architectural style relying on
the local (folk) traditions was born during the construction of the holiday re-
sorts, either. The holiday homes built were mostly replicas of the Styrian, Tran-
sylvanian, Upper Northern Hungarian, after Wold War II the universal modern-
ist architecture traditions and fashions. On the other hand, there are architectural
and arts historical values that are not maintained adequately. An example for
this is Ötvös-puszta, where the middle noblemen mansion of Róza Szegedi and
the Széchenyi castle make an unmatched cultural history value in organic unit.
Another example is the rather neglected Fenékpuszta, where, around the Fes-
tetics castle (in the park of which can be found the remains the Roman Castrum
where the Gothic king Theodore the Great was born), at the encounter of the
Lake Balaton, the Zala River and the Little Balaton (national park, Ramsar
Area), an outstanding leisure centre of European significance could be created, a
centre of demanding equestrian, angling and sailing centre. What should be em-
phasised for the whole of the Balaton Region, however, is the beautiful and
varied landscape, the shallow and sandy beach on the south shore that is perfect
for families with small children, the water sports and bathing and the accompa-
nying excellent variety of wines and foods, the rich offer of cultural pro-
grammes, the friendly local inhabitants and the fact that the guests can rest here
in an undisturbed and safe environment.
101
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
5.3 Objectives and experiences of the micro-regional programmes
In the last decade programmes were made for all 14 micro-regions in the terri-
tory of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton. An overview of these
reveals that the concrete development recommendations made after the detailed
analysis of the present situation are not more than collections of the problems
and the development priorities of the respective settlements, and less of a pro-
gramme aiming at the improvement of the situation of the micro-regions in
some way. Of course if all settlements are able to improve their situation and
can solve the problems that are the most serious for the local inhabitants, it will
improve the situation of the whole micro-region at the end of the day; however,
the individual solutions are usually not effective enough even for the individual
settlements and do not generate development at micro-regional level that would
be justified on the basis of the amount of development resources spent. The mi-
cro-regional programmes do not pay enough attention to the issues of public
roads, passenger traffic, waste management, electricity and gas supply system,
sewage purification and treatment, education, telecommunication, economy etc.,
despite the existence of such objectives and programmes at the regional level.
The settlement development ideas collected under the name micro-regional
programmes reflect the extremely varied development level of the respective
settlements. There are municipalities where the creation of the very basic infra-
structure is the primary objective (general practitioner’s, kindergarten, mortuary
etc.), in other places most important is the construction of the roads on the out-
skirts of the settlement, especially the ones leading the vineyards. In the dead-
end villages with bad accessibility (in the south catchment area) the basic need
is the construction of the roads linking the villages (e.g. Nemesdéd – Tapsony,
Öreglak – Buzsák, Öreglak – Somogyvár, Szentpál – Csömend, Szegerdı –
Vörs, Tikos – Szegerdı etc.). It is an important objective to build the bypass
roads carrying heavy traffic (e.g. Balatonszentgyörgy) or major connecting
roads (e.g. Fonyód – Csisztapuszta). In the programmes, social care establish-
ments are given an adequate emphasis (e.g. the renovation of the hospital in
Marcali, development of Borstals, establishment of elderly people’s homes), as
are tourism developments (construction of bicycle roads – Balatonlelle, Balaton-
berény, Balatonszentgyörgy; nature park – Marcali, memorial park – Fonyód,
Wine Village – Fonyód, beach renewal – Balatonberény, construction of swim-
ming pool and sports hotel – Balatonföldvár, boat and yacht port – Balaton-
ıszöd, yacht port – Balatonszárszó, yacht camping – Balatonszemes, aquarium
– Siófok etc.), the construction of sports facilities (e.g. sports hall – Fonyód,
Balatonlelle, Balatonboglár, renewal of dressing rooms – Somogybabod), the
building of housing estates and holiday resorts etc. There are relatively few
programmes with economic objectives, and it is hard to see any regional impact
102
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
in them, with the exception of the grapes processing facilities planned with Ba-
laton area (Lengyeltóti, Szólád) – it does not have a regional impact if an entre-
preneur builds a cereals storehouse or keeps cattle for beef. Some development
plans aim at the implementation of regional tasks (e.g. ferry port and ferry line
between Fonyód and Badacsony, the utilisation of the Sió Canal for tourism,
industrial park and logistics centre – Siófok, airport – Siófok, Balaton regional
library – Siófok). The construction of a large number of roads to and among the
villages is justified by the lack of a road axis between Marcali and Tab on
which it would be possible to travel from the west part of the lake to the east
part, without having to use the road running directly on the lake shore.
5.4 Infrastructure developments in the Balaton Region
5.4.1 Transport
Road transport
A basic requirement is that road infrastructure should
• allow a fast access of the settlements on the shore of the Balaton;
• protect the region from transit traffic;
• manage transport with the least possible air and noise pollution.
By 2007, all settlements on the south shore will be accessible by the M7
Motorway. The west-east connecting road in the Marcali-Tab-Som axis is still
missing; it could divert traffic from the shore of the lake. The accessibility of the
other shores is still quite problematic; the traffic is concentrated on relatively
narrow roads on the shore, managing heavy transit traffic. On the east shore the
solution will be the construction of a road bypassing Balatonvilágos,
Balatonkenese and Balatonfőzfı, which should be constructed by 2007 according
to the plans (Figure 26).
A better accessibility of the north shore would be allowed by the
Székesfehérvár–Veszprém dual carriageway and the construction of a road
between Veszprém and Tapolca with a bigger capacity than the present road
has. The present road runs across a number of settlements, which slows down
traffic and means a serious burden for the settlements. Another problem in the
western part of the Lake Balaton is the extremely heavy transit traffic of the
road running across Balatonszentgyörgy. While the accessibility of the Lake
Balaton from Budapest is continuously improving, the access from south (Pécs),
north (Gyır) and northwest (Sopron, Szombathely) is still a problem. The
capacity of the roads and the direction of their tracks (i.e. the fact that they run
103
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
across settlements) are obstacles to a fast accessibility. The improvement of the
latter is of primary importance because the choice of holiday resorts by the
Germans and Austrians, making 80% of the foreign guests, is largely influenced
by the time needed to reach the destination.
Figure 26
Road development plan of the Balaton Region (2007–2013)
Source: Gazdasági és Közlekedési Minisztérium [Ministry of Economy & Transport].
www.gkm.gov.hu 2006.
Railway
The rail connection between the south shore of the Lake Balaton and Budapest
allows a quick accessibility, depending on the state of the tracks. The Balaton
Region can be freed from international freight traffic if that is diverted to the
Budapest–Dombóvár–Gyékényes line. The railway on the north shore is in bad
condition; it is not electrified and does not join directly the south line in the
vicinity of the shore, which makes it more difficult to build a circular railway
around the lake. The access of the Balaton by rail is problematic both from the
south (Pécs–Kaposvár) and the north (Gyır) and northwest (Sopron, Szombat-
hely). The tracks are in bad condition, they are not electrified, and travel speed
is unjustifiably slow (Figure 27).
104
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Figure 27
Railways and developments in the territory of the Balaton Region
Source: Vörös, 2006.
Air traffic
In the direct proximity of the lake there are four airports: at Siófok, Szent-
királyszabadja, Tapolca and Sármellék. The infrastructure and the equipment of
the airport of Sármellék allow international traffic with large aircrafts and the
creation of an air logistics base. As regards the two airports at the east end of
the lake, the one at Siófok is operating and suitable for the reception of small
planes. The works for the opening of the former Russian military airport at
Szentkirályszabadja are underway. It is feared that the two airports will be com-
petitors to each other and neither of them can be run economically. The better
equipped airports of Sármellék and Szentkirályszabadja would be enough to
manage the traffic of big aircrafts, if developments necessitated by the regula-
tions of modern aviation (terminal buildings, track lighting, air traffic control
system) were implemented. These airports are not more than 60 kilometres from
each other, so even they can be competitors to each other, which jeopardises
their economical operation. The airports of Siófok, Tapolca and Zalakaros, with
105
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
grass runways and meeting very much seasonal demands, should be made suit-
able for the reception of small planes and for sports purposes (gliders, hot air
balloons, sailplanes) (Figure 28).
Figure 28
Airports in the Balaton Region
Note: • airports
Source: By the author.
5.4.2
Communal infrastructure
The provision of the settlements on the lake shore with communal infrastructure
– despite the pace of development lagging behind the demands – is well above
the average of the Hungarian settlements. This is not true for the settlements in
the hinterland of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton, even less
true for the settlements in the water catchment area as a whole. In these areas,
due to the lower level of economic development, the elements of communal
infrastructure (sewage purification and treatment, gas pipe lines etc.) were not
built out even at the national average level. The improvement and protection of
the quality of the Balaton water and the economic development level of the
settlements in the “hinterland areas” require the fast construction of the missing
106
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
communal infrastructure elements. The operation of the communal infrastructure
in the Balaton Region is done in regional units in the fields of drinking water
supply and sewage and waste management, as the operation is much more
efficient and safe this way.
Drinking water supply
Ninety-six per cent of the homes in the region are supplied with drinking water
pipes; the provision is almost complete not only in the Selected Holiday Region
but also in the whole water catchment area of the lake. The task here is the
modernisation of the water supply systems and the integration of the outer
areas, vineyards into the system. As a result of the development of the drinking
water supply system, the supply of the lake shore settlements with tap water will
be done by three regional supply systems by 2010: the Southeast Balaton, the
West Balaton and the North Balaton supply systems. Of all the water necessary
for the supply of the Balaton Region, 54% is provided from the Balaton (70,000
m³/day), 29% from the karst water base at Nyirád (38,000 m³/day) and 17%
(22,000 m³/day) from subsoil layer waters and springs. The demand for drinking
water (both by the industry and the population) has considerably decreased over
the last decade.
Canalisation and sewage purification
The Government Decree No. 1995/2001 demands a 95% level of canalisation
for the whole of the holiday region and the towns in the water catchment area,
and 60% for the other settlements of the catchment area by 2010. (The de-
manded figure for the settlements in the hinterland of the holiday region is
72%.) This means that all settlements with more than 1,000 inhabitants will be
canalised and supplied with two-grade sewage purification system. Despite the
extremely intensive development of the canalisation and sewage purification
system, 157 of the 300 settlements in the water catchment area will not be ca-
nalised in 2010. Due to the large number of small villages in the area, the in-
habitants living in the non-canalised settlements make approximately 15% of the
total permanent and temporary population of the area (almost 1 million people),
for whom, in the absence of canalisation, modern sewage deposits must be built.
The purification of the sewage is done by 7 regional sewage purification
systems in the settlements on or in the vicinity of the shore, while the rest of the
water catchment area will be served by 14 micro-regional and 29 municipal
sewage collection and treatment systems. The seven regional sewage collection
and treatment systems on the shore of the Lake Balaton are as follows: Siófok I,
Balatonlelle II, Kéthely-Balatonújlak III, Keszthely IV, Badacsonytördemic
V/1, Révfülöp V/2, Balatonfüred-Balatonfőzfı VI, Balatonkenese-Balaton-
107
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
világos (Balatonfıkajár) VII. The construction of modern regional sewage
treatment plants allowed the closedown of several sewage treatments plants of
low capacity and bad efficiency (e.g. in Hévíz, Balatongyörök, Szigliget,
Badacsony and Badacsonytomaj). The total capacity of the seven regional
swage plants is 103,000 m3/day (the plan for 2010 is to reach 150 thousand
m3/day); the total capacity of the sewage plants closed down is only 5,150
m3/day (Figure 29).
A serious problem of the purification of sewage is the extremes in the
amount of sewage generated in the few months of the peak season. In the
months off-season the regional sewage treatment plants operate only at 25% of
their capacity, the ones in the hinterland at approximately 45%. The burden of
the canal system and the sewage treatment plants is further increased by the
very large number of illegal rainwater connections to the canals; also, the rain-
water drainage systems are not built out in the settlements so the major part of
precipitation ends up in the sewage canals, as well. On rainy days it results in a
load that neither the canal system nor the sewage treatment plants are able to
handle. The outflows on these days and the decreased efficiency of the purifica-
tion of the sewage are serious environmental threats. Another serious problem is
the inadequate technical safety of the canalisation and sewage treatment system
despite the continuous developments, due to the rapid depreciation of the pieces
of equipment. This problem is especially serious in the sewage treatment plant
of Balatonfüred. Each regional sewage purification plant is responsible for an
approximately 20 kilometre wide zone along the shore. Sewage thus has a long
time in the canals; it has time to rot, which results in the release of smells and
gases corroding the equipment. This is serious problem in the neighbourhood of
the sewage pumps located in the settlements; the smell is very unpleasant both
for the population and the holidaymakers and is completely intolerable in a
holiday region. For the decrease of the smell burden, a technological solution
has already been invented and successfully used in Siófok, but the other re-
gional plants have not been able to use this method yet, for lack of resources.
Figure 29
Canalisation in the Balaton Region, 2005
108
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet idegenforgalma 2000–2005 [Tourism in the Balaton Holiday
Region. 2000–2005. Veszprém County Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical
Office], Veszprém, 2006, p. 12.
The ooze produced in the sewage treatment plants is free from heavy metal
pollution and can be used by agriculture. After dehydration with different tech-
nologies, the sewage ooze is either mixed with straw and composted, and then
used as solid manure (e.g. in Siófok-Balatonszabadi, Balatonlelle, Balatonújlak,
Révfülöp-Mencshely and Balatonfıkajár), or it is directly injected into the agri-
cultural lands (e.g. in Balatonkenese or Keszthely).
The efficiency of the efforts made for the development of the drinking water
and canalisation system in the Balaton Region is considerably decreased by the
low willingness of the inhabitants and the holiday home owners to join the fin-
ished swage canals; many of them still deposit sewage in cesspools by the
house. The volume of this problem is indicated by the fact that in the Balaton
sewage region the proportion of canalised homes in per cent of homes with tap
water was 52% in the 2000, although it could have been increased to 74% if all
households had joined the canal system, without the development of the system.
Until 2004, almost 19,000 of the possible 26,000 households joined the system,
109
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
increasing the rate of canalisation to 69%. In order to eliminate this unfavour-
able situation, the water utility companies were not given adequate external sup-
port by the local governments. The detrimental effect of this is demonstrated by
the fact that that the cesspools polluted the subsoil waters in the Balaton Region
to a degree that the demand for drinking water has to be satisfied with karst water
transported form a distance or with surface water pumped out of the Lake Balaton
(Table 22).
Table 22
Canalisation indices in the sewage collection districts around the Balaton,
on the basis of a survey made in 2002
Sewage
Households
Households
Canalisation
Number of
Canalisation
collection
using tap water
canalised
level
household
level possible
districts
(%)
technically
without
canalisable
developments
I.
22,847
13,936
61
18,907
83
II.
15,519
9,128
59
14,114
91
III.
12,088
7,147
59
11,668
97
IV.
20,847
10,874
52
12,823
62
V.
10,068
1,865
19
3,226
32
VI.
22,316
10,001
45
15,452
69
VII.
8,259
4,763
58
7,191
87
Total
111,944
57,714
52
83,381
74
Source: A Balaton Üdülıkörzet szennyvíz-elvezetése és – tisztítása [Sewage drainage and
treatment in the Balaton Holiday Region. Transdanubian Regional Waterworks Inc.], Siófok,
2000, p. 7.
The increase of the level of canalisation and the number of households
using the system is justified by the totally inadequate way of depositing
sewage in the cesspools of the households. The sewage treatment plants
possess the necessary conditions for the preliminary treatment of the sewage
pumped out of the cesspools, but only 8% of this capacity of theirs is used at
the moment. This suggests that the entrepreneurs engaged with the transport
of the sewage from the cesspools do not transport the major part of the
sewage to the treatment plants but empty that illegally somewhere in the
region.
The purified sewage of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton is
pumped on the south shore into the Sió Canal at Siófok and the Koppány
Stream in Balatonlelle; on the north shore (Balatonfőzfı, Balatonfüred) it is led
110
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
to the Séd Stream of Veszprém, in Keszthely it is deposited at the Marsh of
Hévíz. In those settlements where the purified sewage is let into the Balaton, a
three-stage purification of the sewage is applied, during which 95% of the
phosphate is removed (e.g. in Balatonújlak, Révfülöp, Badacsonytördemic and
Balatonfüred).
The continuous development of communal sewage treatment and the de-
creased burden of the lake with nutrients from the sewage highlight the impor-
tance of the solution of the problem caused by diffuse pollutions, i.e. pollutions
washed into the lake from the surface of the settlements and the agricultural
areas.
Treatment of solid communal waste
A serious problem of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton is the
environment-friendly deposition of the communal wastes. In the Balaton Region
almost 600 thousand m3 (140-150 thousand tons) of solid communal waste is
produced annually (Jancsó, 2000, p. 212.). Waste collection and transport is
usually provided in the settlements, but waste deposits fully compatible with the
environmental requirements have only been built in Marcali and Keszthely. The
solution can be the establishment of regional waste management systems that
are responsible not only for the safe deposition of waste but also for the recy-
cling of the possible largest proportion of waste. A part of this solution would
be, in addition to the compressed and dust-free transport and depositing of
waste, the selective collection systems, waste collection sites, plants composting
organic substances and waste selection works. According to the plans, three
large regional solid waste management systems will operate in the Selected
Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton (North Balaton deposit at Királyszentist-
ván; West Balaton deposit at Keszthely, Zalaegerszeg; South Balaton and Sió
Valley deposit at Ordacsehi, Som), to which the Mecsek–Dráva waste manage-
ment system will join in the Marcali area. These planned systems should be
implemented by 2010 already, with support from the European Union. A prob-
lem simultaneously present is the regeneration of the derelict communal waste
deposits, and the elimination of the continuously appearing illegal deposits
(there were more than 120 of them in 2000).
Gas supply
The gas supply of the holiday region is very important not only because of the
level of the tourism developments but also for the decrease of the air pollution
of the region. As a result of the continuous developments, the provision of the
settlements in the proximity of the lake shore is good; the proportion of flats
111
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
supplied with gas pipes is over 90%. The situation is much worse in the settle-
ments in the hinterland farther from the shore, as 90% of these settlements have
gas pipes but the proportion of households connected to the pipes does not even
reach the national average. Besides sewage collection and purification, the most
serious deficiencies in the region are in the field of gas supply.
The development of tourism
The 235 kilometre long shore of the Lake Balaton, the varied architecture and
the value of the landscape do not make it necessary, and the rather differentiated
income positions of the Hungarian guests making the bulk of the Balaton tour-
ism do no make it possible to think in one single category in connection with
the Balaton. The frequently expressed term “quality tourism” should be inter-
preted in the Balaton Region the following way: either the level of each tourism
service reaches the international standards, or the tourism of the Balaton dies.
Beyond this, however, it is meaningful to develop youth tourism, hiking tourism,
joy-centred bathing tourism and demanding health tourism etc. The task is not to
categorise tourists and exclude those with lower incomes – it is to create good
conditions for the reception of different types of tourists, by conscious develop-
ments and management, in a way that they do not disturb each other. This way
the conditions for affordable and high quality holidays can be created for people
with different income positions. The example of the health spa centres built in
Zalakaros, Kehidakustány, Tapolca prove that these establishments do not nec-
essarily have to be built in the lake shore. A similar example is rural tourism
booming in the Kövágóörs or Kapolcs area. A possibility for the construction of
spas similar to those mentioned above is given in Csisztafürdı and Nagyberény;
they could offer good bathing possibilities for the holidaymakers on the south
shore. In the latter two settlements, wellness and medicinal services can be inte-
grated; in Hévíz it is more and more an exclusive medicinal centre that should
be achieved.
For the majority of guests arriving at the Lake Balaton, the main attraction is
the water, all other facilities (horse riding, hiking, concerts, yachting, boat rides,
enological tourism) are supplementary pastimes and programmes; this means
that the conditions for the reception of the guests can be created in the vicinity
of the lake shore in the first place, according to the different needs.
The development concept of the tourism of the Balaton made in 2005 repeat-
edly (after 1993) is defining the conditions for the development of tourism in
this complex approach. It aims at the satisfaction of the needs of the guests in
neighbouring settlements or whole sections of the shore by concentrated in-
vestments, because the developments can be implemented at an international
standard this way, as opposed to the fragmented, low-demanding developments
112
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
carried out in each and every settlement. The Concept contains plans of not
more than 2 or 3 sports halls, 2 golf courses, 3 covered swimming pools and 2
congress and cultural centres (in Siófok and Tihany), 1 entertainment centre (in
Szántód) etc. According to the Concept, equestrian tourism should be organised
into a network (equestrian centres at every 20–30 kilometres), similarly to cycling
tourism (rest and repair centres offering full service). The Concept also mentions
services (e.g. open air swimming pools, tennis courts) that are all natural parts
of a higher class hotel or bathing resort; if they are missing, they should be built
everywhere.
All sectors of tourism should be developed in the Balaton Region. A special
attention should be paid to the development of some forms of tourism that sat-
isfy mass demand and accordingly provoke many debates: these are yachting,
angling, wine and cycling tourism.
Yachting tourism
One of the most underutilised ways of the development of quality tourism at the
Lake Balaton is the development of yachting tourism. Yachting tourism is an
excellent opportunity for the expansion of the holiday season and the increase of
the incomes. The optimum season for yachting is about twice as long as the
three-month season of bathing. The average length of stay of yachting tourists
(13.5 days in 2005) is many times higher than that of the bathing guests (4 days
on the average for Hungarian and 6 days for foreign guests); their average ex-
penditure significantly exceeds that of the bathing guests. The average daily
expenditure of the tourists is 120 € per day, whereas equestrian tourists and
yachting tourists spend 160 € daily, on the average. According to professional
estimates, the Balaton could accommodate 30,000 yachts, but the optimum
number is around 20,000. The number of yachts in 2002, however, was only
4,000 in a total of 30 ports suitable for the reception of more than 100 sailing
boats, this figure rose to approximately 6,000 by 2004. The number of places
will be increased to 12,000 by the construction of 14 new yacht ports and the
development of 18 existing ports in the 2002–2012 period. Even if the planned
investments are implemented, the possibility offered by yachting tourism will
not be fully utilised.
Angling tourism
One of the fastest growing and most popular branches of tourism is angling
tourism. Many people consider angling as the purpose of tourism or the most
important auxiliary element in that. Presently there are approximately 40,000
anglers around the lake, and this number significantly increases in the bathing
113
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
season. The popularity of angling is considerably influenced by the number and
size of the fish caught. A several decades old debate between the Balaton Fish-
ing Inc. (its predecessor was the Balaton Fish Farm) and the Association of the
Balaton Anglers is that the company of economic entity over-exploits the Bala-
ton with its fishing fleet, leaving little and low quality fish for the anglers. The
debate seems to calm down now that the Balaton Fishing Inc. has declared as its
main intention the stocking of fish into the lake (by fish produced in fish farms,
placement of spawning nests for zander etc.) and the selection of the stock of
fish living in the lake. The presently activity of the company is the decrease of
the stock of white fish (bream, roach etc.) and the fishing down of the formerly
stocked aged eel and silver carp population that can hardly be caught with the
usual angling and commercial fishing methods. The annual catch of the Balaton
Fishing Inc. is 400–500 tons. The total mass of silver carp stocked into the lake
in 1972–1985 for the decrease of the algae production, or runaway fish from the
neighbouring fishponds is estimated to be 3,000–4,000 tons (Tátrai– György–
Józsa– Szabó, 2005, p. 101.). Estimates say that the stock of eel, a competitor of
zander and a killer of zander spawn is still 17 to 65 fish per hectare (Herodek,
2002, p. 2.). The decrease of the stock of silver carp and eel is an important
task, because the overgrown (40–60 kilogram) silver carp can be very harmful
to tourism in case of a mass decay. Their catch is only possible with special
fishing methods, the catch of eels with the eel trap at the lock of Siófok. The
total annual catch of the anglers is estimated to be around 400 tons, which is an
average of 11 kilograms per angler per annum. The stock of fish living in the
lake is seriously damaged every year by illegal commercial fishing and angling
(600 tons per year annually, causing a damage of almost one billion Forint),
against which the present level of protection (one fish guard per 10,000 anglers)
is simply inadequate. Since the Balaton is a natural water, the stock of fish can-
not be limitlessly grown (the total stock of fish in the Balaton is estimated to be
approximately 11-12 thousand tons), in fact, experiences suggest that the de-
creased trophity of the lake, coming from the more clean water, will maintain
less fish than formerly. The fishponds, making almost 1% of the total territory
of the region, should be more closely integrated into angling tourism.
The Balaton now is home to 27 species of fish (Tátrai–Herodek, 2001, p. 2.).
In 1931 as many as 38 species were mentioned (Lukács, 1931, p. 29.); in 1980
Illés mentioned not less than 54 species (Illés, 1981, p. 125.). The stocking of
foreign species is by no means desirable; it is very risky, as can be seen from
the example of the silver carp stocked partly from environmental and economic
consideration and the eel stocked in 1961–1985 in order to increase the value of
the stock of fish (fortunately the experiments with grass carp were soon finished
after grass carp annihilated the reeds of the Inner Lake in Tihany.) The Balaton
always receives foreign species from the rivers (e.g. catfish) or by the draining
114
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
of water from the fishponds (e.g. silver carp), but the small number of these fish
does not endanger the natural stock of fish in the lake. The objective is the in-
crease of the stock of indigenous fish, including in the first place the most pre-
cious fish, zander.
A special issue for the anglers is the size of the fish caught. Besides intensive
commercial fishing and angling the Balaton cannot be expected to give masses
of large fish like in the 1930s (zander of 120 centimetres and 10 kilos, giant
catfish of 2–2.5 metres and 60–80 kilos, carp of 15-18 kilos and pike of 8-10
kilos); nevertheless there is still a significant number of big fish living in the
Lake Balaton, which is a real challenge for anglers. The size of the fish that can
be caught by anglers can be increased by the stocking of larger fish after a
longer period of fish-pond farming. The Balaton Fishing Inc. stocks 350 tons of
carp into the lake each year, more than 150 tons of which are big enough to
keep (e.g. longer than 30 centimetres).
More significant incomes from angling tourism can only be expected if the
infrastructure of angling is improved. This means a larger number of constructed
fishing accommodations, boat storage facilities and boat ports, so the develop-
ment of these should be treated as a selected priority. In the detailed develop-
ment concept of the Balaton (2007–2013), the development of tourism needs the
establishment of 100–150 new boat ports.
One of the complaints of anglers is the scarcity of beaches available for an-
gling, because of the built-up character of the beach and the ownerships. This
problem can only be solved by the limitation of the private ownership of the
beach – for which efforts have been made – and the development of the possi-
bilities of boat angling.
Cycling tourism
One of the most rapidly spreading and popular forms of tourism is cycling
tourism that can be pursued regardless of age. Presently it is extremely danger-
ous to cycle on the public roads, so cycling tourism can only become popular
after the cycling roads have been built. For the youth it can be a great experi-
ence to cycle around the lake, for the elderly and children shorter tours are rec-
ommended. In order to promote cycling tourism, however, the total length of
the planned cycling paths around the Lake Balaton, at 210 kilometres, has to be
built. Only certain sections of this have been completed to date, often in ques-
tionable quality, in other places cycling is only possible on the public roads with
heavy traffic, with a threat of accidents. In order to make the region attractive
for the cycling tourists, the rest, supply and service (rent-a-cycle) centres have
to be created that can fully serve those who wish to travel by bicycle. Such a
centre offering a full range of services has only been built in Gyenesdiás so far
115
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
(Bringatanya). A further task is the construction of the short by-roads leading
from the main Balaton bicycle road to the sights of interest in the hinterland
settlements.
Wine tourism
A rapidly developing area of tourism that well supplements bathing is enologi-
cal tourism, for the development of which the opportunities are excellent, given
the proximity of the wine producing regions, and the good quality and rich offer
of wines. Seven wine tourism societies have been established in the five wine
producing areas in the Balaton Region, and they operate successfully. The task
now is not to increase the number of the wine routes but to increase the number
of catering facilities and improve their equipment. It is especially important to
have various establishments suitable for the accommodation of different size
groups from a few persons up to 50 people; also, these facilities should be able
to offer food and accommodation in addition to the wines in as many places as
possible. The wine routes around the Lake Balaton are as follows: South Bala-
ton Wine Route Association; Badacsony Wine Route Association; Balaton Up-
lands Da Bibere Wine Route Association; Zánka Nivegy Valley Wine Route
Association; Csopak Area Wine Route Association; Balatonfüred and its Re-
gion Wine Route Association; and Zala Wine Route Association. For the har-
monisation of the programmes of the wine routes and the attraction of the
guests, the Wine Route Associations have founded the Association of the Bala-
ton Wine Routes.
Management of the Balaton region
The Balaton had not been a significant economic factor until the late 19th cen-
tury; the advantage coming from fishing and reed were at least counterbalanced
by the traffic problems cause by the large lake. The interests of the inhabitants
around the lake were the same as the interests of the three historical counties
surrounding the Lake Balaton, Somogy, Zala and Veszprém counties. A change
occurred in this respect in the late 19th century, when the launch of tourism of-
fered possibilities for a lucrative new economic activity, not in harmony with the
classic economic activities of the counties any more. The exploitation of the pos-
sibility lying in tourism, however, required different and much more intensive
developments in the lake shore settlements interested in the reception of guests.
These altering interests led to the foundation of the Balaton Society in Balaton-
füred in 1882, responsible for a range of important activities from the promotion
and coordination of developments through cherishing the cult of the Balaton to
supporting literature. The Society played a very important role in the construction
116
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
of the north shore railway, the development of steam navigation and the con-
struction of ports. The Balaton Society was melted in 1894 into the Transdanu-
bian Public Education Society, and operated within these new frameworks after-
wards.
From the late 19th century, following the establishment of bathing resorts, the
holiday home owners founded societal organisations for the management of the
local problems. These so-called Bathing Societies were founded among other
things in Balatonszentgyörgy (1895), Balatonföldvár (1898), Balatonberény
(1899), Fonyód (1903), Balatonboglár (1904), Balatonkeresztúr (1904), Bala-
tonlelle (1906), Balatonszemes (1910) and Balatonfenyves (1911).
In the late 19th century, the Lake Balaton gained the interests of the academ-
ics as well. The natural science researches were organised by the Balaton Com-
mittee created in 1891 by the Hungarian Geographers Society. The local basis of
these researches was the Hungarian Biology Research Institute established in
Tihany in 1927. In order to explore and demonstrate the historical, cultural his-
tory and natural assets of the Balaton Region, the Balaton Museum Society was
founded in Keszthely in 1898. For the researches and the demonstration of the
research findings, the Balaton Museum was built in 1928.
With the progress of summer holidaymaking in the Balaton Region, the im-
provement of the accessibility and the transport of the region became more and
more important, for which a voluntary social organisation was founded in 1904,
the Balaton Association. The Association played an important role in the pro-
motion of the development of the railways, roads, navigation and telephone
lines an in the operation of the power station at Aszófı, supplying the region
with electricity. Its activity was always pursued in cooperation with the gov-
ernment in power (Illés, 1981, p. 155.). Those who lived on the shore of the
Lake Balaton always felt that they did not get from the leaders of the respective
counties the support necessary for the more rapid development of the region, and
they saw the solution in the creation of an independent Balaton County, with
Keszthely as the centre. A counter-argument was that the economic base of a
county consisting of the settlements in the 8-10 kilometre stripe along the lake
shore would not be strong enough, and the respective counties did not contribute
to the detachment of their territories.
As the respective region has a separate interest system, coming from tour-
ism, which concerns all settlements in the region in a way, the development of
the Balaton Region is set back by the various interests of the respective counties
and the lack of coordination necessary for larger-scale developments. The crea-
tion of a regional territorial management system is still one of the most impor-
tant issues. For the management of the common issues of the medicinal and
bathing resorts on the Balaton shore, independent of the counties, the Hungarian
Royal Balaton Management Committee was founded in 1929. The members of
117
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
the Committee were delegated by the counties and the ministries, the chairman
and the vice chairman were nominated by the government. The office of the Ba-
laton Management Committee operated in Budapest.
In between the two world wars, the Balaton Management Committee and the
Balaton Association cooperated in the implementation of the tasks. The Balaton
Management Committee as a government organ had much more efficient ways,
through its contacts in the ministries, for the development of rail and road traffic
(rail: railcars, increase of the frequency of trains, reduced priced trains to the
bathing resorts; road: Balaton ring-road completed in 1939), of navigation and the
organisation of Balaton tours. The Balaton Management Committee was respon-
sible for the coordination of the activities of the Hungarian authorities participat-
ing in the administration of the Balaton Region, both at government level and the
level of the respective counties. After World War II, the committees coordinating
the development of the Balaton Region ceased to exist.
It was not only the people living by the Lake Balaton who were dissatisfied
with the counties; there were tensions from the beginning among the holiday
home owners and the municipalities. It is understandable, considering the fact
that the demands and means of the middle-class urban, mostly Budapest holiday
home owners exceeded by far the level that a basically agricultural village was
able to offer – or imagine at all – in the early 20th century. The oppositions were
enhanced by the separation of the holiday resorts from the main parts of the
settlements. The holiday home owners criticised the “undemanding and selfish”
local inhabitants and the fact that “they had to pay higher taxes than the village
people” and that “the tax revenues were not spent on the holiday resorts”. A
constant complaint was “expensiveness and the lack of comfort and attention”
(Lukács, 1931, pp. 58–59.).
The rapid development of tourism and the consequently accumulating devel-
opment tasks necessitated the coordination of the activities of the different au-
thorities by the 1970s and the creation of an organisation with authority for the
whole territory of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton. In 1974,
the Balaton Management Committee was re-established with Balatonfüred as the
centre.
Besides the Balaton Management Committee operating with governmental
and county officers, the municipalities saw it necessary to establish a social or-
ganisation for the direct representation of their interests. In 1889, the Balaton
Association (operating until 1944) was re-founded, operating with a chairman and
officers elected from among the mayors. The Association saw the establishment
of a Balaton Regional Council as one of its major tasks, consisting of the repre-
sentatives of the municipalities and the central government. In 1993 the Balaton
Regional Council was established, an organisation with the representatives of the
Government, the municipalities and other organisations, with professional con-
118
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
sulting, interest reconciliation, coordination and financial consulting functions.
The Balaton Association delegated 11 mayors to the Regional Council, the gov-
ernment also 11 representatives from the different ministries. The Balaton Re-
gional Council would have been responsible for the development of the Balaton
Holiday Region, the management of infrastructure developments, the protection
and preservation of the natural and built environment – without having the neces-
sary financial and legal conditions, which led to the death of the initiative. Similar
reasons led to the closedown of the Balaton Tourism Marketing Plc. in 1998, only
two years after it was established.
On the recommendation of the Balaton Association, the government ap-
pointed a state secretary for the co-operation of the issues concerning the Lake
Balaton. The Act on Regional Development and Physical Planning, enacted in
1996, created a development region, the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake
Balaton, and also the Balaton Development Council for its management. The
Balaton Development Council established in 2000 the Balaton Integration and
Development Plc. for the operational tasks. The seat of the Plc. is in Siófok.
The Balaton Integration and Development Plc. participates in the elaboration
of the development plans for the region, manages and coordinates projects serving
the development of the region, supports and coordinates the local and micro-re-
gional initiatives, investments and researches carried out in the region. For the
development of the region, the Balaton Integration and Development Plc. hands
in applications for Hungarian and foreign resources and continuously cooperates
with the regions and counties interested in the Balaton Region, and with the mi-
cro-regions and municipalities, institutions, economic actors, professional and
non-governmental organisations in the Region. Another task of the Plc. is the
compilation of the widest possible database for the whole of the Region. In order
to carry out its tasks, the Balaton Integration and Development Plc. wishes to
establish partnerships with the inhabitants and the business actors of the Region,
also with international, national, regional, county and municipal decision-making
organisations and with all professional and non-governmental organisations inter-
ested in the development of the Region (Table 23).
The Balaton has been an evident loser of the territorial administrative divi-
sion of Hungary for a century, a puffer zone of conflicting interests and devel-
opment ideas, although there are more common goals and identity of interests in
the Balaton Region than in any other region of Hungary. The maintenance of the
holiday function of the Balaton and the increase of its international competi-
tiveness requires a development level of international standards, exceeding the
Hungarian average. Actually these altering demands for development are the
source of interest conflicts among the local inhabitants and organisations inter-
ested in the preservation of the Lake Balaton and the development of the holiday
resorts, and the regions, counties and micro-regions interested in development:
119
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
the settlements on the lake shore are among the most developed municipalities of
Hungary, while each region, county and micro-region has much less advanced
areas and settlements whose development must enjoy a priority over the seem-
ingly luxury investments on the lake shore. Partly because of the higher level of
development, the different organisations and businesses consider the region as an
area from where resources can be gained and less as an area that needs continuous
investments. The development of the Balaton Region is thus mainly and solely
seen as a state task. The organisations coordinating the development of the region
still have to face the problem of limited legal competencies and the lack of ade-
quate development resources of their own. Unfortunately, no significant change
has occurred in this respect to date.
Table 23
Organisations of the regional administration
Foundation
Name of organisation
date
1882
Balaton Society
1898
Balaton Museum Society – Keszthely
1904
Balaton Association
1931
Hungarian Royal Balaton Management Committee – Budapest
1974
Balaton Management Committee – Balatonfüred
1979
Designation of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton
1989
Balaton Association
1990
Balaton Chamber of Commerce – Balatonfüred
1993
Balaton Regional Council
1994
Balaton Business Circle (legal successor of the Chamber)
Appointment of state secretary for the co-operation of the issues concerning
1996
the Lake Balaton
1996
Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton – Development region
1996
Balaton Tourism Marketing Plc.
1997
Balaton Development Council
1998
Balaton Regional Marketing Office
2000
Balaton Integration and Development Plc. – Siófok
2000
Tourism Inc. Balaton Regional Project Office– Balatonfüred
2001
Association of Non-governmental Organisations of the Lake Balaton
2002
Balaton Chief Architect’s Office– Keszthely
2003
Balaton Wine Region
Source: By the author.
In the years prior to the accession to the European Union, the leaders of the
region revealed again their intentions for transforming the Selected Holiday
Region of the Lake Balaton into a separate planning and development (in fact,
possibly a statistical) region, allowing the Balaton Region to apply on its own
120
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
for support and development resources from the European Union. On the other
hand, there is also an opinion that “without tourism the region is a peripheral
area without any major centre, whose backbone is made by a lake, accordingly
it has a rather special inner structure and the spatial relations of the units making
the region are not towards each other but outside the region” (Marton I, 2006, p.
37.). It is just as important that tourism only creates common interests in the
settlements that receive a significant number of guests. According to the data of
2002, tourism is not significant in more than half of the settlements in the re-
gion, 31 settlements do not even have any commercial accommodation and
guests (Marton István, 2005, p. 109.). The settlements with negligible tourism
or no tourism at all, with the exception of one single village (Balatonfıkajár),
are all so-called background settlements. The problem coming from the lack of
single spatial administration can be clearly seen, but it is questionable how
much the existing oppositions within the region – that have already been visible
e.g. in the competition for the regional centre status – would harm this ideal
situation even if the single administration was achieved in some way. The very
much different development levels and income positions of the settlements
making the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton are a constant source
of tensions, as the gap of the development levels may further increase, because
a large part of the settlements are unable to compete for development resources,
due to the lack of their own contributions. A good example for this was the
2002–2006 period when 46 settlements could not submit any applications ow-
ing to lack of own contributions, and the larger part of the resources available
through tendering was absorbed by 4–5 settlements. There is a very strong will
of cooperation among the settlements for the development of the region, which
is indicated among other things by the creation of the Balaton Association by
the municipalities of the region at the systemic change, but the significant inter-
est conflicts are also indicated by the fact that only 76 settlements of the total of
164 of the Region participated in the work of the Association in 2006, and not
more than 71% of the municipalities are members in at least one regional devel-
opment associations.
During the present conditions it is impossible to create a sovereign Balaton
Statistical Region, because Transdanubia is already over-divided from regional
development aspect (3 planning and statistical regions and 1 development region
– the Balaton Region), the territory and population of the Selected Holiday Re-
gion of the Lake Balaton is small and its economic potential is based on an ex-
tremely seasonal tourism. A realistic opportunity for the creation of an inde-
pendent Balaton planning and statistical region would have been if Transdanu-
bia had been split into two regions, only (South Transdanubia with Pécs as the
centre and North Transdanubia with Gyır as the leading city). In that case an
independent Balaton Region could have been created with Veszprém as the
121
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
centre, and by the annexation of several micro-regions (e.g. Enying, Zalaszent-
grót etc.).
It is true, on the other hand, that the more rapid development of the region
requires the establishment of an institution with clear-cut competencies and
tools – the creation of an organisation that should have been created 150 years
ago, already. The development resources allocated to the Balaton Development
Council are insufficient for this (Figure 30).
Figure 30
Development resources allocated to the Balaton Development Council
Source: Balatoni Integrációs és Fejlesztési Ügynökség Kht. In.: Oláh Miklós: A Balaton Kiemelt
Üdülıkörzet Magyarországon belüli gazdasági pozíciói és részesedése a fejlesztési források-
ból [The economic positions of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton within
Hungary and its share from the development resources.]. Balatoni Integrációs és Fejlesztési
Ügynökség Kht. Társadalomtudományi Kutatócsoport. Balatonfüred, 2007. p. 11.
6
Summary and recommendations
The Balaton and its region has been altered by the radical transformation of the
landscape over the last two hundred years from a natural lake into a regulated,
“quasi-natural” lake that nevertheless still has a large-scale self-regulating ca-
pacity. The lake is not natural any longer but only quasi-natural, as the water
level, the location of its shores, the level of siltation of the lake bed (ooze
122
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
dredgings), the position of the reeds, the richness of the flora and fauna and also
the “practical” way of utilisation of the lake shore areas are all determined by
human aspects in the first place. Even in this present form the region has a land-
scape and ecological value and an economic potential of international signifi-
cance. The basic question is how the economic potential – important for the local
inhabitant in the first place but also for the whole of Hungary – can be used in a
way that further increases the value of the landscape and the ecological signifi-
cance of the Balaton Region. The main features differentiating the Balaton and its
surroundings from the other regions are first of all the natural (water and habitats)
and landscape values. The future of the region is basically determined by how
much the requirements of ecological, economic and landscape developments will
be harmonised during the development of the Balaton Region in a way that will
allow their synergy effect to be felt in all fields. The one-sided preference of any
of these fields will result in the unreasonable limitation of the other fields and the
deterioration of the value of the region and the quality of life of the people living
there. This is not only true for the profit-oriented investments, but also for the
exaggerated so-called environmental interventions, because it is impossible to
create a natural area in a place where hundreds of thousands of people live per-
manently, where there are as many as 1 million people on certain days and where
approximately 10 million people visit at least once a year. These ten million peo-
ple do not only require the cleanliness of the environment, especially of the water,
the well-kept landscape and high quality and varied services but also a holiday not
disturbed by mosquitoes and horse-flies; visitors do not want caterpillars in their
hair, falling from the trees, they want sand beneath their feet on the beaches, and
not ooze. With ample and conscious developments and organised maintenance
works these demands can be met at a high level even besides the preservation of
the natural values.
If we place the development of the region into a historical context, the two
dominant negative features during the developments are belatedness and the
lack of complexity, the lack of regional thinking. Belatedness can still be seen
today, partly in the consecutive efforts that were and still are made to meet de-
mands that seem to be natural at the given time. Due to the gradual increase of
the demands, the disparity of the demands and the given level of development is
still there, which can be explained to a large extent with the lack of capital nec-
essary for improvements and the uncoordinated developments. This belatedness,
however, has been true for the preparation level of the local inhabitants since the
late 19th century, as well. The Balaton Region was a basically handicapped,
rural region with an urban deficit where the way of living of the people, their
attitude towards their environment, their schooling was not and still is not up to
the requirements of tourism, especially demanding international tourism. In the
last few years a considerable development has taken place both as regards the
123
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
built infrastructure and the human factors, but the deficit in these two fields is still
visible these days. A similarly important factor during the developments is the
lack of complexity and coordination. The sectoral and municipal development
programmes aiming at the solution of individual problems neglected the impact of
the facilities implemented during the development on the other producers (sec-
tors), on the one hand, and the focus was never on the whole of the region during
the implementation of the development, only on the interests of one single settle-
ment. Without a regional view and adequate cooperation it often occurred that
parallel developments were implemented, with a low quality. This increased the
amount of fixed capital, but the low quality results in both dissatisfaction and bad
capital efficiency.
The economic base of the Balaton Region are the endangered assets of the
area (the water and the landscape), and tourism built on them, together with the
connected services. These together make the sector suitable for the mobilisation
of the whole of the region, if the development of the other sectors is harmonised
with tourism. This connection among the sectors is extremely important, be-
cause the given region is too big and tourism in the region is too concentrated
(in the settlements on the lake shore, especially in the towns) to solve the devel-
opment of the whole of the region and the employment of the population living
there.
The biggest problems to be solved when developing the region are the un-
stable quality of the water of the lake, the decrease and the ageing of the popu-
lation, the outmigration of the young, the bad accessibility of the lake, the decline
of tourism and the deterioration of the condition of the agricultural lands. The key
to the development of the region is the improvement of the quality of the water in
the lake; for this purpose the pollution of the lake with any substance (dust, ooze,
plant nutrients) must be decreased and a continuous management is needed
(maintenance of the reeds, dredging of the ooze) for the decrease of the load of
internal nutrients leading to the instability of the water quality.
When looking at the change in the number of the population and the state of
human resources in the region, we can see the following:
• the population has been decreasing since 2000, because the low number of
births and the high mortality rate are not counterbalanced by the number
of immigrants any more;
• the population is ageing, which is enhanced by the large number of
pensioners among those who movie into the region (especially around
Keszthely);
• the schooling level of the population is better than the national average, if
measured with the proportion of those who have finished 8 classes of pri-
mary school, but the migration of the youth and especially of those with di-
124
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
plomas out of the region is a threat, which is due to the lack of jobs requir-
ing high qualification;
• the employment ratio is better than the national average, but the situation
is worse in the settlements farther from the lake shore, and employment is
extremely seasonal; jobs demanding more qualifications are missing and
incomes are low.
The change in the number of population indicates that the Region will only be
able to keep its population and especially the young and quality workforce if the
number of jobs requiring higher qualifications is increased. This can mainly be
done by the development of services (financial, tourism, health etc. services) and
the utilisation of the possibilities offered by the good logistics positions of the
area (road and air traffic). It is very important to extend these activities to the
settlements in the hinterland, as well. However, all levels of the training system
(youth and adult education) must keep up with the increased demands (especially
in the training of the tourism and catering skills).
The problems coming from the above-mentioned belatedness that block the
development of the region and which must be handled are as follows
Mending of the deficiencies of the water protection system:
• implementation of the second phase of the Little Balaton reservoir;
• maintenance of streams, establishment of lakes for the deposition of ooze
and plantation of filtering reeds;
• sedimentation and purification of the rainwater flowing out of the settle-
ments;
• maintenance and cleaning of the Sió Canal. (the Sió Canal in its present
state can only drain 40 m3 of water per second, because of a bottleneck
around Simontornya. This does not allow the full utilisation of the 80
m3/sec capacity of the lock in Siófok. It is also a big problem that the Sió
Canal is heavily polluted by the untreated sewages of the nearby settle-
ments.)
Mending of the deficiencies of infrastructure:
• Transport:
• Improved accessibility of the Lake Balaton by road and rail. We have to
get rid of the concept that the issue of accessibility only means the traf-
fic from and towards Budapest. At least so important are the rail and
road connections from the south (Kaposvár, Pécs), and the north and
northeast (Gyır, Sopron), which also manage the international traffic to
the Balaton.
125
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
• The development and harmonisation of local transport (inter-municipal
transport and traffic around the lake) – establishment of a transport as-
sociation.
• Detouring of the transit (international) traffic from the lake shore (the
situation of the west and north shore is worrying).
• In air traffic, the modernisation of the airport of Sármellék, and the
utilisation of the airport of Szentkirályszabadja.
• The construction of the whole Balaton bicycle road, together with its
service network.
• Water supply and sewage treatment: the extension of the regionally organ-
ised systems to the whole holiday region. Obligation of the inhabitants to
join the infrastructure, prohibition of the use of cesspools.
• Waste management: implementation of regional waste collection-, selec-
tion- and depositing systems.
• Gas supply: construction of the network in the whole holiday region.
• Tourism: the well separated development of all kinds of commercial
accommodations (hotels, camping sites, youth camps) – quality mass
tourism; the construction of a five-star hotel for the most demanding
guests (location recommended is Tihany), and holiday villages on the
south shore, for family holidays.
Creation of demanding leisure time facilities:
• Improvement of the conditions of sports:
• Well-established and coordinated development of boat and yacht ports
(boat houses) in the micro-regions around the Balaton, construction of
angling accommodations, continuous development of beaches.
• The creation of the possibilities for water motor sports by the develop-
ment of the Sió Canal.
• Territorially coordinated establishment of a network of wellness spas,
covered sports facilities (tennis courts), equestrian centres, golf courses,
off-road cycling and motorbike tracks, and facilities for gliders, hot air
balloons, and sailplanes.
• Improvement of the cultural supply:
• Territorially coordinated establishment of a network of cultural centres,
open-air stages, entertainment centres (recommended location:
Szántód), libraries (in Siófok, Keszthely and Balatonfüred).
Production:
• Industry: industrial development possibly harmonising with the character
of the region and the needs of tourism, especially in the non-lake shore,
so-called background settlements.
126
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
• Agriculture and forestry:
• In the areas with significant viticulture and fruit production, support for
the maintenance and development of the activities.
• Grazing animal husbandry on the large unused grasslands.
• Improvement of the maintenance of the landscape, strengthening of the
aesthetic value of the landscape and cultivation of the presently derelict
lands.
• Increase of the size of forests, afforestation of the unused lands and gar-
dens on the outskirts of the settlements.
• Plantation of park forests in the derelict areas in the vicinity of the lake
shore.
• Energy production built on local agricultural waste and reed.
• Services:
• Special attention to the development of hotel, financial, catering and
health services, as they all satisfy tourism demands directly or indi-
rectly.
• Along the international motorway on the south shore, establishment of
logistic centres of regional significance (e.g. in Marcali).
• Establishment of a local wholesale marketplace for the agricultural
products (in the Siófok area).
For the elimination of the bottlenecks listed above and the implementation of
the developments of vital importance for the region, concrete recommendations
are made in the many development plans already written for the region. However,
the realisation of these ideas has many preconditions.
Securing resources for development
A recurring problem is the lack of development resources for the implemen-
tation of the defined tasks. The problem is that development resources have
almost always and for all purposes been expected from the state, referring to the
large amount of money that is gained from the Balaton holiday region. How-
ever, the Balaton Region is not the only region from where money is gained, and
it is also an issue how much of the money drawn from region by different com-
panies (hotels, small enterprises) actually gets into the state budget. In the last
30 years the state has provided a selected support for the Balaton Region. This is
indicated among other things by the total of 37 billion HUF needed for the res-
toration of the Little Balaton Reservoir, only (at present value). It is evident that
the state supports have not been enough in the Balaton Region – as nowhere else
in Hungary – for the creation of a holiday region competitive at international
level. Development resources have been too limited, but we do not have any
information on how efficiently the development resources allocated to the re-
127
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
gion were used. How many parallel developments have taken place? How many
absolutely unnecessary investments have been implemented? Unfortunately, the
impact of the selected tourism developments of the recent years is not reflected
by the rise in the guest nights – it is possible, however, that the developments
were necessary for the slowing down of the decline in the number of guests
(Figure 31).
In order to have better results the Balaton Region must also mobilise and
efficiently use its own (and quite significant) resources. The local governments
should be much more efficient in collecting the local taxes, and the businesses
should take a much more active role in the solution of the problems. The latter
is mostly linked to the conscious development efforts of the local governments,
as well ( good example for which is Hévíz).
Figure 31
Amount of state expenditure spent on the development of tourism
Source: A Magyar Köztársaság Költségvetése 1990–2005 [The Hungarian State Budget 1990-
2005]. In: Oláh Miklós: A Balaton Kiemelt Üdülıkörzet Magyarországon belüli gazdasági
pozíciói és részesedése a fejlesztési forrásokból [The economic positions of the Selected
Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton within Hungary and its share from the development
resources.]. Balatoni Integrációs és Fejlesztési Ügynökség Kht. Társadalomtudományi Kutató-
csoport. Balatonfüred, 2007. p. 10.
128
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
The micro-regional development plans are actually no more than the collec-
tions of the priorities of the individual settlements; even if the developments are
implemented, this might improve the situation of the respective settlements to
some extent but will not induce palpable development at micro-regional level.
The development of the region cannot be based on the tenders of the respective
settlements also because the award of the supports is very much uncertain,
many settlements have been unable to submit any application so far, for lack of
their own contribution, and the tenders of the individual settlements are not
adequately coordinated. A more significant improvement in the situation of the
region has been induced so far by the selected state investment programmes
which the respective local governments and businesses could join (e.g. the de-
velopment of the basic infrastructure and spas with medicinal water). In the
recent years a circle of investors – the SCD group purchasing the Siótour, the
Balatontourist and the Zalatour organisations – has appeared in the region,
which partly take over former state tasks and have comprehensive tourism de-
velopment concepts for the whole of the lake shore area. The development plans
demonstrate that the plans of the SCD group have already gained the attention
of other investors (e.g. L. A. Shiraz, Creatura Immobilia, CIB Real Estate
Leasing), making them interested in investing in the Balaton Region. A sudden
appearance of a large amount of capital, however, also bears dangers. It is im-
portant to avoid the negative effects of the short-term thinking of investment
capital, the economic history, natural, and community interests of the Balaton
should not fall victim to such a short-term view. A warning sign can be e.g. the
privatisation of the Institute for Viticulture and Aenology in Badacsony, and the
plans to use its territory to meet the demands of a hotel complex. (The Badacsony
is made what it is by the total of the hill, the water and viticulture and vine pro-
duction – and not by a hotel.) Parallel to the promotion of developments, the pro-
tection of the values will be a task of selected importance for all local govern-
ments in the future.
Change of the development views
The concentration of the development resources and the regional coordina-
tion of the developments are inevitable. This takes a better co-operation will-
ingness and better partnerships than now (the small and the poor should be
treated as partners with the same rights). The stakeholders should get rid of a
few of their false conceptions (i.e. that the lack of school is equal to the death of
a settlement). It is often mentioned that certain schools should be saved, pre-
vented from closing down, but we hardly hear about the quality of education
taking place in these institutions. Primary schools are for 7-14 year old children
anyway, so it is another issue who deals with children younger than 6 or older
than 14 years of age. The problem in this field is indicated e.g. by the 150-170%
capacity use of the crèches in the region.
129
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
For the people and especially the young to feel good in a settlement, it is
necessary to place their 1–6 year old children in institutions where the children
have professional and prudent care, in schools where they get training making
them competitive with their peers; for children over 14 years of age, the possi-
bility should be given for the civilised and controlled leisure activities. These
tasks can only be solved in centralisation at micro-regional level, where ade-
quately equipped establishments and professional staff are available. In addition
to these micro-regional centres, however, each settlement should have a com-
munity home where the young and the elderly can meet and pass their leisure
time. The concentration of the tasks, given the bad transport conditions, makes
it necessary even in such short distances to establish a network of village care-
takers and purchase vehicles for the transport of the inhabitants. This solution
may not be cheaper but is more efficient. These micro-regional centres should
be equipped an operated in a way that they should operate all year round and
should also be able to serve holidaymakers for a certain fee, i.e. they should also
serve tourists (e.g. sports halls of schools, swimming pools, crèches, internet
centres etc.). Several villages could employ staff for the organisation of cultural
and sports events, who would only spend certain days of the week in each set-
tlement.
It is very important to emphasise that the central facilities are not the facili-
ties of the given settlements only; they serve all the cooperating settlements of
the micro-region.
Provision of statistical databases necessary for the developments
It is unacceptable that no single statistical system has been created for the
Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton. Studies and development con-
cepts are made in large amount, without having reliable data. E.g. there is no
and continuously updated statistics on the agricultural land use of the region (by
sectors), the number of livestock, the activities and volume of industry and ser-
vices etc.
The other problem is that the data of the respective sectors are not available
at the same place. In the assessment of the social an economic situation of the
Balaton Region, the Research Group of Social Sciences of the Balaton Integra-
tion Plc. plays an important role (Balatonfüred); they do not only carry out but
also coordinate researches. Their invaluable advantage is the continuous pres-
ence in the region and its direct access to information, but it cannot mend the
problems coming from the deficiencies of the statistical system.
More attention should be paid to the background settlements lagging in de-
velopment
The main emphasis of developments remains to be on the settlements of the
lake shore in the future. With the co-operation of the settlements, support
130
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
should be given – at micro-regional level – to those producer and service (e.g.
sports) investments that can only be implemented in the background settlements
or their character and environmental impact suggest that they should be imple-
mented there. This way the employment problems of the hinterland settlements
would also be lessened, and the development of the hinterland serves the whole
of the region, anyway.
Improvement of the administrative situation of the region
Many problems come from the designation of the region, which is also one
of the reasons for the lack of statistical data and the unreliability of the data
concerning the region. The situation would be easier if whole micro-regions
were not annexed to the Region just because one settlement of them belongs
there.
The expectations against the administration of the region are exaggerated,
however. The dispersal of the regional institutions and the lack of a regional
centre in themselves indicate inner tensions and the lack of co-operation, but the
most serious indication is that half of the 164 settlements are not members in
the Association of Local Governments or any other municipal associations. In
addition to the competition for external resources, the solidarity and co-opera-
tion of the settlements should be given just as much emphasis.
Co-operation of the sectoral authorities, their responsibility for develop-
ments
A source of serious tensions is the rigidity, low level of compromise and co-
operation capacity of the sectoral authorities, their one-sided interest assertion.
This often damages the water protection and the rational use of the territory of
the Balaton Region. Serious conflicts have emerged in the field of reed man-
agement (the dead reed deteriorates the quality of the water, but is a habitat for
birds) or the deposition of dredged ooze between the water management and the
environmental protection authorities. This led to an absurd situation: the ooze
dredged from the lake near the shore was deposited in the middle of the lake,
from where it soon got back to its original place.
A similarly serious conflict is caused by the one-sided enforcement of bio-
production in viticulture (viticulture experts suggest integrated production) and
the forced expansion of grasslands at a time when animal husbandry is almost
non-existent in the region any longer and even the existing grasslands are not
managed adequately. In order to evaluate the grasslands, nature protection does
not support, in fact, it blocks the protection of water and the afforestation pro-
grammes, the most useful and economically most viable solutions for the devel-
opment of the region. It is completely false, a very big mistake to dream of the
establishment of romantic peasant farms in the Balaton Region, as they do not
operate in market circumstances and can only be maintained as ornaments at very
131
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
high costs. The contradiction is indicated by the fact that the authorities do not
permit the opening of new quarries and gravel mining facilities, but the aesthetic
value of the Keszthely Bay is still deteriorated by the sight of the operating quar-
ries. Developments, on the other hand, require construction materials that must be
extracted somewhere, and their transport from a large distance is a source of con-
siderable environmental pollution. These problems can be solved if task are de-
fined realistically and with the consideration of the interests of the whole of the
region, instead of aiming at the extensive expansion of the so-called protected
areas.
Nature protection tries to preserve a deteriorated, semi-natural eco-system,
without any hope because of the natural succession. In the 21st century the ex-
ploration and preservation of the ecological values cannot be restricted to lim-
ited areas, it is a general task, and special protection should be provided for the
so-called core areas, only. We have to accept that the Balaton and its region is
not a natural region any longer, accordingly the natural conditions cannot be
maintained without doing harm to the whole of the region; e.g. if the Little Ba-
laton Reservoir is not maintained and protected, it will fail to fulfil its water
protection function after a decade or two.
Increased territorial responsibility of the local governments
The local self-governments should take up a much bigger role in the mainte-
nance of the internal and external areas of their settlements. They should act
much more consistently in keeping those regulations that concern the manage-
ment and cultivation of their lands (e.g. ragweed kill). After the provision of the
basic infrastructure, the maintenance of whole of the settlements, including both
their internal areas and outskirts, should be taken into consideration during the
developments. A part of this could be the purchase of derelict, uncultivated
areas and the planting of trees, park forests, i.e. afforestation in these lands. In
order to increase the aesthetic value of the region, beside the roads those plants
should be grown that bloom in the tourism season (e.g. lupine and sunflower
etc.), and the farmers should be supported financially for this activity.
Special support demands of the region
It would be necessary for the maintenance of activities which increase the at-
traction of the region and provide the tourists with experiences, but are not eco-
nomical in themselves. Such activities are as follows:
− support for viticulture in areas that are hard to cultivate and maintain, but
influence the aesthetic value of the landscape and produce the best quality
wines;
− maintenance of extensive grazing animal husbandry promoting the
preservation of the lands and increasing the tourism value of the region;
132
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
− establishment and maintenance of game parks; and finally
− utilisation of the already mentioned fallow lands and uncultivated gardens
on the outskirt of the settlements.
These are economic activities the costs of which will never return; accordingly
they are not realisable without special support.
Preservation of agricultural and natural values, their use in tourism
Special problems of the region are the fragmentation of the land into a large
number of small holdings after privatisation, and the speculation expectancies
(the expected rise of the plots in the future), which, despite the Balaton Act,
encourages the abandonment of agricultural activities and the sales of lands as
construction sites. In order to avoid the loss of the valuable vineyards, it is defi-
nitely necessary to designate those valuable areas where the cutting down of the
vines and the building up of the areas should not be allowed in any circumstances,
similarly to the core areas of nature protection. In these areas (many of which are
not bigger than a quarter or half of a hectare), the building of larger establish-
ments in the name of enological tourism should be stopped, as it would lead to the
further fragmentation of the wine producing areas.
The Balaton Region has a very precious fauna, the demonstration and use of
which in tourism should be done by building high-class demonstration places,
some of which should only be available for a considerable fee (e.g. the intro-
duction of the fauna of the wetlands).
Finally a serious negligence should be mentioned: in the middle of the last
century, the aged white poplar trees in Szigliget were cut down. These trees,
representing a high aesthetic and cultural history value, have not been re-planted
since then.
133
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
References
A Balaton Nyugati Vízgyőjtı térségi meliorációs tanulmányterve. [Amelioration study
of the western water catchment area of the Lake Balaton.] AGROBER, Budapest,
1984.
A Balaton Régió Fejlesztési Stratégiája: 2007–2013. Helyzetelemzés kivonat. Balatoni
Fejlesztési Tanács 2005. [Development strategy of the Balaton region: 2007–2013.
Summary of the analysis of the present conditions. Balaton Development Council]
2005
A Balaton Régió stratégiai fejlesztési programja 2002–2006. [Strategic Development
Programme of the Balaton Region 2002–2006.] Balaton Integration and Develop-
ment Agency Plc.Siófok, 2001.
A Balaton regionális környezetvédelmi kutatása c. A/12 jelő OKKFT-program (1981–
85). Ajánlások, javaslatok. [Research programme No. A/12, called “Regional Envi-
ronmental Protection in the Balaton area”. Recommendations and suggestions.]
Hungarian Environment and Nature Protection Authority. Budapest, 1986.
A Balaton regionális környezetvédelmi kutatása c. OKKFT-program 1981–83 évi rész-
eredményei. [Partial results of the 1981–1983 research called “Regional Environ-
mental Protection in the Balaton area”.] Hungarian Environment and Nature Protec-
tion Authority. Budapest, 1984.
A Balaton üdülıkörzet 1996–2002. KSH Veszprém Megyei Igazgatóság. [The Balaton
Holiday Region. 1996–2002. Veszprém County Directorate of the Hungarian Cen-
tral Statistical Office] Veszprém, 2003.
A Balaton Üdülıkörzet hosszú távú fejlesztési programja (1985–2000). [Long Term
Development Programme of the Balaton Holiday Region (1985–2000)]. Ministry of
Constructions and Urban Planning, National Planning Authority, National Water
Management Authority, Hungarian Environment and Nature Protection Authority,
Ministry of Home Trade. Budapest, 1984.
A Balaton Üdülıkörzet szennyvíz-elvezetése és -tisztítása. Dunántúli Regionális Vízmő
Rt. [Sewage drainage and treatment in the Balaton Holiday Region. Transdanubian
Regional Waterworks Inc.] Manuscript. Siófok, 2000.
A Balaton Üdülıkörzet szennyvíz-elvezetése és -tisztítása. Dunántúli Regionális Vízmő
Rt. [Sewage drainage and treatment in the Balaton Holiday Region. Transdanubian
Regional Waterworks Inc.] Pécs, 2006.
A Balaton Üdülıkörzet területén az erdı- és vadgazdálkodás, halászat-horgászat és a tu-
rizmus összehangolt fejlesztése. [Harmonised development of forestry and game
economy, fishing, angling and tourism in the area of the Balaton Holiday Region.]
Work commissioned by the Balaton Development Council. Balatonfüred, 2000.
A Balaton Veszprém megyei üdülıkörzetének rendje. A Veszprém Megyei Tanácsa
1/1983. sz. rendelete. [Order of the Veszprém County Holiday Region of the Lake
Balaton. Decree No. 1/1983. of the council of Veszprém county]
A Balaton vízutánpótlási lehetıségeinek vizsgálata. 15. kötet. [Possibilities of supplying
water into Lake Balaton. Volume 15.] VITUKI Budapest, 2002.
134
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
A Balaton üdülıkörzetének idegenforgalma 2000–2005 [Tourism of the Balaton Holi-
day Region in 2000–2005]. Veszprém County Directorate of the Hungarian Central
Statistical Office. Veszprém, 2006. Internet source.
A Balaton-felvidéki Nemzeti Park. Térkép. [The Balaton Uplands National Park.] Map.
Directorate of the Balaton Uplands National Park. Csopak, 2005.
A Balatoni Hajózási Rt vitorláskikötık fejlesztési programja 2002–2012 [Development
Programme of the Balaton Navigation Inc. for Yacht Ports 2002–2012.] Siófok,
2002.
A Balatoni turizmus fejlesztési koncepciója és programja. [Development concept and
programme of the tourism of the Lake Balaton.] LT Consorg Ltd. Balatonfüred,
2005.
A Balatoni turizmus fejlesztési koncepciója és programja. [Development concept and
programme of the tourism of the Lake Balaton. Appendices] LT Consorg Ltd. Ba-
latonfüred, 2005.
A mindig szép Balaton (válogatás Cholnoky Jenı írásaiból. 1914–1944). [The Ever
Beautiful Balaton. A collection of Jenı Cholnoky’s essays. 1914–1944] Local Gov-
ernment of the Balatonfüred Town. Balatonfüred – Veszprém. 2004.
Adonyi, Mihály. A Balaton környéki szılı- és bortermelés népgazdasági jelentısége.
[The significance of the Balaton area viticulture and wine production in the people’s
economy.] Manuscript. Budapest, 1979.
Balaton Régió stratégiai fejlesztési programja, helyzetelemzés és SWOT aktualizálása
(munkaanyag). [Strategic development programme of the Balaton Region, present
situation and updating of the SWOT analysis (working paper).] Balaton Integration
and Development Agency Plc. Siófok, 2005.
Balaton üdülıkörzet 1996–2002 [The Balaton Holiday Region 1996–2002.] Veszprém
County Directorate of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. Veszprém, 2003.
Bányai, Gergely: A kis- és középvállalkozási szektor és regionális vállalkozásfejlesztés
lehetıségei a Balaton környékén. A Balaton Turizmus Fejlesztési Koncepciója és
Programja. Melléklet. [The possibilities of the small and medium-sized enterprises
and regional business development in the Balaton region. Tourism Development
Concept and Programme of the Lake Balaton.] Appendix.
Baróti, Szabolcs: Zöld rapszódia [Green Rhapsody]. Aqua Kiadó. Budapest, 1988.
Behringer, Zsuzsanna: A Balaton Régió turizmusa 2002-ben. [Tourism of the Balaton
Region in 2002.] Research Directorate of the Hungarian Tourism Inc. Budapest,
2003.
Belyó, P. – Becsei, J. – Csokuti, I. – Gernedol, F.né – Kovács, Cs. – Kovács, Gy. –
Lóránt, K. – Pintér, L.né – Szabó, L.: A turizmus gazdasági hatása a balatoni ré-
gióban [The economic effects of tourism in the Balaton Region]. In: Mahunka, Sán-
dor – Banczerowsky, Jánosné (eds.): A Balaton kutatásának 2000. évi eredményei
[The results of the Balaton researches in 2000.] Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Budapest, 2001.
Bencze, Imre – Katona, Sándor (eds.): Balaton regionális környezetvédelmi kutatása c.
A/12 jelő OKKFT-program. 1981–83 évi részeredmények. [Research programme
No. A/12, called “Regional Environmental Protection in the Balaton area”. Results
of 1981–1983.] Természettudományi kutatások. Budapest, 1984.
135
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Bendefy, László – V. Nagy, Imre: A Balaton évszázados partvonalváltozásai. [Changes
of the shore of the Lake Balaton over the centuries.] Mőszaki Könyvkiadó. Buda-
pest, 1969.
Bíró, Péter – Herodek, Sándor: A Balatonban ıshonos halpopulációk minıségi és men-
nyiségi felmérése, állomány dinamikáik és trofikus kapcsolataik c. kutatás zá-
rójelentése. [Final report of the research called “Quantity and quality assessment of
the indigenous fish population of the Lake Balaton, dynamism of the fish stock and
their trophity relations”.] Balaton Limnology research institute of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, Tihany, 2002.
A BKÜ területén 1996 és 2003 között készült kistérségi programok. [Micro-regional
programmes made in the territory of the Balaton Holiday Region in 1996–2003] Ba-
laton Integration and Development Agency Plc. Siófok. 2004.
Bora, Gyula – Kulcsár, Dezsı (eds.): A Balaton környéki mezıgazdasági helyzete,
fejlıdési tendenciái és környezeti hatásai. [Situation, development tendencies and
environmental impacts of agriculture around Lake Balaton.] Tihany Biology Re-
search Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Karl Marx University of
Economics. Budapest, 1979.
Bosznay, Miklós: Állásfoglalás a Balaton vízszintszabályozása és a Balaton-térség víz-
pótlása kérdésében. [Opinion on the regulation of the water level in the Lake Bala-
ton and the supply of water in the Balaton Region.] Balaton Symposium. Keszthely,
1976.
(Buday-)Sántha, Attila: Az iparszerő mezıgazdasági termelés környezetvédelmi vonat-
kozásainak ökonómiai szemlélető vizsgálata a Balaton térségében c. téma kutatási
célkitőzései és a kutatást megalapozó szempontrendszer. [Research objectives and
preliminary aspects of the research called “An economic examination of the envi-
ronmental impacts of industrialised agricultural production in the Balaton Region”.]
Manuscript. Pécs, 1982. p. 22. Commissioned by the Hungarian Academy of Sci-
ences, Hungarian Environment and Nature Protection Authority, and Karl Marx
University of Economics
(Buday-)Sántha, Attila: A Balaton vízgyőjtı területén folyó mezıgazdasági termelés
helyzetével és fejlesztési lehetıségeivel foglalkozó tanulmányok fıbb megállapítá-
sainak összefoglalása és a kutatási szempontok és célkitőzések meghatározása.
[Summary of the major statements, definition of research aspects and objectives of
the studies dealing with the situation and development possibilities of the agricul-
tural production in the water catchment area of the Lake Balaton.] Pécs, 1983. p. 86.
Commissioned by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Environment and
Nature Protection Authority, and Karl Marx University of Economics
(Buday-)Sántha, Attila and partners: Az agrártermelés helyzete, fejlesztési lehetısége és
a fejlesztés feltételrendszere a Balaton Somogy megyei vízgyőjtı területén. [The
situation and development possibilities of the agricultural production in the Somogy
county water catchment area of the Lake Balaton.] Pécs, 1983. p. 266. Appendix: p.
54. Commissioned by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Environment
and Nature Protection Authority, and Karl Marx University of Economics
(Buday-)Sántha, Attila és társai: Az agrártermelés helyzete, fejlesztési lehetısége és a
fejlesztés feltételrendszere a Balaton Veszprém megyei vízgyőjtı területén. [The
136
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
situation and development possibilities of the agricultural production in the Vesz-
prém county water catchment area of the Lake Balaton.] Pécs, 1984. p. 338. Appen-
dix: p. 70. Commissioned by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Envi-
ronment and Nature Protection Authority, and Karl Marx University of Economics
(Buday-)Sántha, Attila és társai: Az agrártermelés helyzete, fejlesztési lehetısége és a
fejlesztés feltételrendszere a Balaton Zala megyei vízgyőjtı területén. [The situation
and development possibilities of the agricultural production in the Zala county water
catchment area of the Lake Balaton.] Pécs, 1987. p. 342. Appendix: p. 67. Commis-
sioned by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Environment and Nature
Protection Authority, and Karl Marx University of Economics
(Buday-)Sántha, Attila: Az agrárágazatok strukturális változásának indoka, feltétele és
várható lehetısége a Balaton Zala megyei vízgyőjtı területén. [The reasons for, con-
ditions of and possible outcome of the restructuring of the agricultural activities in
the Zala county water catchment area of the Lake Balaton.] Manuscript, Pécs, 1987.
Commissioned by the Research Institute of Agricultural Sciences. P. 147.
(Buday-)Sántha, Attila: Környezetgazdálkodás (Részletes rész) – Második, átdolgozott
kiadás. [Environmental management (Detalied version) – 2nd, updated edition.]
Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó. Budapest, 1996. p. 342.
Buday-Sántha, Attila: A Balaton vízgyőjtı területén folyó agrártermelés helyzete, fej-
lesztési lehetısége és hatása a tó vízminıségére. [Situation and development possi-
bilities of the agricultural production in the water catchment area of the Lake Bala-
ton and its impacts on the water quality of the lake. Hungarian Scientific Basic Re-
searches Programmes, Pécs, 2000. p. 98.
Csernátoni, Lajosné (ed.): Végrehajtási program készítése a Balaton Somogy megyei
vízgyőjtıjén a vízminıségét befolyásoló mezıgazdasági tevékenység összehangolá-
sára a Balaton vízminıség védelme céljából. [Implementation programme for the
harmonisation of agricultural activities affecting the water quality in the Somogy
county water catchment area of the Lake Balaton, in order to protect the quality of
the water of the lake.] Somogy County Station of the Plant Protection and Agro-
chemistry Centre, Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Kaposvár, 1982.
Dombi Gábor: A Balaton Kiemelt Üdülıkörzet területén kívüli székhellyel rendelkezı
mikro-, kis- és középvállalkozások üdülıkörzeten belüli érdekeltségei és mőködésük
szezonális jellemzıi. [Micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises outside the Ba-
laton Holiday Region: Their activity within the holiday region and the seasonal
characteristics of their operation.] Balaton Integration and Development Agency Plc.
Research Group of Social Sciences. Balatonfüred, 2004.
Farkas, K. – Kárpáti, L. – Kocsis, A. – Pusztainé, Sümeghy V. – Soós, K.: A földbirtok-
rendszer szabályozása a Balaton régióban. [Regulation of the land properties in the
Balaton Region] In: Mahunka, Sándor – Banczerowsky, Jánosné (eds.): A Balaton
kutatásának 2000. évi eredményei. [Results of the year 2000 in the Balaton re-
searches.] Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Budapest, 2001.
Formálódik a Balaton új arca [A new image of the Balaton is being born]. Világgaz-
daság, 17 April 2007
Gergely, László: Balaton 12 hónapra [Balaton for 12 months]. Piac & Profit, Vol. XI.
No. 2. 2007
137
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Hablicsek, László: A Balaton Régió demográfiai helyzete és népesség-elıreszámítása,
1990–2041. [Demographic situation of the Balaton Region and forecast of the
population.] Balaton Integration and Development Agency Plc. Budapest, 2003.
Héder, Sándor – Halász, Tibor: A Balatonvidék környezetvédelmének és üdülési
fejlesztésének erdészeti vonatkozásai [Forestry-related issues of the environmental
protection and the development of tourism in the Balaton Region.] Balaton Sympo-
sium. Keszthely, 1976.
Horváth, Vilmos – Kamarás, Miklós: Reálisan a Balaton feliszapolódás elleni védelmé-
rıl. [Realistic thoughts on the protection against the filling up of the Lake Balaton.]
Balaton Symposium. Keszthely, 1976.
http://portal.ksh.hu/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/VESZPREM/KIADVANYOK/ELEMZESEK
/2006EV/BALATON2005.PDF 2007-01-15
Idegenforgalmi Évkönyv [Tourism yearbook 1986] Hungarian Central Statistical Of-
fice, Budapest, 1987.
Illés, István (ed.): Tavunk, a Balaton. [Our lake, the Balaton.] Natura Kiadó. Budapest,
1981.
Illés, István – Kovács, István (eds.): Idegenforgalom – Környezetvédelem – Balaton.
[Tourism – Environmental Protection – Balaton.] Veszprém Committee of the Hun-
garian Academy of Sciences – Balaton Management Committee. Veszprém, 1983.
Jakobi, Ákos- Tendli, Krisztina: A Balaton Régió infrastrukturális ellátottságáról- A
Balaton Régió kommunális infrastruktúrája. [About the infrastructure provision of
the Balaton Region – Communal infrastructure in the Balaton Region.] In: Társa-
dalmi-gazdasági állapotfelmérés a Balaton Kiemelt Üdülıkörzetében. [Assessment
of the socio-economic situation in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Bala-
ton.] Balaton Project Task–4. Eötvös Lóránd University, Department of Regional
Geography, Balaton Integration Plc.. Research Group of Social Sciences. Balaton-
főzfı, 2006.
Jancsó, Gábor: A Balatoni Üdülıkörzet települési szilárd hulladékkezelése. [Treatment
of solid communal waste in the Balaton Holiday Region.] In: Mahunka, Sándor –
Banczerowsky, Jánosné (eds.): A Balaton kutatásának 2000. évi eredményei [The
results of the Balaton researches in 2000.] Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Buda-
pest, 2001.
Joó, Ottó: A Zala szerepe a Balaton vízminıségvédelmében [The role of the Zala River
in the protection of the water of Lake Balaton.] Balaton Symposium. Keszthely,
1976.
Juhász, István (ed.): A Balaton 1982 [Lake Balaton in 1982.] Hungarian Environment
and Nature Protection Authority. Budapest, 1984.
Katona, Ottó – İrsi, Katalin: Jelentés a Balaton vízgyőjtıjén. 2004. évben végzett víz-
gazdálkodási, környezetvédelmi tevékenységrıl. [Report on the water management
and environmental protection activities done in the water catchment area of the Lake
Balaton in 2004.] Middle Transdanubian Environmental Protection and Water Man-
agement Directorate. Middle Transdanubian Environmental, Nature Protection and
Water Management Authority. Székesfehérvár, 2006.
Kis-Balaton. [Little Balaton.] Map. Directorate of the Balaton Uplands National Park
138
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Kis-Balaton Térség agrárstruktúra és vidékfejlesztési programja. 3. operatív fázis. [Ag-
ricultural and Rural Development Programme of the Little Balaton Region. 3rd
phase: operational programme.] Managed by the self-government of the Sármellék
micro-region. 2000.
Kovács, Antal: A Balaton és környezetének védelme [Protection of the Lake Balaton
and its environment.] Magyar Vízgazdálkodás. 1981. No. 1.
Kovács, Ernı – Oláh, Miklós – Bokor, Ibolya: A külföldi állampolgárok ingatlanszerzé-
sének gazdasági és társadalmi hatása a Balaton kiemelt üdülıkörzetében. [Economic
and social impacts of the acquisition of real estates by foreign citizens in the Se-
lected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton.] Manuscript. Balatonfüred, 2005.
Kovács, Ernı – Csite, András – Oláh, Miklós – Bokor, Ibolya: Sziget a magyar
tengeren; külföldi ingatlantulajdonosok a Balatonnál. [An island on the Hungarian
Sea: foreign real estate owners at the Lake Balaton.] Turizmus Bulletin Vol. X. Spe-
cial issue 2006.
Kovács, Kálmán – Rott, Nándor: A Balaton somogyi vízgyőjtıjének mezıgazdasági
jellemzıi, különös tekintettel a melioráció és a környezetvédelem szempontjaira.
[Agricultural features of the Somogy county water catchment area of the Lake Ba-
laton, with special regard to amelioration and environmental protection.] Manuscript.
Budapest, 1982.
KSH Idegenforgalmi Évkönyv. [Tourism yearbook of the Hungarian Central Statistical
Office.] Budapest, 1986.
KSH Statisztikai Évkönyv. [Statistical yearbook of the Hungarian Central Statistical
Office.] Budapest, 1980.
KSH Statisztikai Zsebkönyvek. [Tourism pocketbooks of the Hungarian Central Statis-
tical Office.] Budapest, 1999, 2005.
Lanner, Sixtus: A vállalkozásfejlesztés perspektívái Magyarország példája alapján
[Prospects of rural development by the example of Hungary.] Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Ländlicher Raum. Nr. 1/2005
Láng, István (chief editor): Környezet- és természetvédelmi lexikon I. kötet. [Lexicon of
environmental and nature protection. Volume 1.] Akadémiai Kiadó. Budapest, 2002.
Lengyel, Márton: A balatoni turizmus fejlesztési koncepciója és programja. Kivonat.
[Development concept and programme of the tourism of the Lake Balaton. Excerpt.]
LT Consorg Ltd. Balatonfüred, 2005.
Lotz, Gyula: A Kisbalaton és a Balaton. [The Little Balaton and the Balaton.] Balaton
Symposium. Keszthely, 1976.
Lıcsei, Hajnalka – Németh, Nándor: A Balaton Régió gazdasági ereje [The economic
power of the Balaton Region.] Comitatus. 2006. Vol. XVI. No. 7–8.
Lıcsei, H. – Nemes, Nagy J., 2002. In: Oláh, Miklós: A Balaton Kiemelt Üdülıkörzet
Magyarországon belüli gazdasági pozíciói és részesedése a fejlesztési forrásokból.
[The economic positions of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton within
Hungary and its share from the development resources.] Balaton Integration and De-
velopment Agency Plc. Research Group of Social Sciences. Balatonfüred, 2007. p.
6.
Lukács, Károly: A Balaton. [The Lake Balaton.] Magyar Szemle Társaság. Budapest,
1931.
139
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Marjainé, dr. Szerényi Zsuzsanna (ed.): A természetvédelemben alkalmazható közgaz-
dasági értékelési módszerek. [Economics assessment methods applicable in nature
protection.] Nature Protection Authority of the Ministry of Environmental Policy
and Water Management. Budapest, 2005. p. 49.
Marton, István: A Balaton térség komplex gazdasági és turisztikai elemzése. [A com-
plex economic and tourism analysis of the Balaton Region.] Ph.D. thesis. Pécs,
2005.
Májer, István: A Balaton vízpótlási lehetıségeinek vizsgálata. Vezetıi összefoglaló
[Possibilities of supplying water into Lake Balaton. Summary of the topic leader.]
VITUKI. Budapest, 2002.
Májer, János – Lakatos, Anita: A Balatoni Borrégió szılészetének és borászatának hely-
zete, fejlesztésének lehetıségei. [The situation and development possibilities of viti-
culture and wine production in the Balaton Wine Region.] Research Centre of Viti-
culture and Wine Production of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Badacsony, 2002.
Májer, János – Lakatos, Anita: A magyar borvidékek komplex stratégiai programjainak
megalapozása. (Balaton Régió borvidékei). [Foundation of the complex strategic
programmes of the Hungarian wine regions. (Wine regions in the Balaton Region).]
Research Centre of Viticulture and Wine Production of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development. Badacsony, 2004.
Mester, Tünde – Polgár, Judit – Kiss Kornélia: A Balaton régió turizmusa a statisztikák
tükrében, 1990-tıl napjainkig. [Tourism in the Balaton Region in the statistics, from
1990 to date.] Turizmus Bulletin. 2006. Vol. X. Special edition.
Mészáros, Ernı – Schweitzer, Ferenc: Föld, víz, levegı. [Earth, water, air]. Kossuth
Kiadó. Budapest, 2002.
Michalkó, Gábor – Vizi, István: A Balaton borturizmusának földrajzi vizsgálata. [A
geographical survey of the wine tourism of Lake Balaton.] Turizmus Bulletin. 2006.
Vol. X. Special edition.
Nemzeti Környezetvédelmi Program 2003–2008 [National Environmental Programme.]
Ministry of the Environment and Water Management. Budapest, 2004.
Oláh, Miklós: A Balaton Kiemelt Üdülıkörzet Magyarországon belüli gazdasági pozí-
ciói és részesedése a fejlesztési forrásokból. [The economic positions of the Selected
Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton within Hungary and its share from the develop-
ment resources.] Balaton Integration and Development Agency Plc. Research Group
of Social Sciences. Balatonfüred, 2007.
Oláh, Miklós: Balatoni Gazdasági Fórum. [Balaton Economic Forum.] Balatonfüred
Balaton Integration and Development Agency Plc. Research Group of Social Sci-
ences. Balatonfüred, 2004.
Oláh, Miklós: Egy rendhagyó régió. [An extraordinary region.] Balaton Integration and
Development Agency Plc. Research Group of Social Sciences. Balatonfüred, 2003.
Oláh, Miklós: Szılészek, borászok a Balaton borvidéken (agrárszociológiai vizsgálat)
[Viticulturists and wine producers in the Balaton Wine Region (Agro-sociology sur-
vey).] Balaton Integration and Development Agency Plc. Balatonfüred, 2003.
Oláh, Miklós: (Ki)útkeresı Balaton régió. [Balaton Region trying to find the way (out).]
Comitatus. 2006. Vol. XVI. No. 7–8.
140
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
Rákóczi, László – Varsa, Endre: A zalaapáti vízmérceszelvényre vonatkozó vízhozam-
és hordalékjellemzık. [Water output and sedimentation features at the Zalaapáti
section of the Zala River.] Keszthely, 1976.
Retz, Tamás: Belföldi üdülıingatlan-tulajdonosok a Balaton Kiemelt Üdülıkörzetben.
Az ingatlanok fizikai jellemzıi, az ingatlanvásárlás motivációi, közmőellátottság,
elégedettségi mutatók, környezettudatosság, balatoni identitás, idegenforgalmi érin-
tettség. [Hungarian holiday home owners in the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake
Balaton. Physical features of the real estates, motivations of the purchase of the real
estates, public utilities, satisfaction indices, environmental consciousness, Balaton
identity, tourism relevance.] Balaton Integration and Development Agency Plc. Re-
search Group of Social Sciences. 2004.
Szabó, Ivánné: A Balaton és vízgyőjtıje közötti kapcsolat és hatások elemzése környe-
zetfejlesztési szempontból. [An environmental development analysis of the relations
and impacts between the Lake Balaton and its water catchment area.] Keszthely,
1976.
Szakértıi vélemények. Az állattartó telepek környezetszennyezı hatása a Balatonra és
üdülıkörzetére c. jelentéshez. [Experts’ opinions for the report called “Environ-
mental pollution of the Lake Balaton and its holiday region by animal farms”.] Insti-
tute of Agricultural Machinery Experiments, Gödöllı, 1976.
Szalay, Miklós: A summary presentation of the Balaton Symposium. Keszthely, 1976.
Szappanos, Ferenc: Vízrendezési és vízhasznosítási tevékenység hatásának vizsgálata a
Balaton déli vízgyőjtıjén. [Assessment of the impact of water management and wa-
ter use activities in the southern water catchment area of the Lake Balaton.] Balaton
Symposium. Keszthely, 1976.
Tátrai, István – György, Ágnes – Józsa, Vilmos – Szabó, István: A busa hidrológiai
szerepének és hatásának a vizsgálata a Balatonban. [Assessment of the hydrological
role and impact of silver carp in the Lake Balaton.] A Balaton kutatás 2004. évi
eredményei. [The results of the Balaton researches in 2004.] Hungarian Academy of
Sciences. Budapest, 2005.
Tátrai, István – Herodek, Sándor: Jelentıs a betelepített halfajok állománya a Balaton-
ban c. kutatási programról. [Of the research programme called “Significant amount
of non-indigenous fish species in the Lake Balaton”.] Tihany, 2001.
Turizmus Magyarországon 1990–2002 [Tourism in Hungary in 1990–2002]
http://aranyinfo.aranyhomok.hu/binary/2004_12_14/37816_turizmus_Mo-n_1990–
2002.pdf
Új Magyarország Fejlesztési Terv. Foglalkoztatás és növekedés – 2007–2013. [New
Hungary Development Plan. Employment and Growth – 2007–2013.] Government of
the Republic of Hungary. Budapest, 2006.
Varga, György: A Balaton ideiglenes vízszintszabályozási rendszerével kapcsolatos
kutatások és tapasztalatok elemzése. Zárójelentés. [Final report of the work called
“Analysis of the researches and experiences of the temporary water level regulation
of the Lake Balaton”.] Budapest, 2001.
Vörös Attila: A Balaton Kiemelt Üdülıkörzet közlekedési rendszerének jellemzıi.
[Characteristics of the transport features of the Selected Holiday Region of the Lake
Balaton.] In: Társadalmi-gazdasági állapotfelmérés a Balaton Kiemelt Üdülıkör-
141
Buday-Sántha, Attila : Development Issues of the Balaton Region.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2007. 142. p.
Discussion Papers, No. 61.
zetében. Balaton Project Task–4. [Assessment of the socio-economic situation in the
Selected Holiday Region of the Lake Balaton.] Balaton Project Task–4. Eötvös
Lóránd University, Department of Regional Geography, Balaton Integration Plc. Re-
search Group of Social Sciences. Balatonfőzfı, 2006.
Weininger, Ilona – Kántor, Béla: Szılı vagy nyaraló? [Vineyard or holiday home?]
Magyar Mezıgazdaság. 1998. Vol. 53. No. 44.
2000. évi CXII. törvény a Balaton kiemelt Üdülıkörzet Területrendezései Tervének
elfogadásáról és a Balatoni Területrendezési Szabályzat megállapításáról. [Act No.
CXII of 2000 on the approval of the Physical Plan of the Selected Holiday Region of
the Lake Balaton and the definition of the Physical Regulation of the Balaton Re-
gion.]
142
Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
The Discussion Papers series of the Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences was launched in 1986 to publish summaries of research findings
on regional and urban development.
The series has 5 or 6 issues a year. It will be of interest to geographers, economists,
sociologists, experts of law and political sciences, historians and everybody else who is,
in one way or another, engaged in the research of spatial aspects of socio-economic
development and planning.
The series is published by the Centre for Regional Studies.
Individual copies are available on request at the Centre.
Postal address
Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
P.O. Box 199, 7601 PÉCS, HUNGARY
Phone: (36–72) 523 800
Fax: (36–72) 523 803
www.rkk.hu
http://www.dti.rkk.hu/kiadv/discussion.html
Director general
Gyula HORVÁTH
Editor
Zoltán GÁL
galz@rkk.hu
143
Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
Papers published in the Discussion Papers series
Discussion Papers / Specials
BENKİNÉ LODNER, Dorottya (ed.) (1988): Environmental Control and Policy: Proceedings of
the Hungarian–Polish Seminar in the Theoretical Problems of Environmental Control
and Policy
OROSZ, Éva (ed.) (1988): Spatial Organisation and Regional Development Papers of the 6th
Polish–Hungarian geographical Seminar
DURÓ, Annamária (ed.) (1993): Spatial Research and the Social–Political Changes: Papers of the
7th Polish–Hungarian Seminar
DURÓ, Annamária (ed.) (1999): Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration.
Proceedings of the 11th Polish–Hungarian Geographical Seminar (Mátraháza,
Hungary 17–22 September, 1998)
GÁL, Zoltán (ed.) (2001): Role of the Regions in the Enlarging European Union
HORVÁTH, Gyula (ed.) (2002): Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary
KOVÁCS, András Donát (ed.) (2004): New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the Urban-
Rural Relationship
BARANYI, Béla (ed.) (2005): Hungarian–Romanian and Hungarian–Ukrainian border regions as
areas of co-operation along the external borders of Europe
ENYEDI, György – KOVÁCS, Zoltán (eds.) (2006): Social Changes and Social Sustainability in
Historical Urban Centres. The Case of Central Europe
KOVÁCS, András Donát (ed.) (2007): Regionality and/or Locality
SZIRMAI, Viktória (ed.) (2007): Social Inequalities in Urban Areas and Globalization. The Case
of Central Europe
Discussion Papers
No. 1
OROSZ, Éva (1986): Critical Issues in the Development of Hungarian Public Health
with Special Regard to Spatial Differences
No. 2
ENYEDI, György – ZENTAI, Viola (1986): Environmental Policy in Hungary
No. 3
HAJDÚ, Zoltán (1987): Administrative Division and Administrative Geography in
Hungary
No. 4
SIKOS T., Tamás (1987): Investigations of Social Infrastructure in Rural Settlements of
Borsod County
No. 5
HORVÁTH, Gyula (1987): Development of the Regional Management of the Economy
in East-Central Europe
No. 6
PÁLNÉ KOVÁCS, Ilona (1988): Chance of Local Independence in Hungary
No. 7
FARAGÓ, László – HRUBI, László (1988): Development Possibilities of Backward
Areas in Hungary
No. 8
SZÖRÉNYINÉ KUKORELLI, Irén (1990): Role of the Accessibility in Development
and Functioning of Settlements
No. 9
ENYEDI, György (1990): New Basis for Regional and Urban Policies in East-Central
Europe
No. 10
RECHNITZER, János (1990): Regional Spread of Computer Technology in Hungary
144
Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
No. 11
SIKOS T., Tamás (1992): Types of Social Infrastructure in Hungary (to be not
published)
No. 12
HORVÁTH, Gyula – HRUBI, László (1992): Restructuring and Regional Policy in
Hungary
No. 13
ERDİSI, Ferenc (1992): Transportation Effects on Spatial Structure of Hungary
No. 14
PÁLNÉ KOVÁCS, Ilona (1992): The Basic Political and Structural Problems in the
Workings of Local Governments in Hungary
No. 15
PFEIL, Edit (1992): Local Governments and System Change. The Case of a Regional
Centre
No. 16
HORVÁTH, Gyula (1992): Culture and Urban Development (The Case of Pécs)
No. 17
HAJDÚ, Zoltán (1993): Settlement Network Development Policy in Hungary in the
Period of State Socialism (1949–1985)
No. 18
KOVÁCS, Teréz (1993): Borderland Situation as It Is Seen by a Sociologist
No. 19
HRUBI, L. – KRAFTNÉ SOMOGYI, Gabriella (eds.) (1994): Small and medium-sized
firms and the role of private industry in Hungary
No. 20
BENKİNÉ Lodner, Dorottya (1995): The Legal-Administrative Questions of
Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary
No. 21 ENYEDI, György (1998): Transformation in Central European Postsocialist Cities
No. 22 HAJDÚ, Zoltán (1998): Changes in the Politico-Geographical Position of Hungary in
the 20th Century
No. 23
HORVÁTH, Gyula (1998): Regional and Cohesion Policy in Hungary
No. 24
BUDAY-SÁNTHA, Attila (1998): Sustainable Agricultural Development in the Region
of the Lake Balaton
No. 25
LADOS, Mihály (1998): Future Perspective for Local Government Finance in Hungary
No. 26
NAGY, Erika (1999): Fall and Revival of City Centre Retailing: Planning an Urban
Function in Leicester, Britain
No. 27
BELUSZKY, Pál (1999): The Hungarian Urban Network at the End of the Second
Millennium
No. 28
RÁCZ, Lajos (1999): Climate History of Hungary Since the 16th Century: Past, Present
and Future
No. 29
RAVE, Simone (1999): Regional Development in Hungary and Its Preparation for the
Structural Funds
No. 30
BARTA, Györgyi (1999): Industrial Restructuring in the Budapest Agglomeration
No. 31
BARANYI, Béla–BALCSÓK, István–DANCS, László–MEZİ, Barna (1999):
Borderland Situation and Peripherality in the North-Eastern Part of the Great Hungarian
Plain
No. 32
RECHNITZER, János (2000): The Features of the Transition of Hungary’s Regional
System
No. 33
MURÁNYI, István–PÉTER, Judit–SZARVÁK, Tibor–SZOBOSZLAI, Zsolt (2000):
Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great Plain
No. 34
KOVÁCS, Teréz (2001): Rural Development in Hungary
No. 35
PÁLNÉ, Kovács Ilona (2001): Regional Development and Governance in Hungary
No. 36
NAGY, Imre (2001): Cross-Border Co-operation in the Border Region of the Southern
Great Plain of Hungary
No. 37
BELUSZKY, Pál (2002): The Spatial Differences of Modernisation in Hungary at the
Beginning of the 20th Century
No. 38
BARANYI, Béla (2002): Before Schengen – Ready for Schengen. Euroregional
Organisations and New Interregional Formations at the Eastern Borders of Hungary
145
Discussion Papers 2007. No. 61.
Development Issues of the Balaton Region
No. 39
KERESZTÉLY, Krisztina (2002): The Role of the State in the Urban Development of
Budapest
No. 40
HORVÁTH, Gyula (2002): Report on the Research Results of the Centre for Regional
Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
No. 41
SZIRMAI, Viktoria – A. GERGELY, András – BARÁTH, Gabriella–MOLNÁR,
Balázs – SZÉPVÖLGYI, Ákos (2003): The City and its Environment: Competition
and/or Co-operation? (A Hungarian Case Study)
No. 42
CSATÁRI, Bálint–KANALAS, Imre–NAGY, Gábor –SZARVÁK, Tibor (2004):
Regions in Information Society – a Hungarian Case-Study
No. 43
FARAGÓ, László (2004): The General Theory of Public (Spatial) Planning (The Social
Technique for Creating the Future)
No. 44
HAJDÚ, Zoltán (2004): Carpathian Basin and the Development of the Hungarian
Landscape Theory Until 1948
No. 45
GÁL, Zoltán (2004): Spatial Development and the Expanding European Integration of
the Hungarian Banking System
No. 46
BELUSZKY, Pál – GYİRI, Róbert (2005): The Hungarian Urban Network in the
Beginning of the 20th Century
No. 47
G. FEKETE, Éva (2005): Long-term Unemployment and Its Alleviation in Rural Areas
No. 48
SOMLYÓDYNÉ PFEIL, Edit (2006): Changes in The Organisational Framework of
Cooperation Within Urban Areas in Hungary
No. 49
MEZEI, István (2006): Chances of Hungarian–Slovak Cross-Border Relations
No. 50
RECHNITZER, János – SMAHÓ, Melinda (2006): Regional Characteristics of Human
Resources in Hungary During the Transition
No. 51
BARTA, Györgyi – BELUSZKY, Pál – CZIRFUSZ, Márton – GYİRI, Róbert –
KUKELY, György (2006): Rehabilitating the Brownfield Zones of Budapest
No. 52
GROSZ, András (2006): Clusterisation Processes in the Hungarian Automotive
Industry
No. 53
FEKETE, G. Éva – HARGITAI, Judit – JÁSZ, Krisztina – SZARVÁK, Tibor –
SZOBOSZLAI, Zsolt (2006): Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long learning among
Romany ethnic groups
No. 54
BARTA, Györgyi (ed.) (2006): Hungary – the New Border of the European Union
No. 55
GÁL, Zoltán (2006): Banking Functions of the Hungarian Urban Network in the Early
20th Century.
No. 56
SZÖRÉNYINÉ, Kukorelli Irén (2006): Relation Analysis in Rural Space – A Research
Method for Exploring the Spatial Structure in Hungary
No. 57
MAUREL, Marie-Claude – PÓLA, Péter (2007): Local System and Spatial Change –
The Case of Bóly in South Transdanubia
No. 58 SZIRMAI, Viktória (2007): The Social Characteristics of Hungarian Historic
City Centres
No. 59
ERDİSI, Ferenc – GÁL, Zoltán – GIPP, Christoph – VARJÚ, Viktor (2007): Path
Dependency or Route Flexibility in Demand Responsive Transport? The Case Study of
TWIST project
No. 60
PÓLA, Péter (200): The Economic Chambers and the Enforcement of Local Economic
Interests
146