DECADES OF RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN HUNGARY

At the border of old and new rural tourism?

Absztrakt

Rural tourism as a rural economic and social phenomenon, is increasingly sensitive to changes in
the world and within the country. Its development and history can be connected to the great world
economic crises and the political system change and policy changes within the country.
During the past thirty years rural tourism has flourished, declined, revived in new forms with new
actors and attracted and is attracting new customers. A generational shift has taken place, and the
main goal of the activities is not just to obtain additional income but to build an enterprise for profit.
The former rural tourism host families no longer enjoy positive discrimination; the countryside has
become a neutral investment territory. Behind these phenomena are new values and tastes and new
interests and fashions.
Due to the COVID-19 world crisis, those places in the countryside where rural tourism supply is
present are being revalorized. Although this study is based on a survey from 2012, the events since
then show that it is time to reevaluate and reconsider everything that we learned and thought about
rural tourism and rural hospitality in the past.