THE IMPACT OF TOURISM TRENDS INFLUENCED BY THE PANDEMIC AND OF HUNGARIAN DEVELOPMENT POLICY ON THE TOURISM SECTOR OF SOUTH BARANYA

Abstract

The Association of the South Baranya Municipalities concentrates, starting from the
endowments and the existing tourism positions of its competency area, tourism as a dominant
activity for the development of the area. The competency area of the Association covers a total
of 88 settlements ranging from the Villány Mountain to the Dráva River, e.g. South Baranya
geographically.
The pandemic crisis following the “peak” year of 2019 had a serious impact on the tourism
sector of South Baranya as well. The first, second and third wave of the pandemic and the
quarantine measures aiming at the easement of the problems stopped tourism completely. As
an effect of the increased demand in between the great declines and pandemic waves, some
changes in international tourism are now palpable that may also impact the respective
geographical area; also, the experiences of domestic tourism from 2020 and 2021 allow us to
draw some conclusions concerning the tourism processes and development of the near and more
remote future – hopefully free from pandemic. In this approach, the necessary but hardly
identifiable changes in the trends of tourism demand and supply, and the strategic directions set
by the Hungarian development policy must all be taken into consideration as determining
factors.