The level of seasonality at lake balaton and its mitigation using the examples of Balatonboglár and Balatonlelle

Abstract

The seasonality of Lake Balaton as a tourist region has been a long-discussed problem, but even in the early 2020s it will continue to be a major problem for the economy of the lakeside municipalities. In the last years/decades, towns have started to consciously develop their tourist arrivals out of the high season. Two basic means of increasing this are the expansion of the accommodation offer with units that are available 365 days a year and the addition of events to the calendar of municipalities in autumn, winter and spring. I examine the results of these developments and their relationship using the examples of Balatonlelle and Balatonboglár.

My research uses the Gini-index to examine whether the seasonality of tourism in the two towns has decreased in recent years, based on guest traffic data, and to compare trends with other municipalities in the Balaton-region. In the case of programme tourism, I explore what events are used to attract tourists out of the high season and examine their effectiveness. I also try to identify development directions to be considered as potential tools in the future to change the image of the region, not only of the two settlements, in terms of seasonality.