CHARACTERISTICS OF TOURISM IN HUNGARIAN RURAL SUB-REGIONS

This secondary research on rural sub-regional tourism investigates the individual quantitative factors influencing it and the connections between them. The analysis concentrates on the economic and touristic potential of rural sub-regions as well as on the performance of tourism. Based on the method of comparison against the average, rural sub-regions were classified according to their possible strategies of tourism development. The tourism of rural sub-regions is fundamentally independent from the performance of their economies. Among multivariate analysis methods it is principal component analysis that demonstrates the most influential criteria and their interconnections. Based on this determination of the “tourism-factor”, it is possible to classify sub-regions into four categories: “tourist paradise”, “catching-up”, “wasteful” (i.e. failing to seize their opportunities), and “insignificant”. The development of sub-regions belonging to the same category can be based on identical strategies. This classification can be a useful starting point for concepts of rural development and the development of tourism