Internal Influences
Internal Influences
– The current state leadership is well aware of the importance of tourism, and, even more important, of the opportunities lying therein.
– The processes that started in the past 5-10 years, say, are beginning to show their effects. Examples are the operation of foreign tourist agency representative offices, or the rapid growth of the Tourinform network.
– The re-positioning of the Hungarian tourism offer, that is, the painting a new offer palette, has become essential.
– Foreign investors discovered the intrinsic opportunities of Hungarian tourism. As a consequence, major investments had been launched. All in all, in practical terms these cca. $600 million investments represent the double of the large investment wave of the 1970s and the 1980s driven by Austrian interstate loans.
– The top managers of tourism work out the corresponding vision, detailing how the generated income would evolve provided tourism receives the financing it deserves.
– The economic management of the Government realizes that tourism can be the economic factor that can (cross-)finance a part of the growing deficit in the balance-of-payments. This is a key issue, considering that privatization is over, start-from-zero investments show a weakening tendency, which in turn is expected to reduce foreign investments.
– The government shows a firm resolve to increase state participation, provided these funds will be used appropriately and will thus generate further results.
In May 1999, the newly appointed Deputy State Secretary for Tourism entered into office, underlining that the government has to define its relationship to tourism as if the latter were an independent business line representing an economic activity. More precisely, the investments made have to match the opportunities presented. That is, the greater the amount the state can allocate for tourism, the better the results will be, given the time necessary. The state participation circulating at that time was said to be HUF 24 billion.
The year 1999 and the better part of the year 2000 saw this message delivered; the corresponding lobby matched its importance.
In December 2000, we were proud to announce that this goal was achieved, for Parliament passed the two-year budget, wherein the funds allocated for tourism constituted HUF 25 billion (HUF 28 billion) for 2001 (2002). It is important to point out that this sum in itself exceeds the total budget of several ministries. This level of state financing gives us a fair guarantee that tourism in Hungary will continue to evolve fulfilling the promise it holds.
