Medicinal and Thermal Spas in South and West Transdanubia - The Significance of Accessibility

Transport plays a substantial role in determining competitiveness in tourism. The objective of our study is to highlight the relationship between the accessibility [by road] of medicinal and thermal spas and the tourist figures of the settlements examined, and we hope in this way to build on our prior work in the broad, but highly important field of Spa Tourism in Hungary. Our approach is based on an analysis of the data from two particular regions in terms of tourist flows – centrally located West and peripheral South Transdanubia. Methods of correlation and rank correlation were used which were based on statistical data from the Hungarian Statistical Office and from our own questionnaire. The results clearly show the significance of accessibility to be unarguable on the basis of our questionnaire, although the rank correlation alone proved the relationship. There is also a degree of correspondence between accessibility and tourist figures, albeit with certain limitations. The implications are not as yet totally clear since a number of specific factors are involved which require further consideration, such as the relative prosperity of the regions, population density and the adequacy of the road network. However, work has already started on this programme.