HÉVÍZ.

The overall situation of tourism in the year 2011

In spite of uncertanities experienced in economy, the number of foreign guest arrivals continued to increase in Europe in the period lasted to August 2011, however, the growth rate slowed down with a few exceptions. The data of guests, guest nights and hotel occupancy indicators continued to reveal a consistent growth, but the rate of growth gradually decreased as the year progressed. In Europe, occupancy indicators went up by 3.7% between January and August 2011, especially in Eastern Europe (+7.3%) and Southern Europe (+5.2%). Experts projected a 5.6% increase in the number of foreign guest arrivals by the end of 2011, so the results are expected to exceed the data of 2008.

According to STR Global’s data, the indicators of occupancy, RevPar and ADR have moved in a positive direction in every European region in the period between January and August 2011.  The hotel occupancy data recorded in the first 8 month of the year did not show any decline in case of any country, except Turkey. In Hungary, the hotel occupancy index increased by 6.5% based on the STR’s data recorded from January to August.

In the first eight months of 2011, Russia maintained its leading position in the ranking list based on the growth rate of the European source markets. Data report increase in the number of tourist arrivals from Japan in Western Europe. Regarding Hungary’s most important source market, it can be said that the number of German visitors rose in the main target markets (Austria and the Netherlands) in the first eight montsh of 2011. More than three fourth of the destinations providing data also reported a growth in the number of German visitors, and they also experienced increase in the number of guest nights.  

Experts also report the revival of European air traffic, the weekly growth indicators rose above 6.0% in case of all but one of the data providers and 8.0% increase was observed for the period lasting till September. 

(Source: ETC’s 2011/3 quarterly report)

Trends in Hungary  

According to the preliminary data of the Central Statistical Office, 32.3 million foreign visitors arrived in Hungary in the first three quarter of the year. It is 4% more than in the same period of the previous year. Due to the country’s characteristic of seasonal tourism, foreign visits are concentrated on the summer months, and 46% of the total foregoing turnover was generated in the third quarter of the year.    

The number of visitors coming for one day grow by 2% and the increase was 8% in case of those arriving for several days during this aggregated period. In the first 9 months of the year, the proportion of one-day visits was 75% (24.3 million visits) within the total guest traffic.  

Foreigners spent a total of 77 million days in Hungary, which is 2% more than in the first 9 months of 2010. Tourists who came for a longer stay spent 6.6 days on the average, and the length of trips shortened by 0.5 days. The decline was the most significant (9%) in the third quarter of the year, in the touristic high season.  

Foreign visitors spent 910 billion HUF on products and services in the first nine months of 2011. 72% - 651 billion HUF – is the ratio of the expenditures of visitors arriving with tourism motivation within the total expenditures of the visitors. The consumption structure of the foreigners’ expenditures hasn’t changed significantly. Those who came for only one day spent 64% of their expenses on food and other goods, while those who came for several days spent 46% of their expenses on accommodation and catering services, 7% on medical and health maintenance services and 11% on transport services.  

During the first nine months, foreign guests spent nearly 9 million guest nights in commercial accommodation establishments. The number of foreign guests grew by 5% and the number of guests nights increased by 2% compared to the data registered between January and October 2010.

The structure of international tourist traffic is still undergoing a transformation, the number of guests nights generated by visitors from the most important source countries such as, Italy, Germany and France declined, whereas the number of guest nights spent by guests from Poland, the Czech Republic and the United States of America went up, and the number of Austrian and British guest nights stagnated. Within hotels receiving a significant part of the international tourist traffic, the growth was considerable in the four-star category. Visitors spent the same amount of nights in five-star hotels and in the case of 1- to 3-star hotels foreigners generated less nights as in the same period of 2010. The number of international guests rose in every touristic region, except the region of Lake Balaton and Central and South Transdanubia.

Domestic guests spent more than 8 million guest nights at commercial accommodation establishments in the first 10 months. Compared to the same period of the previous year, the number of guests declined by 2% and the number of guest nights by 5%. In the hotels, receiving 66% of the domestic tourist traffic, the number of guest nights increased by 3%. In guest houses, which are also popular among guests, the number of guest nights decreased by 25% due to the low guest turnover. The decline in the number of visitors affected 5 tourism regions out of the nine.

Compared to the same period of the previous year, the total sales returns of accommodation establishments increased by 2% at current prices, whereas the price index of accommodation services showed a decline in the course of 2011. Hotels’ average room occupancy rate was 47.8% between January and October 2011. Five-star hotels operated with the highest room occupancy rate, which was 65%. Four-star hotels achieved 55% in occupancy. Overall, the hotel occupancy data was 1.5 percentag point higher than a year earlier. The occupancy rate of spa hotel rooms was also an above-average 55%. (Source: Central Statistical Office)

Health tourism trends

The demand for travel offers providing health preservation and regeneration has been growing for years, and this demand trend is not a short-term tendency.

Wellness and spa hotels are becoming more and more popular even among domestic travellers. In 2010, the number of visitors grew by 10.0% in spa hotels compared to the previous year. Primarily, this positive change was due to the increase in the number of domestic visitors, which grew month by month from March. The number of domestic guests rose by 12.1% and the number of domestic guest nights by 8.2% compared to last year. The importance of wellness hotels continues to grow too. In 2010, domestic turnover was dominant in case of wellness hotels: 77.4% of the guests and 72.3% of the guest nights was domestic. According to the data of the Central Statistical Office, more than one third of hotel guest nights (4.8 million guest nights) was generated in spa and wellness hotels.

The Central Statistical Office’s demand survey showed that more than 10% of the foreign tourist traffic has health tourism purposes, and therapeutic- and health preservation-related expenses represent an important share in their expenditures. Hungary has great traditions and favourable natural conditions in the field of health tourism. Significant changes can be observed in the development of health tourism capacities in connection with the appearance of wellness hotels (and the requalification of some spa hotels) in Hungary.

2. The situation of tourism in Hévíz in 2011
2.1. The change in the etnic composition of the clientele of Hévíz between 2009 and 2011

Source: Hungarian Central Statistics Office

Based on the Central Statistical Office’s available data, the table chart compares the tourist traffic data of the first 11 months of the year with the same period of the year 2009 according to the figures of commercial accommodation. On the whole, it shows a 6.58% growth in the number of guest nights in addition to a 5.79% increase in the number of guests. A slight increase in domestic tourist traffic and a slight decrease in foreign guest turnover can also be observed.

In point of source countries, the growth in Russian and Ukranian traffic is exceptionally high, but the rise of Czech and Slovakian guest nights is also intense.

Although the decrease in guest nights generated by the traditional source countries has slowed, it is still significant. Even the priority advertisements/appearences in Germany and Austria cannot compensate for the decline in the number of traditional therapy guests.

The data of nationalities clearly show the clientele rearrangement process.

In the course of studying the nationalities coming to Hévíz, the trend, according to which therapy and medicinal cure are the flagship products of Hévíz, emerges further, since, although there is a decrease in the number of Austrian visitors arriving primarily with wellness purposes, the number of German tourists looking for therapy is almost stable and the number of Russian guests purposely coming for treatments dynamically grows. In spite of the fact that the strengthening of eastern markets is highlighted in many occasions, it can be said that the condition of the town’s long-term successful operation is still diversity and reception of different nationalities. According to our plans, the dominance of German markets remains and needs to be strengthened further as it is done by every prestigious international spa town. These efforts prevail in the the Hévíz Tourism Nonprofit Ltd’s business plan for 2012 as well.

2.2. Changes in the tourist traffic in the year 2011

Until the closing of the annual data of the Central Statistical Office, the town’s own figures give an opportunity to annual review and to analyse the exact numbers. The tourist traffic of 2011 shows an increase both in the number of guest and guest nights.

Paid tourist tax

Guest nights calculated on the basic of payments

Source: Municipality of Town Hévíz

The table charts above show that not only the tax revenue but also the number of guest nights has grown, which indicates that the tourism market has recovered from the economic crisis.

The number of guest nights calculated from the tax revenue exceeded one million nights, which refers as the acknowledgement of the town’s marketing strategy and joint work with the managing organizations.

2.3. Situation of private accommodation providers

The year 2011 can be regarded as a milestone in terms of the town’s connection with private accommodation providers. The Municipality, in order to see the scope and number of those who are engaged in real activity, proposed to screen the licences during the spring. As a result, the number of private accommodation rental licences decreased and the scope of service providers cleared.  

The new administrative tools introduced for recording and declaring tourist tax and the monthly monitoring of tax declaration resulted in a spectacular improvement even in the field of statistics already in the course of spring. Private accommodation service providers consider the Municipality as a partner, which is proven by the fact that, as requested by the Local Government, the voluntary reporting of the tourists’ nationality is high. Therefore, even private accommodation providers can effectively help the development of the town’s marketing. 

During the higs season, the Local Government carried out the controlling of the activity primarily with the aim to monitor the use of the previously introduced documentation. The private accommodation service providers remedied the deficiencies found during inspections in the light of the local regulations in force. The monitoring served the interest of those pursuing fair business activities and it aimed to filter out those who maintain unfair business conduct.

As for the town, it continues to be a priority to help private accommodation service providers. The TDM’s winning application, which will be described later, contains several elements that aims to reach this target group with efficient marketing tools.

There is a continuous dialogue with the Association of Private Accommodation Service Providers, at which is regarded as a strategic partner by the marketing organisation of the town.  

The town’s statistical data collection shows that the number of recorded guest nights increased in the case of private accommodation establishments in 2011.

It is encouraging that the guests of private accommodation sites are coming from a growing number of countries.

2.4. Analysis of competitors

Health tourism

In the field of health tourism the highest-positioned destinations of Europe/Central Europe are the North Italian “Terme Regio” (e.g. Abano Terme, Montegrotto Terme), the Swiss and German spa towns and sanatoriums (e.g. Bad Ragaz, Bad Zurzach, Zermatt, Arosa, St. Moritz, Lugano, Baden-Baden, Bad Wildbald), and the once significant spa towns of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (e.g. Karlsbad, Marienbad, Bad Ischl).

- Italian, Swiss and Bavarian spa towns have extremely high-positioned products. In addition to the curative factors and the high-quality complex treatments, the communal environment, as well as the varied recreational and cultural programs are integral parts of the product. These are well-managed destinations with efficient communication activity, and favourable price-performance ratio in spite of the high price. These health resorts are positioned much higher than Hévíz, therefore they cannot be mentioned as direct competitors. 

- The competition with the former spa towns of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is based on the approach of therapy and similarity of the medicinal treatments. The best-known and most prominent competitors may be Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) and Marienbad (Marianske Lazne).

- Today, other spa towns of the Austro-Hungarian Empire differ from Hévíz in view of their orientation (such as, Bad Ischl) or their current status (such as, the baths in Transylvania and Upper Hungary), however, in point of therapy, bath culture, and historical traditions they are still similar. Pöstyén (Piestany) has developed significantly recently. Its low prices attract tourists, but the real content behind the services lags behind that of Hévíz’s. Beside the conditions, Hévíz has a significant competitive advantage.

In the forthcoming period a comprehensive competitor study will be conducted about the price-value comparison of the international competitors, domestic concurrents and Hévíz. It aims to examine whether the thermal lake and high standards are reflected in prices. An important parameter will be the analysis of the number of beds and hotels per town.  

The previously conducted similar studies show that, compared to other destinations, Hévíz has a significant disadvantage in prices in some accommodation categories.  

In the table chart below, Hévíz’s position is well illustrated in the ranking list of domestic spa towns.

Source: Hungarian Central Statistics Office

Wellness and spa complexes

In terms of potentiality Hévíz is a spa destination, but wellness can also be found among its service offers and clientele. The unique features, existing in connection with therapy, does not apply to the area of wellness, and the supply is much larger. Every Hungarian, Austrian, Slovenian, German, Czech, Slovakian and Polish wellness complex can be seen as a competitor.

Following the development of Austrian spas, the number of Austrian guests dropped. In addition to this, a wellness tourist is not willing to travel nearly a thousand kilometre for a few days’ regeneration.

The quality and range of services in the Czech, Slovakian and Polish spas do not go before Hévíz. Their competitive advantage lies in less time-consuming travel, stronger communication and better country image. 

The lack of adventure elements and additional family-friendly services is a clear competitive disadvantage in domestic wellness market. In spite of this fact, in domestic internet search trends, the tenth most popular searched word in the topic ‘wellness’ was ‘Hévíz’ in the last 12 months. The name of other settlement or region wasn’t included in the list on its own. It demonstrates that the domestic traveling public who uses internet connects the town’s name with wellness holiday. In addition, searching for the term „wellness hotel hévíz” has grown by 50% in search trends, which is an outstanding figure.

Number of visitors in town baths (person)

The demand for spas is well demonstrated by comparing their numbers of visitors as well. The institutions with larger adventure spas cannot even exceed the attendance of Hévíz Lake Bath in every case (such as Sárvár and Zalakaros). However, the extended range of wellness and adventure elements clearly contributes to the high numbers of visitors in Bük and Hajdúszoboszló.

3. The main tourist developments completed in 2011 in Hévíz

Developments achieved through local governmental tenders in 2011:

• Development of the Roman-age ruin garden – the amount of aid: 58 million HUF
• Bicycle path development – in a joint application with Alsópáhok, the amount of aid: 140 million HUF

Major developments realised at other organisations during 2011:

• Sheet pile and habitat restoration at the Hévízgyógyfürdő Nonprofit Ltd. – in the amount of 229 million HUF
• Accommodation establishment development: NaturMed Hotel Carbona, Danubius Hotel cPLC.

Development of the TDM organisation in 2011:

The tourism development application of the Hévíz TDM Association was realised with a total budget of 52.8 million HUF and 44.9 million HUF support. The elements of the tender included:

developing organisation and network, training programs, arranging package deals, developing guaranteed animated town program systems, cycling events, procuring expo accessories, information board systems, touch info terminals, introducing discount cards, Christmas Market, organising the events Green Day of the Town and “Happy peacetimes’ Hévíz” in cooperation with the Cultural Centre, participating in the Budapest Travel Expo, city light campaign with 150 placards, e-marketing campaigns (facebook campaign, google adwords campaigns) and optimising search engines (content development, link building), which are essential tasks in the case of a newly launched website. Hévíz Card was introduced as the discount card of the town.

4. Determining actual tasks for the year 2012
4.1. Hévíz Tourism Nonprofit Ltd’s marketing activity
Taking the current market trends into account, the Hévíz Tourism Nonprofit Ltd, according to its business plan, plans to continue the following marketing activities in 2012.

4.2. The tendering activity of the Hévíz TDM Association

In the framework of the New Széchenyi Plan, the Association successfully applied with its application “Further strengthening of the TDM cooperation in Hévíz, at the fountain of life”. The total budget of the application was 101,500,894 HUF and the amount of the aid was 79,625,482 HUF.
Implementation period: 1^st December 2011 – 30^th November 2013
Subjects of the application:
Already implemented in December 2011: purchase of a commercial vehicle
Components to be implemented:
Language courses (Russian, English, German) for the members – already started in January 
Trainings: additional one-day training courses in professional subjects for the members, such as family tourism, product development, TDM manager master course
Marketing: support nearly in the amount of 22 million HUF: travel expo 2012 and 2013, online campaigns: ad words, search engine optimization, TV campaigns, radio campaigns, MT cPLC campaigns, brochure printing.
Program organisation: to the Happy Peacetimes’ Hévíz in 2012 and 2013,  30 product presentations, 30 stage performances for weekends, such as, smaller bands, pantomime, 15-15 health and excersice presentations, 30 health days where various checkups will be available in the amount of nearly 12 million HUF
Acquisition of equipment: in the amount of 20 million HUF mobile stage and program tent, implementing the technical, tool and IT background of the Hévíz Card, tool background of ‘The Path of Legends’ (board system placed on a stone base, the aim based on a tale: walk around Hévíz), LCD TV and a 3D display (in 2013) will be able to broadcast the new 3D image movie of Hévíz completed in 2013

Related intangible assets: writing of the tale ‘The path of legends’, smart phone application, TDM office software

Study tours for members, Spring 2012: an “inner” study tour, which draws attention to the values of the region, Autumn 2012 and Spring 2013: Hungarian study tour to become acquainted with the spa towns of the Great Plain Region.

4.3. Actual tourist tasks

•          Further development of the town’s website
Following the reconstruction of the website www.heviz.hu, the Nonprofit Ltd took over the operation and maintenance work of the website. Uploading and approving programs and news still remained the responsibility of the local government, but displaying accommodation, restaurants and service providers, maintaining their data, managing the advertisements and editing tourist information fell within the competence of the Ltd. The website traffic data doubled compared to the web analysis of the previous years, currently it has 24,000 visitors a month.
At the moment, the design of the website is being changed. We will be able to further enhance the number of inquiries and reservations on the website by the implementation of the new design.•          Hévíz Kártya továbbfejlesztése
A települési kedvezmény kártya nagyban hozzájárul a vendég elégedettség növeléséhez és marketing eszközként kiválóan alkalmas a vendégszám növelésére. A 2011-ben elindított vonalkódos kártya technikai továbbfejlesztése szükséges, valamint a kedvezményt adó szolgáltató körének a bővítése is javasolt. Ebben az önkormányzati intézmények szerepvállalása is szükséges, pl.: parkoló kedvezmény, tófürdő belépőjegy kedvezmény.

•          Further developing the Hévíz Card
The local discount card greatly contributes to the improvement in guest satisfaction and, as a marketing tool, it is excellently suitable to increase the number of guests. The barcode card, launched in 2011, needs further technical development, and it is recommended to expand the circle of service providers offering the discount. Here, the involvement of municipal institutions is also needed, for example: discount in parking and in Lake Bath tickets.

•          Organising tourist programs
The busy spa town athmosphere needs to be ensured by the further development of the existing programs and festivals and the introduction of new ones. It is important to note that these programs mustn’t disturb the relaxation of visitors, however, they should provide cultural entertainment for domestic and international target groups as well. The Count George Festetics I Cultural Centre and its high-quality events proved that finally the town has an event organising association, on which the service providers can also build programs and package offers. Our goal is still the same, namely, to help each other’s work and cooperate in order to further strengthen it. The marketing organisation will actively promote the program communication in each market, but its primary task remains to continue the implementation of the town’s marketing.

•          Monitoring the administration and payment of the tourist tax

•          Promoting the long-term operation of FlyBalaton Airport
In cooperation with the Hungarian Tourism cPLC and the operator of FlyBalaton Airport, we aim to promote long-term operation and create the conditions for receiving scheduled and charter flights.