| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study. To examine how the situation of thermal tourism in Somogy county
developed during the period of socialism. The importance of the use of thermal wells for
tourism or industrial purposes was considered by the county council and the organizations of
the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (MSZMP).
Applied methods. Literature review, especially the development of thermal tourism. The
overview includes general processing of economic and tourism history. We place great emphasis
on the use of archival materials. It is also important to examine the local press and use the
collections of legislation.
Outcomes. In Hungary, more and more economic policy measures have been taken since the
1960s to develop tourism. In some rural areas, this was linked to the increased number of
oil drillings at the time, as hot water was found in many cases during the test drillings, on
which thermal tourism could later be built. Despite the fact that Somogy County was already
a prominent tourist destination through Lake Balaton, until the mid-1970s, 22 springs were
found during the test drillings where the temperature of the water breaking to the surface
exceeded 35 °C. Some of these wells were closed, but the issue of their exploitation could not
be circumvented, which caused a number of problems due to a lack of material and human
resources. At the same time, the Somogy County Council and county organizations of the
Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (MSZMP) took the issue of thermal tourism extremely
seriously and developed a concept for their development on two occasions. However, this only
applied only to four major spas: Nagyatád, Igal, Csokonyavisonta and Kaposvár. The smaller
spas were entrusted to local maintainers. | hu |
