Budapest: from socialist heritage to cultural capital?

Abstract

As observed by Hughes and Allen (2005). [Cultural tourism in Central and Eastern Europe: The views of ‘induced image formation agents’. Tourism Management, 26(2), 173–183], cultural tourism in Hungary appears to be almost inseparable from general tourism, therefore Budapest has traditionally promoted itself as a cultural capital. However, the emphasis has mainly been on heritage tourism [Smith, M.K., & Puczkó, L. (2010). Out with the old, in with the New? 20 years of post-socialist marketing in Budapest. Journal of City Marketing, 1(3), 288–299] and in the first few years following 1989, socialist heritage was particularly important [Rátz, T. (2004). European tourism. Székesfehérvár: Kodolányi János University College; Young, C., & Light, D. (2006). ‘Communist heritage tourism’: Between economic development and European integration. In D. Hassenpflug, B. Kolbmüller, & S. Schröder-Esch (Eds.), Heritage and media in Europe – contributing towards integration and regional development (pp. 249–263). Weimar: Bauhaus Universität]. Several years later, the globalisation of Budapest means that the city is gradually changing its image to incorporate not only heritage (including that of pre-socialist regimes), but also more diverse forms of cultural tourism to compete with many other destinations worldwide. A combination of methods are used to show the development of heritage and cultural tourism in Budapest, including over 4000 surveys collected in 2009 in conjunction with the Budapest Cultural Work Group on the cultural habits of tourists in Budapest and a content analysis of 20 years of city marketing materials (1989–2009). Evidence suggests that although some creative approaches to packaging and marketing cultural tourism exist in Budapest, the product is still mainly heritage-focused. The authors discuss the extent to which this is the most appropriate form of development for the Hungarian capital. The changing cultural image and identity of Budapest will also be explored in relation to national, regional, and global developments. One of the other key questions is how far the focus of cultural tourism should remain on the national capital in a country where other cities and towns are relatively under-visited.

Keywords:

• Budapest
• Hungary
• capital city
• cultural tourism
• heritage
• identity
• image

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Ágnes Ördög for permission to publish the data of the Budapest Cultural Work Group.

Notes