For me, Lake Balaton is the Riviera

Tourism-led gentrification in the Balaton Uplands focusing on the Covid-19 impacts

Abstract

This study examines the social and economic consequences, gentrification effects and possible responses to the influx of the urban middle class into second homes in the Balaton Highlands, which intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has both intensified and reoriented the processes of rural transformation. Rural tourism was first brought to a standstill by the pandemic, then it took oYat an incredible rate. At the same time, the expansion of teleworking and distance learning in the wake of the pandemic has fundamentally changed the relationship with the countryside, with many people 'moving down' to properties previously used only as holiday homes. Property prices around Lake Balaton are rising steeply, and venture capital investors are replacing lifestyle migrants on the real estate market that is a clear sign of gentrification in the making.

Our study uses semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey to explore how rural tourism evolved in the different phases of the epidemic in the Lake Balaton region? How did the attitudes and practices of holiday home owners towards moving to the countryside change? What were the main drivers and factors of change and how did they change the social and economic environment and local development opportunities? The results of the research show that the pandemic has reinforced previous trends, i.e. the increase in demand for rural living space. Rural incomers have become an important target group for local service providers and this has also led to new solutions and innovation. Future intentions to move to the countryside are more moderate, in which the availability (or lack thereof) of public services play an important role.