Spatial Characteristics of Tourism Infrastructure in Szeged

Abstract

A research was carried out in Szeged (a city in the South East of Hungary) in 2012 with the aim to examine the human resources of tourism sector in a city that offers a wide range of tourist attractions, and accordingly, has a heterogeneous workforce in tourism industry. Altogether 222 employees of 44 tourism-related institutes and businesses involved in the survey.
The present study, based on the database of the survey, analyses the touristic characteristics of various spatial units to find out whether certain services at various spatial units of the city are used solely by local citizens or tourists. It is also discussed whether there are locations that are visited mainly by Hungarian and others preferred by foreign tourists. Furthermore, it was also discovered if the employment of people with foreign language knowledge and ones with relevant qualification have any spatial characteristics. According to our hypothesis, on the basis of the results we can specify the spatial units preferred by Hungarian and foreign tourists.
The significance of the survey lies in the fact that tourism in Szeged is examined from a new perspective, which sheds light on important spatial relationships.