Tourism campaigns come in all shapes and sizes these days: with swear words, psychologically spooky personality concepts and now with extra-marital affairs encouraged.
Hungarian tourist authorities are circulating a website with a short cartoon film aimed at promoting Lake Balaton to the younger generation. A traditional summer playground right through communist times, it has an old-fashioned image and visitors are dropping off. So how to attract them? Well, somebody thought it'd be a great idea to show a married guy picking up a pretty young blonde thing over his holiday weekend.
Needless to say, there's been a spot of criticism, but no evidence yet that unfaithful partners are flocking to the lake. It sounds like Hungary's moving on from promoting stag nights, has saturated the dental travel market and now wants to begin a whole new branch of piece-on-the-side tourism.
We've already reported that Ryanair's new flights to Balaton will land you not far from the Hévíz thermal spa. Floating around in this slightly radioactive lake (it's healthy, they say) amongst the water lilies is just one of many ways to get into hot water in Hungary.
In Budapest, several famous thermal bath resorts are attracting visitors of all kinds, too. It's not just for those flabby, hairy old guys playing chess that were always in the tourist photos: now alcohol-laden stag and hen nights are also starting to get into some Hungarian hot water, literally. One travel group, for example, promotes the Thermal Bath and Detox and Relax day as part of their stag weekend activities, promising "a lovely bikini clad guide to serve up the poolside beers". Whether they're plunging into gorgeous Gellert or getting massaged at the Szechenyi, not everyone's sure that this is healthy fun. A rep of the Hungarian Tourist Office said this week:
There is nothing we can do against this type of tourism but we are not actively promoting it.
Whether or not you want to share your ancient Turkish bathtub with a drunken group of bachelors is up to you: just choose your hot water wisely.
Ryanair's flights between London Stansted and Balaton (actually an airport near the village of Sármellék, southwest of Hungary's Lake Balaton) are finally on line, and are currently advertised as "free" on Ryanair's site. They're actually about $125 after taxes, as few of the fares available are actually free, and you have to book by tomorrow for travel through October.
"Balaton" has the distinction of being the first destination Ryanair has chosen to fly to in Hungary. The lake itself is a popular local tourist destination; called the "Hungarian sea", there are a trove of lakeside towns along its shores, including Balatonfüred and Keszthely. Near Keszthely is the thermal spa of Hévíz, a private resort since 1795. After two hours flying on Ryanair, that detox will sound mighty nice, indeed.
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by amandak
