Gazdaság és Társadalom, 2014 (6. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2014 / 4. szám
What can Tourism Destination Management do in Health Tourism Destinations? - An Empirical Analysis 57 Table 4: Respondents by settlements Results Attractions - the role of natural endowments The respondents considered medicinal and thermal water the main natural attraction of their home town or village. The respondents also mentioned the pleasant natural environment, clear air, good climatic characteristics, and the rich flora of the region, but in much lower proportions. The attitude towards natural endowments was mainly positive, two-thirds of the responders said that the natural resource should be protected, and they were very proud of the resource, or stressed the aspect of sustainability in utilising the resource. Unfortunately one third of the respondents think that the resource is used without care, or even exploited excessively without appreciating its true value. All of the employees of the municipalities, and 90% of the employees of Tourinform bureaus an TDM organisations said that the natural endowments are protected, people are proud of them, and these are utilised sustainably. The tourism service providers and local inhabitants showed more scepticism about the question, only 58 % of the former and 48% of the latter group agreed to the above statements. Components of attractions Respondents assessed and ranked the tourism attractions and tourism resources of their locations. Medicinal water was found to be the most important and typical natural endowment in every researched settlement, and the popularity of the settlement was also highly valued. Among general tourism attractions and special health tourism characteristics the trait most highly ranked was hospitality, while the value-for-price for services was found to be the least satisfactory. The assessment was done on a l-to-5 scale, where 1 indicated the worst value and Job status Total Local inhabitants Tourism service providers Public sector Town, village Accommodation and food service Spa Other services Total Municipality Tourinform, TDMO Total 1:Hévíz 195 6 1 4 111 2 3 2:Kehidakustány 205 111 0 121 2 3 3-.Lenti 105 2 1 2 5 0 1 1 4:Zalakaros 205 111 0 121 2 3 5:Marcali 205 7 1 4 121 2 3 6: Siklós 100 6 0 2 8 1 1 2 Total 100 25 435 12 605 10 75