Lőrincz, K. (2008). The issues of regional tourism management. Modern Geográfia, 3(1), 14–26.
In the period of 2007–2013 the Central Transdanubian Region has the sum of 35.63 billion HUF to spend on tourism development2 , which is just one of the priorities of development and the amount of private investment is also expected to rise. To ensure that the proposed developments serve the interests of the local communities and economies as much as possible, it is in the best interest of every settlement and micro region to undertake a situational analysis that depicts the current reality and to incorporate that into the development strategies. It is also of great importance that innovative and future-oriented (long-term) projects are supported. The priorities of tourism development in the Central Transdanubian Region concentrate on three major areas (so-called constructions 3 ): 1. Attraction and product development and integrated development of the infrastructure; 2. Qualitatitive development of accommodation and other tourism services; 3. Development of regional and local tourism partnerships, information systems and marketing. The aim to establish regional and local tourism partnerships (Tourism Destination Management organisations) is a newly emerging topic compared to the ‘traditional’ development objectives. According to the predictions, 18 TDM organisations will be set up, with the region spending 518 million HUF on supporting their establishment. This study is going to discuss the issues of tourism management at the regional level, with special attention to how tourism can be managed within the regional framework. The study is also going to review the tourism management at regional level from the point of view of competitiveness. The conclusions section will offer suggestions as to how the system would operate in practice.