Tourist Accommodation Developments in the Trans-Danubian Region with the Help of EU Funding 3 March 2009
Upmarket accommodation venues will be created and the standard of currently operating accommodation facilities will be developed thanks to the series of decisions made during the past few days. The first series of assistance contracts was signed within the framework of the call for applications „Accommodation Development” of the Trans-Danubian Operational Programme of the New Hungary Development Plan, whilst accommodation venues will be constructed and renewed within the framework of the Central Trans-Danubian Operational Programme with the help of EU funding of over 2 billion HUF.
Services will also be developed in several hotels in the South Trans-Danubian Region with the help of EU funding of 1.8 billion HUF in value; environmentally friendly accommodation with handicap access will be created and a hotel suitable for accommodating conference tourism will also be developed.
Two investors signed an agreement in Pécs to supply a wider range of services for guests by 2010. Laterum Hotel will be implementing investments aimed at ensuring conditions and facilities required for conference tourism, whilst Matias Hotel will be transformed into a top class, family-friendly hotel with complex handicap access and equipped with preventive environmental protection technologies. The 4-star Dráva Hotel will be developed in Harkány: In Somogy County, the full range of services will be provided in Hotel Azúr in Siófok as an outcome of the series of current investments and an entirely new 4-star hotel, namely, the Wellamarin Wellness Hotel, offering complex services will be constructed in Zamárdi. A pension that has not been operating for several years in Balatonmáriafürdő will be renewed and transformed into a „dental hotel”. The Fried Castle Hotel in Simontornya envisages increasing its capacities primarily through the development of its wellness services, whilst the other signatory from Tolna County has assumed commitments for extending Hotel Európa in the Dombóvár-Gunaras region.
In accordance with the decisions made last year, the Agency is expected to conclude assistance contracts with an additional 22 applicants this year, as a result of which 800 new jobs, 1500 new room facilities and 160,000 square meters of commercial accommodation space will be created in the region's tourism industry.
Over the past few days, a decision was also made to develop tourism in the Central Trans-Danubian Region. Increasing the appeal of Lake Balaton is particularly important for the tourism of the region, which is why it is no mere coincidence that 7 of the applicants approved funding operate in Veszprém County. The investor implementing developments at Hotel Ipoly in Balatonfüred and Annagora Hotel is also one of the applicants approved funding; in addition, several hotels operating in the immediate proximity of Lake Balaton have also been granted EU funding. Moreover, 3 accommodation development projects to be implemented in Fejér County and 3 in Komárom-Esztergom County have also been allocated funding within the framework of the New Hungary Development Plan.
Some 400 rooms will be renewed in Veszprém County alone from this funding, which will also be used for establishing new accommodation venues. Beyond boosting tourism, these developments will have a significant impact on building industry investments, hence ensuring the opportunity for creating and retaining jobs.