Health, Wellness and Tourism: healthy tourists, healthy business ...

More than 400 interviews were made with the visitors in the 4 spas at the end of last year, in
November and December 2009. In choosing interviews with the managers, we focused on the
following two levels: the central management office of the spas as a head quarter and the
management level of the different spas, namely the Széchenyi Spa, the Gellért Spa, the
Lukács Spa and the Rudas Spa.
The description of the spas and tourism in Budapest are based on secondary data sources. For
the illustration of the life cycle we have used statistical data.
Spa heritage in Hungary and in Budapest
The Carpathian Basin, with Hungary at its centre, is one of the biggest sedimentary basins in
the world and has an extensive geothermal system. The main geothermal reservoir systems in
Hungary are the Mesozoic carbonate-karstic basement rocks and the Pliocene-Upper
Pannonian porous sedimentary formations. Their wells produce water that is mostly in the
low-to-medium temperature range (30-100 ºC) (Árpási, 2003, 371-377). According to
different assessments of its geothermal resources (Boldizsár, 1967; Bobok et al., 1988),
Hungary has the biggest underground thermal water reserves and low-to-medium enthalpy
geothermal potential in Europe.
Geothermal gradient in Hungary is 5ºC/100 m as average, which is about one and half times
as high as the worldwide average. The mean temperature is about 10ºC on the surface and
with the geothermal gradient the rock temperature is 60ºC at the depth of 1 km and 110ºC at
the depth of 2 km together with the water contained by them. The geothermal gradient is
higher than the countrywide average in the southern part of the Transdanubian region and in
the Lowland, while it is lower in the Kisalföld region and in the hilly areas of the country.
In Hungary the wells and springs of higher than 30ºC wellhead water temperature are
considered as geothermal springs, thermal water. Waters of such temperature can be explored
on the 70 % of the area of the country from the known geological formations.
Since ancient times, springs have been surrounded by a respect, usually attributed to holy
sites. Water, as a revitalising element, has been revered since antiquity. Though medical
science has endeavoured to discover empirical sources of diseases and methods of healing, an
uninterrupted interest in natural healing effects of water remanded. Through prehistoric times,
healing practices were passed along from generation to generation.
Hungary’s spa culture has a long history in Budapest, where people have been bathing in the
thermal baths for nearly 2000 years. Excavated remains of bath houses in Budapest show that
the Romans used the thermal springs. The next stage of development of our baths was brought
along by the Turkish occupation. Community buildings were built on the healing waters,
bearing a particular style, and incorporating a culture of individual bathing. The third period
in the history of Budapest bathing culture occurred during the Age of Enlightenment. As early
as in the first half of the 1700s, one can find early studies about the usefulness of the Buda hot
spring. In 1772, a decree was issued by Maria Theresia, Queen of Hungary and Empress of
Austria to have all mineral water analysed and recorded in a list at the expense of the
Treasury. In the early 1930s, Budapest, as the capital possessing the most healing thermal
water springs in the world, was awarded the title “Spa City”.
Among the best known Budapest baths are the Gellért Baths, the Széchenyi Bath, the Lukács
Bath and the Rudas Bath where our research was made. In the following the short description