TOURage Good Practice for Senior tourism
CULTURE AND HISTORY
Good Practice
1 Title of the practice
Route of medieval churches
Religion and heritage touristic thematic route in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County
2 Location (country, region/municipality)
Hungary, North-Great Plain Region, Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg County
3 Contact information
www.temple-tour.eu
David Bartók Project Manager
bartok.david@szszbmfu.hu
4 Other interesting information (website, documents with www link: reports, presentations,
events etc.)
www.temple-tour.eu
5 Details of the practice
5.1 Origin (organization etc.)
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Regional Development and Environmental Management
Nonprofit LTD. (Hu)
5.2 Timescale (implementation period, continuous + starting time)
I. part: 2009. December 1. – 2011. May 31.
II. part: 2012. March 1. – 2013. February 28.
III. part: 2013. January 01. - 2014. December 31.
5.3 Financing (budget, sources)
I. part: 89 137 EUR, Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013
II part: 143 488 EUR, Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine Cross-Border Co-operation Program
2007-2013
III. part: 1 489 588 EUR, Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013
5.4 Legal Framework (if applicable)
Not relevant
5.5 Bodies involved in implementation, partners
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Regional Development and Environmental Management
Nonprofit LTD. (Hu)
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Government (Hu)
Satu Mare County Council (Ro)
Kárpátaljai County Council (Ua)
Tiszántúli Reformed Church Hu)
Királyhágó Melléki Church (Ro)
Parishes (Hu, Ro, Ua)
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TOURage Good Practice for Senior tourism
CULTURE AND HISTORY
5.6 Target groups, beneficiaries
According to motivation:
Believers who searching for spiritual experiences, pilgrims,
Lovers of cultural tourism
According to age:
Highlighted target group: senior group
Active age group
Aim is to win the young age group by integrating the innovative solution (nowadays: peripheral
target group)
Beneficiaries
Churches
6 Precise theme/issues tackled by the practice (problems/challenges/why this project?)
 Churches, are located in the area, include cultural and monument values, but this value not
equal with touristic one.
 Churches, in the two counties, hasn’t got the appropriate self-promotion, that would have
positive impact for the visiting indicator.
 visitor informing indicator is very low.
 To exploit the touristic capabilities in the religious heritage, local attractions should be linked,
because They are not competitive attractions on their own.
 The peripheral position hold back the motivations of tourists to travel.
 sleeping nights rate are low.
 development of religion tourism/ heritage tourism are non-dinamic, competence groups are
fragmented and unclear.
 technical level of local medieval heritage are not appropriate
 Lack of activeness: When tourist needs are rising, attractiveness of the attraction should rise
too, opportunity of being experienced should be maximized.
 tools of promotion should be developed and broadened
 low marketing-activity
 target group is narrow, attractions specified by layer tourism
 needs of tourists are largely increased: average touristic tendency: tourists needs are raised in
the last ten years not just in accommodations, catering, infrastructure, but attractions as well
7 Objectives of the practice
Responding these mentioned problems has born the project called „Medieval churches path“
thematic route in 2009, that got awarded in 2010. This project has more part nowadays since
then, which has the following parts:
I. part: Creating medieval churches route with 30 churches participation
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Source of the project: Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013
Period of project implementation: 2009 December – 2011. May
Type of project: Soft
Lead Partner: Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Government
Project Partner: Satu Mare County Council
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TOURage Good Practice for Senior tourism
CULTURE AND HISTORY
 Making the professional co-ordination tasks: County Regional Development and Environmental
Management Agency
 Essential aim:
 developing tourism by high-rated monument and church heritage.
 creating joint thematic touristic route by jointly linking high-rated churches,
promoting jointly, insuring information (creating international thematic route. Linking
and familiarizing the related churches of the heritage of The Historical Hungary; making
history of art and historical researches.
 creating promotional tools
II. part: creating touristic path related to common religion and cultural heritage
 Supporting programme: Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine ENPI CBC Programme 2007-2013
 Lead Partner: Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Regional Development and Environmental
Management Nonprofit Ltd.
 Project Partner: Kárpátaljai County Council
 Type of project: Soft
 Essential aim:
 extending the path in fields of Kárpátalja and Szabolcs Szatmár-Bereg county, coating
30 extra churches along the analogy of first part
 Period of project implementation: 2012. March – 2013. February
III.
part: Development of tourist attraction of Medieval Churches
 Partners:Tiszántúli Reformed Church (Lead Partner) , Királyhágó melléki Reformed Church
(Cross-Border Partner), Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Regional Development and
Environmental Management Nonprofit Ltd.
 Name of the developing source: Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Co-operation Programme
2007-2013
 Type of Project: Infrastructural
 Status: under confiscation
 Planned implementation period: 2013. January 01. - 2014. December 31.
 Essential aim:
Comprehensive aims:
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creating competitive attraction: developing the tools that help to give information for
tourists, broadening interpretation channels.
To satisfy tourists needs: reacting for the rising needs, developing visitor-friendly tools by
creating innovative tools.
boosting walking and cycling tourism along the path: linking new target groups by
creating walking and cycling tourism. Boosting this kind of tourism is a strategic aim in the
project in the spirit of religion and heritage tourism. Information tables, notation and
routes will be created along the path.
broadening segmentation of visitors
increasing popularization of church path by effective marketing activity
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TOURage Good Practice for Senior tourism
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CULTURE AND HISTORY
increasing number of visitors
Priorities, measures
Interventions are needed to meet strategy aims. Three partners achieve the measures.
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Fixing monuments: Prerequisite of insuring attracting function is the fixing work. 10
churches are affected by fixing work in present project.
Installing touristic functions
Repairing criterion of visiting management: Prerequisite of repairing of satisfaction of
visitors is to know to explore what tourist’s needs exactly. Fixing competitiveness of joint
thematic product, making condition system for visitor management, which means
professional database present case.
Developing, creating promotion tools, creating conditions of total communication
Rising marketing activity
8 Connection to developing ageing tourism
These development’s emphasized target groups are senior tourists, because this group age has
the highest believers, active religious practitioners. Product development should be based on
their susceptibility. Satisfying and knowing needs of senior tourists are emphasized mission.
Spirituality should be insured during development period of thematic path.
9 Evaluation (demonstrated results: indicators, success factors, difficulties, lessons learned)
Medieval churches, as visitor-friendly attractions: lot of attraction in religious tourism is not
visitor-friendly, because their first function is not to be a touristic attraction. Demonstrative
investment has completed in Vaja city’s Reformed Church between 2010-2012. This church is part
of the medieval path. This model includes an innovative view, trying to highlight its history of art
and religion, take it o the tourist’s attention. Developing the exhibition will not disturb the life of
assembly. More type has been nominated to be interpretation surface, tools: traditional
exhibition, audiovisual tools, interactive tools. The exhibition is placed in six floors of steeple.
Installing touristic functions are possible with these methods. This model will be adopted in the
third part of the project, in lot of point of the medieval churches path. New type of product could
be developed with this method which called „Temple Museum”, which has visitor-friendly nature.
Developing tourism of periphery based on build heritage of church: peripheral areas are in
unfavourable position due to their geographical disposition. It can join in my many countries with
an unfavourable economic ambience. Periphery means a negative status as well. Due to the
economic background developing of natural and build heritage has stuck. Less capital has
accumulated in this area, that’s why assemblies could not built big churches, so medieval status
has stuck. In our view, religion heritage can help to fix this status, but It needs special measures.
Building religion touristic tools which connected to Protestantism: religion tourism can be related
to catholic assemblies, pilgrimages are characterized by catholic religion. Protestant assemblies
don’t have liturgical elements, which has motivating effect. Different funds needed in protestant
fields, medieval churches path gives new opportunity.
Creating international routes, based on church heritages: Those fields, which have common
history, have high rate of area. In case of Hungary, Trianon demarcation created peripheral area
like this. Medieval churches path is placed in cross-border countries with common historical
background. Practically, It presents common past by religion heritage.
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TOURage Good Practice for Senior tourism
CULTURE AND HISTORY
Indicators:
Number of churches participating in the route: 60
Number of churches, affected by visitor-friendly development: 18
Rate of increment of Visitor satisfaction: 75%
Number of involved organizations: 50
Number of affected countries: 3
Number of promotional tools: 8
10 Transferability of the practices (to other country, region, municipality: is it transferable?
already transferred? possible constrains and possible success factors to be taken into account?)
Criterion of transferability, success factors:
Valuable religious monuments
The concentration of monuments
Consent of Assemblies to development
Active involvement and engagement of Parishes
Involving services
International co-operation
Powerful marketing activity
Visitor Management which organize the whole route
Common image
Insuring spiritual experience
Fields of transfer till now:
Romanian Satu Mare County
Ukrainian Kárpátalja County
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