Travelling educates - a saying that is true for tourists as well as for the host communities. The convergence in a destination opens up mutual insights into different ways of living and corresponding modes of behaviour, culture and tradition. To a certain degree this confrontation demands respect for the attitudes of "the other" from both sides. The experience for tourists to be foreign in a country and the necessity to adapt to the given conditions in the destination as well as the obligation of the hosts to also tune in to the needs of the tourists may advance a process of approximation, understanding and peace - in the destination as well as outside of it.
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The Gömör-Torna Festival, taking place at the border of Hungary and Slovakia, represents an outstanding example of not only a convergence of tourists and hosts but also of two neighbouring nationalities. This festival offers the unique possibility of getting to know the different traditions and customs within a trans-boundary area and thus allows for the rapprochement of all participants of the festival and for international understanding. The festival is an example of mutual and shared interest, compromises, respect and responsibility. Moreover, it gives a lot of space for spontaneous networking, which reinforces internal and external communication between the nationalities and between hosts and tourists.
Environmentally the Gömör-Torna karst region is a highly valuable and sensitive area on the territory of two national parks (NP) that cross a national border — Aggtelek NP in Hungary and Slovensky Kras NP in Slovakia.
The Aggtelek National Park (ANP) is mainly known for its famous caves, but it also features a high diversity of habitats and species. Apart from this, the nice small villages have preserved some great examples of rural and church architecture, which are of special interest to tourists. It is mainly the ANP that provides tourism services and operates objects (caves, accommodations), though some minor private tourism businesses exist.
After the changes of 1989, the unemployment rate in the region grew to over 20% and there is a tendency to diminish cultural heritage and traditional rural life. Sustainable tourism can help to stop this process and give back meaning to conservation of the local heritage to the villagers. In this socio-economic environment and in the context of nature conservation, ecological tourism is a subject of common understanding between the NP and other local stakeholders.
The first festival took place in 2001 with the participation of several organisations in the villages of Aggtelek and Jósvafő, including the ANP. These two villages already had a few years of experience in organising their village days — one to three days of culture, folk and sport events. On the initiative of the ANP these events have been extended to a 10-days festival.
In 2003, following a simple application procedure, four additional villages joined one-day events. In 2006 a GEF project made it feasible to expand this initiative over the state border to Slovakia. With a similar application process as in 2003, the leading national monuments of the Slovakian border region — the Betlér Castle and the Krasznahorka Fort — became festival sites. In 2006 seven partners from Slovakia and 17 from Hungary were involved in organising the festival.
The festival was originally organised in Hungary within a rather challenging socio-cultural environment, where people are threatened by unemployment and disadvantaged living conditions. The organisation of the festival became more complex when the festival expanded over the border to Slovakia. The first expansion included only Hungarian-speaking settlements, because only they applied. Still, the festival intends to also invite native Slovaks, first as performers, and perhaps later as organising partners as well.
The particular strengths of the festival are manifold. First of all, the festival represents a major tourist attraction in the area, which aims, among other things, to prolong tourists’ stays in the region. More time, and therefore money, spent by visitors contributes to the enhancement of living conditions of the local population. Furthermore, the festival gives both tourists and locals an understanding of the value of local traditions and customs. Traditional architecture and skills are revitalised and a sense of regional identity is created. This fact is of particular importance regarding the better understanding between Slovaks and Hungarians, as the mutual exchange may significantly contribute to a conflict settlement between the two nationalities.
This consolidating character of the event is based on the insight of multiculturalism as one of the most eminent potentials of the region. Therefore it can be stated that one of the major purposes of the festival is to bring together the different minorities and nationalities in the area.
A network of contact people was selected which took over responsibilities for some parts and events of the festival. In this context of capacity building it was important to find key people in each of the sites and on both sides of the border. This mutual and trans-national sharing of responsibilities helps and will help to reinforce the event in the future as well.
For more information please contact:
Zsuzsa Tolnay, Head of Eco-tourism and Eco-education Department
Aggtelek National Park Directorate
E-mail: tolnayzs@mail.kvvm.hu
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Positive Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism:
