The discrediting in part of the media is taking on such proportions that it is causing serious economic damage to businesses around the lake, and thus to the national economy as well.
Left-wing politics and the press, which maintains good relations with them, are working hand in hand in an image-damaging campaign against Lake Balaton. It is no coincidence that the president of the Balatoni Kör has already mentioned taking legal action due to the raining negative allegations. In the compilation of Magyar Nemzet, it shows how the left-wing politicians lash out against our great lake with more and more incompetent texts. While this year's data are going really well.
Bence Laposa, the president of the Balatoni Kör, drew attention in the Inforádió Aréna program the other day that some people are running an unworthy denigration campaign against Lake Balaton, the victims of which are primarily the workers and entrepreneurs there, but most of all the guests who come there.
Legends are spreading that Croatia is cheaper, although anyone who is aware of the most basic mathematical operations and goes anywhere in Croatia, multiplying the prices by the current exchange rate, realizes that this is simply not true, said Laposa.
He added: the discrediting campaign taking place in a part of the media is taking on such proportions that it is causing serious economic damage to businesses around the lake, and thus to the national economy. The president called this intolerable, and according to his words, legal action should be taken.
Laposa did not go into a long list of who and how they have been fighting against Balaton lately - but it is worth looking at some unusual statements. Of course, from the actors of the left!
The Christmas party, for example, not only horrified us with the allegedly astronomical prices in a Facebook post published a few weeks ago, but also with the fact that actors close to the government are building the lake to such an extent that people will not even be able to physically approach it. – If someone is not a luxury tourist, they will soon not even have access to Lake Balaton! - can be read in Párbeszéd's post.
Ferenc Gelencsér, the president and faction leader of Momentum, presented all of this in such a way that, according to him, the number of people wanting to rest has dropped significantly.
He believed that the reason for this was "inflation that the government could not control, which eats up the savings of families". From all this, he concluded that "Balaton is considered luxury".
Klára Dobrev, the shadow prime minister of the Democratic Coalition and a member of the European Parliament, put it even more radically: "The Orbán inflation has already taken away the Balaton summer from the Hungarians. There are half as many guests as last year". In addition, the shadow government of the Gyurcsány party even created a "Balaton rescue package", which would simultaneously stop the disappearance of reeds and green areas and ensure that every settlement in Balaton has a free beach.
The socialist party also tried to draw attention to itself in the Parliament by promoting Balaton tourism. "Due to the failed economic policy of the Orbán government, fewer and fewer people can afford to go on holiday and relax. It is no exaggeration to say that the prices near Lake Balaton already rival those of the French Riviera, since the news has been saying for years that domestic holidays are getting more and more expensive, and that for more and more families, a holiday in Balaton remains just a dream." - can be read in the lengthy pamphlet, which did not leave out the outburst due to the perceived high price.
The French parallel was so pleasing that the party director of the Socialists, Zsolt Molnár, in a parliamentary speech, also compared the prices of refreshments along our largest lake with those of the Riviera, and demanded a price cap for beach access, even though the MSZP initially opposed the government's similar measure in the case of basic foodstuffs.
Molnár even called on the mayors of the settlements near Lake Balaton to use the building tax revenues of the municipalities they lead to operate the beaches and to dismantle the toll gates. He was apparently not concerned that making the beaches free of charge would mean a huge loss of income for the local governments. In addition, a dozen free beaches are available for those who cannot afford to pay the entrance fee.
Jobbik was also not left out of the negative campaign against Balaton. In one of their Facebook posts, they also called enjoying the possibilities offered by the lake a luxury, but they also claimed that nearly 70 percent of Hungarian families cannot afford to go on vacation.
Meanwhile, based on the available data, this season is going quite well at Lake Balaton. For example, the website of the Hungarian Tourism Agency, Yzüutazunk.hu, reported a few weeks ago that 5 percent more domestic and 3 percent more foreign guests arrived in June compared to the base year of 2019.
As it was written, compared to 2022, the number of foreign guests this June was 19 percent higher, and the number of guest nights was 8 percent higher.
