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Developing regional centre
Debrecen is the second biggest town in Hungary and, at the same time, the centre for the second biggest region in Hungary. The Northern Great Plain region embraces three counties (Hajdú-Bihar, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg) and has a population of 1.5 million. Debrecen is the economic, cultural and educational centre of the region which has an over the average higher educational and R&D potential in the country. In terms of tourism this is one of the most attractive parts in the whole country. Hundreds of thousands would visit its medicinal baths and recreational pools a year, moreover Hortobágy National Park - a World Heritage site - offers fascinating natural resources as well. The great number of festivals and cultural programs, including the probably most outstanding, the one-week Debrecen Flower Carnival, also generate significant tourist attraction. Debrecen and its surroundings represent a rapidly developing area in terms of economy and the inflow of foreign working capital is also noteworthy. An outstanding amount of foreign capital has been invested in the region in the past ten years (e.g. Michelin, Electrolux, Flextrionics, National Instruments, FAG, TEVA, Samsung Rt., T-Systems, British Telecom) and in many cases the settling companies perform a part of their R&D activities in the region. The number of enterprises is swelling at an over the national average rate, which effectively reflects the improvement of the town and the region. Debrecen is one of the determinative and quickly developing university centres not only in the region but also in Hungary. Education plays an outstanding role among the various economic sectors and R&D, which is in most of the cases in close connection with higher education, is also one of the strengths of this region, although the ratio in Debrecen and its vicinity of relevant expenditures is double the national average. The Northern Great Plain region offers a rich and varied land for tourism. The most typical branches of tourism are health tourism (medicinal and thermal tourism, wellness), ecotourism, active tourism, event tourism (culture, sports and gastronomy) and village tourism. The way the actors of village tourism as well as medicinal and thermal tourism collaborate in an association frame is highly outstanding. The perhaps biggest potential natural resources and concurrently highest tourist worth of the region is its medicinal and thermal waters. The region has 209 thermal wells, baths are established in almost fifty settlements and 28 thereof have medicinal water. Event tourism similarly has considerable traditions in the region. A high number of festivals is organized each year: they are mostly specialized in arts (e.g. folk dance festivals and theatre festivals) or traditions (equestrian days, goulash festival, shepherd festival, etc.). The Debrecen Flower Carnival, which has gradually expanded into a carnival week, has an international fame. |
