Territorial Inequalities of Medicinal Waters, as Natural Healing Factors, in Hungary

Abstract

The geographical occurrence of natural medicinal factors and their use in medical tourism, show differences in different countries and nations. The hydrogeological situation of Hungary is unique in Europe, thanks to the outstanding quantity and quality of medicinal waters. This natural healing factor provides the basis of the country's medical tourism and plays a prominent role in the spa treatment of musculoskeletal issues for patients. Due to the increasing value of health and the tourist importance of medicinal waters, the development of spa towns with a view to the sustainability of natural healing factors is becoming more and more important, for which it is important to reduce territorial inequalities. Accordingly, our research aims to map the territorial inequalities of Hungarian medicinal waters using the polarization and distribution indicators of territorial research. From our results, we concluded that the territorial inequality and concentration of medicinal waters, are relatively low in Hungary, which indicates a small territorial inequality. Among the country's NUTS3 areas, the counties of the Northern and Southern Great Plains region, Zala, Vas, and Heves County and Budapest, are the most developed, in terms of medicinal waters. On the one hand, these results provide guidelines for spa town decision-makers regarding the need to equalize territorial inequalities in the area of natural healing waters. On the other hand, our results can assist with the planning of further development of settlements along with the development of spa treatments, based on the local medicinal water. In addition, our results also highlight the need for further research on the topic, to ensure the optimal and sustainable use of medicinal waters, as well as to meet the needs of the public and the various service providers.