Address by Bálint Czégel, Deputy Head of Mission of the Consulate General of Hungary in Chongqing at International Mountain Tourism Day 2021 World Heritage Mountain (Jinfo Mountain) Summit · International Seminar on Mountain and Hot Spring Wellness Tourism

EDITOR'S NOTE: On May 29 2021, the main activity of the third International Mountain Tourism Day—the World Heritage Famous Mountain (Jinfo Mountain) Summit kicked off in Nanchuan District, Chongqing Municipality, China successfully. Themed with “World Heritage Protection and Green Development of Mountain Tourism”, the Summit got strong support from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF), the Internationale Organisation Für Volkskunst (IOV) and the China Association of National Parks and Scenic Sites. As an important sub-event of this summit, the International Seminar on Mountain and Hot Spring Wellness Tourism was held with top experts and scholars at home and abroad. They gave keynote speeches and shared frontier observations focusing on mountain tourism, hot spring tourism, and health tourism to explore "the integrated development of hot spring wellness, climate wellness, forest wellness and mountain tourism". The speeches will be released in succession to share with industry colleagues.

Bálint Czégel, Deputy Head of Mission of the Consulate General of Hungary in Chongqing delivered an address at International Seminar on Mountain and Hot Spring Wellness Tourism:

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

Good afternoon!

First of all, I’d like to thank the sponsors for inviting me here, and I’m honored to attend the seminar.

There’s an ancient Chinese legendary story called “Dayu tamed the floods,” while the over 1,000-year Hungarian history is also deeply related to water. Dating back to ancient Rome, Hungarian people already had the culture of taking a bath in hot springs.

Hungary, as a country with a strong hot spring tourism industry, is honored as “a nation floating on the ocean of hot springs.” Over 90 percent of the Hungarian territory is covered by hot spring resources. And Hungary has Heviz—the largest natural thermal lake in Europe, Széchenyi Baths—the largest bath complex in Europe, and the world’s largest natural hot spring with karst cave so far. Over half of the country’s tourism revenue is from hot spring resorts. Besides the over 2,000 years of hot spring development history, Hungary enjoys a history of hot spring medical treatment for more than 180 years. In Hungary, every year, up to 15 million patients take a bath in hot springs to cure over 120 diseases and complications. Hungarians and citizens of other European countries can use medical insurance cards to enjoy hot spring treatment for only 10 to 40 percent of the price.

Hungary and Chongqing are both world’s capital of hot spring. In the past few years, we have successfully held two Hungary-China hot spring forums with Chongqing. At these forums, hot spring experts and enterprise representatives from both countries shared the latest upgrades, and discussed the tendencies, hot issues, and future opportunities of Hungary-China cooperation in the hot spring industry from perspectives like culture, market, and technology. We all wish we can continue to hold such events for the two countries to consolidate and further upgrade their cooperation.

Last, I wish this seminar a complete success. Thank you very much!