Geological Heritage, Geotourism and Local Development in Aggtelek National Park (NE Hungary)

Abstract

We examine how geoconservation and geotourism can help the local development of an economically underdeveloped karst area. First, we briefly present the geoheritage of Aggtelek National Park, which largely overlaps the area of the Aggtelek Karst. The area is built up predominantly of Triassic limestones and dolomites. It is a typical temperate zone, medium mountain karst area with doline-dotted karst plateaus and tectonic-fluvial valleys. Besides caves, the past history of iron mining also enriches its geoheritage. Aggtelek National Park was set aside in 1985. The caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst became part of the UNESCO World Heritage in 1995 due to the high diversity of cave types and morphology. Socially, the area of the national park is a disadvantaged border region in NE Hungary. Baradla Cave has always been a popular tourist destination, but visitor numbers fell significantly after 1985. Tourism is largely focused on Baradla Cave, and thus it can be considered "sensu lato" geotourism. Reasons for the changes in visitor numbers are discussed in this paper. Tourist motivations, the significance of geotourism and other tourism-related issues were explored in our study by questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews. Furthermore, the balance of geoconservation versus bioconservation is also examined. Finally, the relationship of geotourism, nature protection and local development is discussed. We conclude that the socioeconomic situation of the Aggtelek Karst microregion is relatively better than that of the neighbouring regions, and this relative welfare is due to the existence of the national park and Baradla Cave.

Inland-coastal demographic transformations in a karst area: a case study of the surroundings of Krka National Park (Croatia)

“…Moreover, demographic statistics alone are not enough to examine the complex social impact of karst national parks, but the recognition of stakeholders' opinions should also be explored in finer detail. Surveys with questionnaires and interviews have been conducted in relation to karst national parks in Hungary at Aggtelek National Park (Telbisz et al 2020b), in Slovakia at Slovak Karst National Park (Nestorová-Dická et al 2020), in Croatia at Paklenica National Park (Krpina 2015), Mljet National Park (Šulc and Valjak 2012), in Serbia at Tara National Park (Telbisz et al 2021), in Vietnam at Ba Be National Park (Huong and Lee 2017), and many other national parks.…”

Characterization of karstic aquifer complexity using fractal dimensions

“…The diverse geology of the Aggtelek Karst inspired numerous studies, and as a result, it became Hungary's best-explored karst area (see, e.g., Láng (1955), Jakucs (1977), Hevesi (1991), Telbisz et al (2020), and references therein). The main mass of the mountain is built up from Triassic carbonate rocks, which were deposited on the carbonate platforms of the Neotethys Ocean (see Fig.…”

An Enhanced Approach to the Spatial and Statistical Analysis of Factors Influencing Spring Distribution on a Transboundary Karst Aquifer

“…It is an unconfined karst area with extensive karstic landforms, such as caves (more than 700, up to 25 km length), dolines, canyon-and gorge-like valleys, sinkholes and karst springs [42,43]. The area can be characterized by mosaic-like topography: the doline-dotted karst plateaus are divided by tectonic-fluvial valleys [44], the elevation ranges between and 150 and 900 m a.s.l. Due to its complex natural heritage, the region is under the protection of the Aggtelek National Park (Hungary) and the Slovak Karst National Park (Slovakia).…”