The regime change, the South Slavic civil war, global recession and their political, economic and social consequences had a significant impact on the tourism market of Southeast Europe and the Balkan region. Many potential visitors to the region were affected by their negative associations with past events, even those that happened many years ago. The image of the Balkan region has become at times almost synonymous with conflict, turmoil and unrest. However, these perceptions may be changing and are therefore worthy of exploration. The article provides a tourism oriented analysis of the area's image as a tourism destination. In accordance with the literature, the perceptions are measured by using a customer-based approach. Internet-based social media encourages the sharing of recent tourism experiences which can confirm or change associations with destinations. This study provides a content analysis of comments from one of the most popular travel portals (TripAdvisor) including key elements of the Balkan region's image. The results of the research show theoretical implications like the importance of emotional image elements, the role of locals, or the complexity of tourism experience. From a practical point of view, the conclusions can induce long term thinking about the selected destination's branding, and motivation for further research, as well.

The present study attempts to identify factors that influence the readiness of Hungarian agricultural producers’ to effectively and efficiently cooperate with each other. Analyses based on the binomial logistic regression method have revealed a clear correlation between activities conducive to cooperation, the demographics of producers, farming conditions and the level of trust. Findings highlight that producers who live in smaller rural settlements as well as those who are younger and have a higher level of educational attainment show a higher level of activity associated with cooperation that can be statistically justified whereas farms managed by women are less inclined to cooperate. Calculations indicate that as the size of holdings increases, their readiness for cooperation increases too, while in terms of the type of farming, crop farmers are more open to cooperate effectively than livestock farmers. Finally, this model has revealed a significant positive correlation between producers’ readiness to cooperate and their level of trust.

In 1990, the countries of the V4 were the dominant sending countries to Bulgaria, which is why Bulgarians thought of targeting the sending market from these countries, not only with the product of mass tourism, but with a unique, four-season offer. In 1990, Hungary was Bulgaria’s third largest sending market; therefore, leisure trend studies are important as they can help to satisfy the needs of Hungarian tourists and attract them to the destination and increase their visitor satisfaction. The aim of our study is to examine the leisure time patterns and leisure preference system of Hungarian tourists, which is evident during their travels. This study examines the willingness of Hungarian tourists to travel to Bulgaria. According to the results of the secondary and primary research, the vast majority of Hungarian tourists travel to Bulgaria mainly for beach holidays, but, in addition to mass tourism, the country’s culture, history, ecotourism, health tourism, wine and gastronomy may represent further travel potential for Hungarian tourists. Having examined the attitudes of Hungarian tourists (n = 952), the study offers useful recommendations for Bulgarian tourism organizations and Bulgarian and Hungarian tour operators, as factor analysis is used to create groups belonging to factors that can be included as key target groups in publications promoting Bulgaria. Another aim of our study is to add new content to the traditional Bulgarian–Hungarian tourism relations.

The use of green and renewable energies undeniably plays an essential role in today’s society. Energy from these sources plays a key role in transforming the energy sector and significantly impacts the way of life and the quality of life of different social groups. The main aspects of this study are to briefly describe the situation of clean and renewable energy in Hungary and to investigate the extent to which the younger generation of different social groups is involved in using renewable energy sources in their everyday lives and their attitudes towards environmental awareness. In our research, we also investigate whether there is a strong statistical correlation between environmental awareness, environmentally damaging activities and the perceptions of different environmental problems among the target groups and, if so, how these affect the research topic. Our primary research can be considered representative, as we surveyed all primary and secondary school students in the Gyöngyös micro-region of the North-Hungarian region and also included the opinion of university students in the mentioned micro-region. The questionnaire was asked in person, and 2180 students completed it. The research was carried out in several phases, the first occurring between 2017 and 2019 and the second between 2020 and 2021. Three research questions were formulated, and the main findings show that the students’ main goal in the research was not to protect or support the environment but to prefer material well-being and related factors. On the results of statistical correlation analyses, overall, the examination by educational level (primary, secondary and higher) does not show significant differences between student groups, i.e., students with higher education do not have higher levels of environmental awareness and attitudes. Another important finding is that using renewable energy sources is considered too expensive for low-income families to take advantage of this kind of energy.

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