Environmental awareness influences the perception of ecosystem services values at Lake Balaton, Hungary

Knowing people’s perceptions on the importance and value of ecosystem services (ES) is an important step towards sustainable management and recognised as essential for successful conservation. We assessed societal preferences, i.e. value perceptions for ecosystem services (ES), recreational activities, shore types and acceptance of shore modifications for Lake Balaton along with socio-demographic factors and environmental awareness. We surveyed 1500 respondents (tourists, vacation homeowners and lake shore residents) online and in person. Survey results show that the greatest importance was assigned to regulating and cultural ES, in line with the prevailing use as a place of recreation. Greatest differences were between residents and tourists, with environmental awareness as the strongest explanatory factor. The most frequent activities were close-to-nature (e.g. swimming, walking), but high-profile activities like sailing, yachting were less common, just as well as angling. This pattern aligned well with the preference for more natural shore types (24% of respondents preferred ‘close to natural’ type). More pressure in terms of development of tourism infrastructure, specifically of hotels and marinas, were disliked by 58% and 61% of the respondents, respectively. Preferences were most strongly influenced by participants' environmental awareness. We identified trade-offs between cultural ES as different recreational uses, linked to shore types with differing built and natural features. Some of these trade-offs can be solved with targeted spatial planning, but mass recreation might nevertheless impact conservation. We discuss the results of this survey in relation to present trends in investments to tourism at the Lake.