Jewish cultural route in Tokaj-Hegyalja (Hungary) – a sustainability approach, focused on Bodrogkeresztúr

Purpose In 2017, the Hungarian government declared Tokaj-Hegyalja, one of the most important areas of the country’s national heritage and a priority tourism development area (UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002). The topic of this research is how the developments of the last 15 years and the needs of the growing number of Hasidic Jewish religious tourists with special motivation are met, and what further opportunities for sustainable tourism product development lie ahead. Design/methodology/approach The primary research method used for answering these questions was observation and interview. Information was processed through descriptive analysis and peer review. The observed phenomena were categorised and aggregated. Findings The research found that the specific needs of the hospitality industry are not met in a very sustainable way because of long distances and concentration in time. The phenomenon of mass tourism in the village is only temporary. Measures taken in recent years have been aimed at mitigating the negative effects. Research limitations/implications Research limitations have been identified, including the communication barrier of visitors due to religious affiliations. Furthermore, it has been determined that officially recorded visitor traffic data is only a fraction of the actual data based on observation and estimation. Originality/value The results presented here explore the characteristics of Jewish religious tourism in a region that has been under-researched. The identification and recording of specific tourism needs, impacts and stakeholders has been undertaken in order to improve sustainability efforts and represents a novel field of research in Hungary.