Activities at Lake Balaton during the Carnival Period

Dozens of programs – including festivals, balls, costume parades, cycling tours and car rallies – await visitors to Lake Balaton during the carnival period, the Balaton Tourism Association told MTI on Saturday.

In their statement, they wrote that this year, at least thirty to forty carnival events and winter carnival balls will lure visitors to the ‘Hungarian sea’, from the car race to the costume bike tour, numerous programs await tourists.

They pointed out that a lively program of activities in the coming weeks will help create jobs in the region, where tourists spent almost a fifth of all nights spent in Hungary last year.

The events organized during the carnival period will contribute significantly to the winter turnover of restaurants, apartments and hotels, Tamás Fekete, vice-president of the Balaton Tourism Association, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The expert pointed out that better use of the winter period can reduce seasonal fluctuations, making the local economy more stable and creating a year-round buzz in the region, thus creating more permanent jobs.

Among the most important events of the carnival period, the communication highlights one of the biggest winter culinary events on the south coast, the Fonyód sausage festival, which has already started and will end on Sunday, the pig roast festival on February 15, the Rianás (Hungarian word for the sound of cracking ice) at Révfülöp and the Keszthely carnival on February 22.

Vehicle lovers can also take part in the Balaton Bringa (a Hungarian word for bike) Carnival on February 22, with a parade of costumed cyclists in Balatonfüred, and a car carnival with "dressed-up" vehicles in Balatonlelle.