Introduction
Apart from obvious and visible effects on the economy and the physical environment, tourism can contribute to social and cultural changes in host societies, including changes in value systems, traditional lifestyles, family relationships, individual behaviour or community structure. In Hungary, most studies on the impacts of tourism have so far been restricted to economic analysis, and the subject of socio-cultural impacts of tourism has been under-researched.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the social and cultural impacts and consequences of tourism in the case of Lake Balaton, in the Keszthely-Heviz region. Tourism's social and cultural impacts are often difficult to measure, as, to a large extent, they are indirect. Consequently, the study is one of residents' perceptions of the effects of tourism upon their region rather than an attempt to measure the actual effects. To date, as reported in both the tourism research literature and the social impact assessment literature, the lack of accepted methodology prevents exact measurement.

The socio-cultural impacts of tourism
"Tourism is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs" (Mathieson & Wall, 1982, p.1). During their stay in the destination, tourists interact with local residents and the outcome of their relationship is changes in the host individuals' and host community's quality of life, value systems, labour division, family relationships, attitudes, behavioural patterns, ceremonies and creative expressions (Fox, 1977; Cohen, 1984; Pizam & Milman, 1984). The larger the cultural and economic difference between tourists and local residents, the more obvious and more significant these changes are (Mathieson & Wall, 1982).

Changes in the host community's quality of life are influenced by two major factors: the tourist-host relationship and the development of the industry itself.

Tourist-host encounters occur in three main contexts:

• where the tourist is buying some good or service from the host, 
• where they are in the same place at the same time, and 
• when they meet and share ideas and information (de Kadt, 1979) 

The tourist-host relationship is characterised by four major features: it is transitory, unequal and unbalanced, lacks spontaneity and is limited by spatial and temporal constraints (UNESCO, 1976). The tourist usually stays in the destination for a short time, so there is no opportunity to develop the superficial relationship into a more meaningful one (Sutton, 1967). The traditional spontaneous hospitality turns into commercial activity (de Kadt, 1979; Greenwood, 1989; Jafari, 1989). Tourists are on holiday, served by locals, which results in different attitudes and behaviour (Sutton, 1967). The obvious relative wealth of the tourists often leads to exploitative behaviour on the hosts' side (Nettekoven, 1976, 1979).

The main impacts affected by the tourist-host relationship are the demonstration effect, when the hosts' behaviour is modified in order to imitate tourists (Boissevain, 1979; Wilson, 1979; Duffield & Long, 1981; McElroy & Albuquerque, 1986; Crandall, 1987; Greenwood, 1989; D.G. Pearce, 1989; Tsartas, 1992); the change in language usage in the destination (White, 1974; Nettekoven, 1976; Brougham & Butler, 1977; Jeffs & Travis, 1989; Nunez, 1989; Wallace, 1997); the growth of alcoholism, crime, prostitution and gambling (Young, 1973; Graburn, 1983a; Gay, 1985; Pi-Sunyer, 1989; O'Grady, 1990) and the transformation (revitalisation or commoditisation) of the material and non-material forms of local culture (Graburn, 1976, 1984; UNESCO, 1976; Andronicou, 1979; Mathieson & Wall, 1982; Greenwood, 1989; Mason, 1990; Mill, 1990; O'Grady, 1990; Evans, 1994)

Besides the physical presence of tourists and their encounters with local residents, the development of the tourism industry also contributes to changes in the quality of life, social structure and social organisation of local residents. Rapid and intensive tourism development results in different and usually less favourable impacts than organic and small-scale development (de Kadt, 1979; Getz, 1983; Krippendorf, 1987; D.G. Pearce, 1989; Peck & Lepie, 1989).

The development of the tourism industry is often credited for generating new employment in the destination (UNESCO, 1976; Crandall, 1987; D.G. Pearce, 1989). However, much of this employment is seasonal, unskilled and low-paid (Vaughan & Long, 1982; Papadopoulos & Mirza, 1985; Allcock, 1986), and the community's traditional work patterns might be seriously affected, resulting in the abandonment of agricultural occupations (de Kadt, 1979; Urbanowicz, 1989; Verbole, 1995; Crick, 1996).

Other significant impacts of tourism development are changes in the size and the demographic characteristics of the host population (de Kadt, 1979; Duffield & Long, 1981; Getz, 1986; Crandall, 1987; Jeffs & Travis, 1989); alteration of community structure (Duffield & Long, 1981; Haukeland, 1984); increased mobility of women and young adults (Greenwood, 1972; Stott, 1978; Boissevain & Serracino-Inglott, 1979; de Kadt, 1979; Duffield & Long, 1981; Pi-Sunyer, 1989; Mason, 1990; Kousis, 1996); infrastructural development in the destination, increased supply of services, and, consequently, improved quality of life for local residents (Belisle & Hoy, 1980; Garland, 1984; Tyrrell & Spaulding, 1984; Crandall, 1987; Liu - Sheldon - Var, 1987; Milman & Pizam, 11988; Mason, 1990; Perdue - Long - Allen, 1990; Snepenger & Johnson, 1991; Coccossis, 1996).

The social and cultural characteristics of the host community are, of course, also continuously influenced by the political, economic, technological, social, cultural and natural aspects of their wider environment. The problem of separating tourism's impacts from these influences is unsolved yet (D.G. Pearce, 1989; Crandall, 1987; Crick, 1996), so this research only deals with impacts perceived by residents as the impacts of tourism development.

The main objective of socio-cultural impact analysis is to provide developers, local authorities and all other parties concerned with information on the host communities' perceptions of and attitudes to tourism development in their destination, so that perceived positive impacts could be reinforced and perceived negative impacts could be minimised.

Study area
Lake Balaton, the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe is located in the Western part of Hungary. The area is the second most important tourist destination of the country (following Budapest). Tourism is the largest industry at Lake Balaton. In 1994, close to 2.5 million tourists visited the lake. These visitors purchased goods and services worth 60-80 million Ft (estimates vary due to the presence of grey economy). The Keszthely-Héviz region is located in the Western part of Lake Balaton, consisting of the following five settlements: Keszthely, Héviz, Gyenesdiás, Vonyarcvashegy and Cserszegtomaj. The total number of inhabitants of the region is approximately 32,300, the number of domestic and international tourists - according to the official statistics - was approximately 154,900 in 1994.

Concerning the importance and potential effects of tourism, all the five settlements of the region are different. Keszthely is a historical university town being less dependent on tourism (the tourist-resident ratio of the town is 2.54 as opposed to 17.9 in Héviz), Héviz is a spa-resort with little seasonal fluctuation in tourist numbers, Gyenesdiás and Vonyarcvashegy are typical lakeside resorts where most of the of residents depend on tourism - and the 6-week-long tourist season in Julyy-August - as their major income source, and Cserszegtomaj is a hillside village with a slowly developing tourism industry.

Tourism in the area has a seasonal mass tourism nature. Though the annual number of arrivals is not high due to the very short tourist season, the destination is overcrowded during July-August. The characteristics of tourist inflow meet the criteria of mass tourism defined by Smith (1989). The average length of stay in the area is relatively short (7-8 days), the average expenditure is low (approx. 30 USD/day) (Lengyel, 1995).

Methodology
The basis of this study was a survey of residents in the five settlements of the Keszthely-Héviz region. In order to gather information on residents' perceptions, structured and unstructured personal interviews, both with the inhabitants and the local representatives of the tourist industry, were carried out in the region over a 6-week period in summer 1995. The questionnaire in the survey was conducted partly by the authors and partly by a student of the Budapest University of Economic Sciences. The unstructured personal interviews with tourist experts and with the representatives of the industry were conducted by the author.

Sample size was set at 220 for the region. This sample size, though relatively small by social science standards, represents a pragmatic compromise between level of precision and cost of data collection. In setting sample sizes for each settlement, both the number of inhabitants and the number of tourists were taken into consideration. The demographic profile of the sample represents the population of the region as reported by local authorities of the settlements. The majority of the respondents (about 77%) have lived in the Keszthely-Héviz region over ten years.