THE TISZA RIVER VALLEY TOURISM IN REGIONAL PLANNING DOCUMENTS OF SERBIA AND HUNGARY – COMMON TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ON THE EXTERNAL BORDER OF THE EU

ABSTRACT: One of the key development goals of the EU regional policy is the development of the less developed regions and the enhancement of the cooperation with symmetrical cross-border regions, including the possibility of cooperation at the EU’s external borders. Serbia belongs to this category, and the current cross-border cooperational contacts in the border regions with the EU member states are mainly successful. The purpose of this study is to present the development documents that address the topic of tourism in the Tisza Region, a cross-border region of Serbia and Hungary, at the level of national, regional and local development documents in Hungary and Serbia, as well as according to international projects that focus in the complementary tourism sectors and joint activities in the region. The main research results show that the analyzed strategic documents point to similar and competitive guidelines for the development of tourism in the neighbouring Tisza Regions of Hungary and Serbia in terms of their content. It has been found that the focus is on the individual tourist motives in the cross-border region, but also that there are development processes that are coordinately implemented owing to the regional and rural policy and the EU assistance, on the one hand, and the open borders that allow free communication throughout the entire region, on the other.


INTRODUCTION
The dynamics of international tourism is primarily influenced by the openness of borders and traffic flow, which is why the barrier effects of the border, such as regulations on movement of people and goods, directly affect tourism trends as well as the development and distribution of tourism infrastructure in the cross-border region. It is emphasized that border permeability is still being influenced by the political situation and socio-cultural cohesion, but cross-border partnerships can also be considered as a key factor (Prokkola, 2008).
Taking into account the impacts of tourist movements (Ivkov-Dzigurski et al, 2019), these activities can lead to an enhanced sense of social cohesion along the borders, which will result in the creation of new jobs and population retention in the regions where there is a substantial emigration of the young people.
More meaningful and comprehensive projects can be realized after better communication with others, when the limits which exist in people's minds are overcome by the tourism initiatives. This is possible to achieve even in the case of cross-border regions of the countries with conflicting relations (CESCI, 2016).
Sometimes these efforts are hindered by inconsistent planning regulations, labour law, environmental regulations, social and administrative attitudes and differences in natural resource management. Structural and organizational differences between government, regional and local authorities can also limit cross-border and international cooperation. It is hard to achieve common goals in cross-border regions if the institutions of each country have different points of view and management competencies (Prokkola, 2008).
In the last few decades, the communication within European internal cross-border regions, after the creation of a regional policy that promotes the importance of crossborder regions, has gradually become virtual, which is also the case with some external borders (e.g. Serbia). Owing to this, conditions for cooperation and openness towards tourism have been created. Circumstances that have negative effects on this are strict border controls and crowds which are particularly increased during the holiday season so there are delay sat border crossings from the directions of pre-accession or EU candidate countries.

RESEARCH AREA
The Tisza Valley in Serbia accounts for 7% (164 km) and the Hungarian part accounts for 14.5% of the Tisza River Basin (157,186 km2). In Serbia and Hungary, the river valley is located in the medium developed regions, except for two major urban agglomerations (Szeged, Szolnok) in Hungary. In Serbia, in terms of general development, two municipalities in the Tisza Valley are above the national average, and other municipalities are medium developed (VASARH, 2004). The transport infrastructure of the region is covered by a well-developed rail and road network in Hungary, whereas in Serbia only road transport is well-developed, but its quality is not at the satisfactory level. The den-sity of Tisza bridges in the region is 38km/bridge in Hungary, while in Serbia it is 25/km per bridge. The river valley can be described as an ecological corridor in both countries, connecting protected areas of various protection degrees under the IUCN, thus contributing to maintaining the connection between the Carpathian and the Balkan regions (DKMT, 2005). Inland waterway transport between the two countries has a symbolic size for the cargo and passenger traffic (Beocontrol logistic, 2019).
The current situation of tourism industry in the research area features various tourist attractions that have to be put together into a unique destination in order to become attractive and increase the number of visitors. In this cross-border region, there are strong cultural, balneological, nautical, and eco-tourism values (DKMT, 2005).
The tourism of the Tisza Region in Hungary is abundant, but with modest revenues (except for some specific destinations, such as Lake Tisza in the north, Tiszakécske). Some areas in the region, i.e. only a few municipalities, make full use of the economic potential of intensive tourism turnover. The reasons for the modest revenue share are mainly results of underdeveloped infrastructure, poor quality of service and unfavourable tourism structure (VASARH, 2004).
The share of tourism in the economy of AP Vojvodina, as well as in the Tisza Region is still at the low level, given the potentials for its development. The growth in tourist turnover is noticeable in the North Bačka and South Bačka districts, which is explained by the fact that tourist destinations such as Subotica -Upper Tisza and Lower Tisza are among the key tourist destinations of AP Vojvodina and Serbia (VMTUDEV, 2018). Nautical tourism, rural and cultural tourism and ethno-gastronomic ecotourism represent tourist products of great potential, but are not well-regulated or adequately promoted (Regionalni Prostorni Plan APV, 2011). The most important tourist destination, with the greatest number of arrivals and overnight stays are Bečej, Zrenjanin and Kanjiža. These destinations represent important receptive markets that have developed or could develop and improve the business and MICE tourism, spa tourism (Banja Kanjiža and Bečejska Banja), special interest tourism, rural tourism and cultural tourism (TICAD, 2010).

TOURISM ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENTS OF THE TISZA REGION IN HUNGARY
The last National Tourism Strategy of Hungary/2030, within the chapter about tourism development of the Tisza Region, focuses on elaborating concepts of the microregions development in the Hungarian Tisza Region, mainly along the Upper Tisza Region, Hortobágy and the Tisza accumulation lake. DAOP -South Great Plain Operational Program 2007/2013 has contributed greatly to the complex tourism development of the region. This document observes the possibility of tourism development on the Tisza within the various types of active tourism. In view of this, tourism characteristics of river flows, micro-regions of the Tisza River Basin and national parks are highlighted by services that support active tourism and support the development of key infrastructures. "The establishment and development of ports, the implementation of complemen-tary water sports in relation to the Szeged International Water Base, the promotion of equestrian tourism and the improvement of hiking conditions are on its priority list" (DAOP, 2007(DAOP, /2013.
The goal of the activity is the development of further complex tourism products, special-interest tourist routes and theme parks, the implementation of environmentally friendly tourism solutions, the definition and development of eco-trails along the Tisza and Cris (Körös) rivers, as well as in the Kiskunság and Cris-Maros National Parks (DAOP, 2007(DAOP, /2013. Based on the rich wildlife habitat and the Tisza River Fisheries, hunting and fishing tourism are promoted and services are aligned with the elements of the tourist offer The document focuses on these key elements of tourist attractions including significant cultural, aquatic and eco-tourism attractions of the Tisza, Cris and Maros rivers (tourism infrastructure, quality and quantity of services, structural development, development of professional tourism products and development of a guest-oriented approach).
The Strategy for Integrated Spatial and Rural Development and Environmental Management of the Hungarian Tisza Region -Vásárhelyi Plan emphasizes the development of river shipping and water tourism in the region in terms of tourism development. The tourism in the Hungarian Tisza Region is characterized by modest revenue. The basic tourism trend in this region has not changed since the beginning of the transition period, the economic potential of extremely high tourist traffic can properly be used by only a small part of the region and some of its settlements. The reasons for the modest share of revenue are mainly due to underdeveloped infrastructure, low quality of services and unfavourable tourism structure. In addition to its role in improving the quality of life, the existing housing potentials are the basis of rural tourism infrastructure (accommodation capacity). These domestic services can relatively easily become the entrepreneurial drivers in rural areas. Therefore, tourism development under this planning document can only be part of integrated development. The concept of the strategy document identifies the following development sectors: The creation of Tisza Strategy Document in 2010, the concept of integrated development of the Tisza Region in Hungary was promoted. This document seeks to summarize the entire range of planning and strategic documents up to date, including, for the first time, international projects such as TICAD1.
In order to apply more practical spatial development, the document encourages the development of a "credible Tisza Strategy focussing on new long-term pragmatic elements", which are expected to design complex programmes for improving the territorial integrity of the region. The aim of the study is "to explore the potential and the formation of a favourable spatial structure to determine the development strategy of the Tisza Region". The draft strategy is based on the "Grand Project on the Tisza River" as of the year 2000, which was prepared by the Centre for Regional Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, whose methodology intended to formulate an active modern regional development, as well as the programme "Nature Areas of High Value" and the aforementioned "Vásárhelyi Plan" (VASARH, 2004).
Regarding tourism, the strategy refers to the Tisza River Tourism Development Programme in 2005, which analyzes the potential of river tourism and the resources that can be used within the width of 5 to 10 kilometres of the river valley, located inland (infrastructure, overall network of tourism institutions and human resources). In the programme, river tourism is considered as one of the key development opportunities for the eastern part of the country, as well as the Vásárhelyi Plan, with nautical tourism (rowing, yachting, motor boat cruising, boat excursion and boat navigation, ecotourism, gastronomy, cycling tourism (TISZSTRATMEGA, 2010). The main priorities of this document related to tourism development are the following: • Use of local resources; • Avoiding exploitation of the natural and built environment; • Needs of domestic and foreign tourists alike; • Developing multi-leg tourism; • Developing tourism in a direction and scale along the Tisza that facilitates the enrichment of the area through incoming tourists, as well as recreational and entertainment opportunities for the local population.

SERBIAN STRATEGIES AND PLANNING DOCUMENTS
Regional development planning documents in Serbia outline "Tourist Region of Subotica and the Tisza Basin" in the Tisza Region, which includes the city of Subotica, Palić Lake and the upper part of the Tisza Basin in Vojvodina (Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia "Official Gazette of the RS" No.13 / 96). The plan outlines the main priorities regarding tourism development: • Organize and develop institution system that would comprise integrated regional tourism offer in the area; • Encourage the development of tourist areas in order to extend tourist season to the maximum; • Engage natural, cultural, historical and other resources with added value for tourism development.
Tourism Strategy of Serbia in 2016-2025 ("Official Gazette of the RS" No. 98 of December 8, 2016) also highlights the Subotica-Palić Lake area and the Tisza Region as areas for development, andin addition to these, the most important areas to take into account are the municipalities of BačkaTopola, Zobnatica Lake, Kanjiža, Bečej, Novi Bečej, Senta, Ada and Titel. Cultural themed routes, nautical tourism, city tours, ecotourism, ethno tourism, health tourism, spa and wellness tourism, as well as special events tourism dominate all destinations.
Regional spatial plan of AP Vojvodina focuses on the development of regional characteristics of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. It emphasizes the potential of reducing the current sub-regional economic and social disparities, territorial capital and its rational use by decentralization and polycentricism, strengthening the position of urban areas within urban gravitation areas and sustainable use of natural resources, landscapes and the environment, and networking with other neighbouring regions and EU regions. Regarding tourism, the plan calls for sustainable tourism, which, based on a real fusion of tourism, the environment and nature, aims at protection and adequate use of the resources, cultural and natural heritage. It also emphasizes the importance of connecting complementary economic sectors in the context of tourism, as well assimilar complementary economic needs for compatible cross-border cooperation. In the area of standardization, it advocates the efficient implementation of international standards for the protection of infrastructure, human and tourism resources and consumers, and finally, in the interest of competitive tourism, formulates a recognizable tourist image of Vojvodina in the global context.
Unfortunately, the abovementioned project does not define a complete or partial segment within the destination that would refer to the tourism along the Tisza River, but this is defined in the development document entitled Tourism and leisure activities in the function of sustainable development of the Tisza River Basin (TIMS Novi Sad, 2010) On the other hand, this document provides a detailed description of the planning strategy of programming tourism development in the Tisza River Basin in Vojvodina. Focussing on investment priorities, this document emphasizes the need for a conceptual alignment of leisure tourism products along the Tisza River with the tourism development of AP Vojvodina. "Based on the analysis of the tourist offer of the Tisza Region, the river region should propose a certain package of offers in view of the offer of AP Vojvodina and be able to provide a modified combination of products for the realization of built settings and landscape investments.
The document provides an accurate overview of the system of tourism products that form the basis of the Tisza River Basin tourism offer. The offers are grouped by river water area, river bank amenities, attractiveness of river bank settlements and special needs. Furthermore, the plan classifies the offers and tourism products according to their attractiveness and competitiveness into primary, secondary and tertiary categories, and determines their value and anticipates the importance of investments, as well as the necessary investments in priority areas and facilities such as: construction of river bank beaches, visitor centres, cycle paths, and wellness and water parks.
The strategy also defines the guidelines for managing tourism supply and demand, the target audience and their demand for supply, highlights the role of the Tisza River Basin destination as a local brand and presents it as a partner destination. A separate chapter analyzes the proposals for the management of tourism regions and emphasizes that: investment priorities start from the fact that the offer of leisure activities as tourism products in the Tisza River valley should be conceptually harmonized with the system of AP Vojvodina. Based on the analysis of the potentials of the tourist offer and the Tisza River valley offer, it can be said that it is somewhat specific in relation to the offer of Vojvodina. For the Tisza River Valley area, we can make a similar, but modified production mix, define the key tasks and determine the priorities of investment in buildings and landscaping.

Comparative analysis of development strategies (2014-2020) of the Tisza River municipalities in Vojvodina from the aspect of development tendencies of local tourism
In this section, the tourism development strategies of the municipalities in the Tisza River Basin are summarized in order to see the importance of involving local self-governments in creating tourism offer in the mentioned area. The analysis covers the development strategies of the municipalities of Kanjiža, Novi Kneževac, Senta, Ada, Zrenjanin, Bečej, Novi Bečej, Žabalj and Titel.
The tourist characteristics of the municipalities of the Tisza River Basin surpass the characteristics of river, recreational, resort and eco-tourism, since there are numerous cultural and historical tourist attractions in the tourist offer of each settlement. Therefore, local development documents also address these opportunities.
Naturally, the tourism chapters in the municipal planning documents of the Tisza River Basin differ significantly in terms of defining local tourist attractions, accessibility, promotion and marketing of local tourism. Although there are municipalities which did not regulate local tourism industry in their development documents or did not recognize the necessity to do so, the majority of municipalities define general development requirements and guidelines, such as establishing a municipal tourism fund, local tourism development, establishing a municipal tourist database, development of local tourist packages and encouragement of cooperation with local organizations, municipalities, etc. (STRATSENT, 2013;STRATBEC,2013;STRATCOK, 2010;STRATKANJ, 2010).
Each municipality wants to attract and develop local brands based on its local resources, e.g. Battle of Senta (STRATSENT, 2013) from balneological resources or water sports (STRATBEC, 2013). The promotion of different levels of rural tourism is also present in all villages. Most villages are willing to cooperate with tourism organizations in other villages, but there is a need for tourism professionals and training for the people who are already engaged in the tourism industry. Vojvodina/Serbia 2015-2018 in the chapter "Tourism development based on natural and cultural-historical resources and related economy" defines the following: "... after the realization of the planning document and planned development processes in tourism and in all the complementary activities of related economic sectors, as well as in the development of infrastructure and with the providers of tourist destinations in the region, domestic and foreign tourists will contribute to the greater number of overnight stays and the foreign currency inflow." (VMRDEV, 2015).

Regional and Economic Development Strategy for the Hungarian communities in AP
This development can more effectively make use of the opportunities and improve the potential and existing tourist attractions of the Hungarian and all other communities in the region. In addition to favourable natural and geographic conditions, there are many sources of medicinal and thermal waters, as well as areas rich in cultural and historical heritage.
In relation to the previously mentioned Strategy of regional and economic development of Hungarian communities in AP Vojvodina/Serbia, the tourism strategy and portal will include a formulation of development that promotes sustainable use of natural and cultural values in Hungarian communities in Serbia and align them with national and provincial tourism development guidelines, linking them with tourism in the native country and with other regions of the Pannonian Plain, in order to generate international and domestic tourism development. All the priorities in this document generate the development of many types of tourism in the Tisza River valley, as the Hungarian communities have the highest concentration here (VMTUDEV, 2018).
The development of tourism products, which is based primarily on destination priorities in order to increase competitiveness includes: • Complex development of health, spa and wellness services, • Nautical tourism (the Danube, the Tisza, DTD channel network, natural and artificial lakes), • Development of rural and farm tourism.

Danube-Cris-Maros-Tisza Euroregion Strategic Plan, 2007-2013
The strategic conception of this plan is one of the first attempts to harmonize joint, interconnected tasks related to tourism development in the Tisza River Basin, on the one hand in the cross-border area of Hungary and Serbia, and on the other, with related tourism needs based on predominantly similar attributes of the common area of the Tisza River Basin. The structure and content of the document show that completely new methods of dynamic tourism development are foreseen in the cross-border region of the Tisza River Basin. This partnership activity and cooperation is defined by the following priorities: • Improving the accessibility of tourist attractions -Development of tourist signalizing systems on the rivers Danube, Tisza, Cris and Maros; -Internet coordination of cross-border timetables (bus, rail); -Construction of cross-border bicycle routes along the rivers Danube, Cris, Tisza, and Maros. • Establishing tourist cooperation between SMEs and non-profit organizations -Development of theme-based tourist routes (industrial tourism, monuments, wine and gastronomy tourism, folklore, art nouveau, spas, wellness and health tourism). • Ecotourism development -Developing rowing tours on the rivers of the Euroregion (Cris, Maros, and Tisza).

Comparative analysis of cross-border cooperation projects in cross-border tourism on the Tisza River under IPA (2007-2013)
Accelerated two-way tourism in the cross-border region is the result of bilateral openness and EU influence in the cross-border regions after the start of transition processes in Central and South-Eastern Europe, with dynamic growth different forms of tourism in addition to diversified systems of cross-border relations. This growth is the result of EU regional policy, which has directly or indirectly created rapid tourism growth. Many realized projects, such as: construction of bicycle paths that provide opportunities for cycling tourism, including visits to nature sites and cultural heritage sites on both sides of the border region, are an example of the result of this development policy.
The series of cultural events in Table 1, which are limited to the project cycle (1-3 years), are often of more modest success because of their unsustainability, but in many cases similar new bilateral events are created. These links, which include infrastructure development, now fully virtualized the existing language barriers so that the region can benefit from tourism which is based on its multi ethnic culture. The TICAD project aims to create a fundamental transnational cooperation of local, regional, national authorities, planning and research institutes of five countries (Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia) in the Tisza River Basin. Thanks to this comprehensive and integrated partnership, they are exploring the possibilities of implementing EU water management policies and realizing regional development in an efficient and coherent way through the SEE programme. In light of the need for diverse and complex environmental protection processes and synergies between social and economic development, transnational cooperation to address the challenges of this vast area is essential. The main tasks of the project were: creating a common methodology for an innovative collaboration process; creating shared information and database; analyzing the situation and perspectives of the area: national studies and their integrated assessment; developing a common strategy for related water management goals, consolidating land use, environmental remediation, nature protection, economic diversification and social progress; formulating recommendations that affect the national, regional and specific local levels and their implications for European territorial policy.
Even if the project does not explicitly define priority development tasks in the field of tourism, transnational development in the Tisza River Valley also affects the development and creates the basis of tourism.
The WATERTOUR project (HUSRB/1602/31/0204) This project explores the possibilities and forms of nautical tourism in the rowing segment in the cross-border region in order to engage and deepen the recreational activities of young people (students from five faculties in two countries). In practice, the project demonstrates canoe / kayak boat tourism on the Tisza River through student activities at the University of Szeged and Novi Sad). The development project explores the recreational geographical features of the Tisza River area, the different types of tourism in the coastal areas (cultural assets of the region and the socio-economic potential of the Tisza River Basin) as well as strategic proposals for these tourist destinations.

CONCLUSIONS
Development documents (of the provinces, districts, subregions, counites, municipalities) of Hungary and Serbia concerning the Tisza Region are in accordance with local and higher territorial needs and at planning level are in accordance with the principles of regional and rural development of the EU. Tourism which is based on the possibilities of the valley and river Tisza, i.e. nautical tourism works well, and increasing the attractiveness of the region for tourists requires the harmonization of a number of development factors. On the one hand, the harmonization of balneological tourism, on the other, the marketing linking together cultural and historical heritage of the cities and settlements along the Tisza River in order to provide a more efficient tourist offer, which is slightly more thoroughly presented in Hungary. In Serbia, this branch of the tourist economy at the level of the whole of Tisza River Basin is currently beginning to develop.
The opportunities provided by the Tisza River international waterway, the dynamics of traffic, guests and supporting services, as well as the consequences of complementary economic effects, are yet to be experienced.
The range of tourism products, characterized by a highly mosaic nature and complex use, indicates that in the future the Tisza Region could achieve much more intense economic results, which could overcome the currently dominant shopping tourism and predominantly one-directional spa tourism.
The successes of bilateral projects aimed at developing a common region of the Tisza River Basin prove that both partial cross-border efforts and transnational joint projects contribute to the cooperative valorisation of tourist attractions. In addition to this valorisation, it is necessary to develop joint but complementary guidelines for tourism development through indirect and direct factors specific to this region, which would increase the efficiency of the tourism economy (Nagy, 2002;Đorđević, 2002)