Saucy cartoon aspires to lure a younger clientele

Letter from Lake Balaton: As a balmy breeze slides his boat across sun-kissed Lake Balaton, a married man watches a voluptuous blonde slip off her bikini.

Later, hiding his wedding ring from his lover, he completes the seduction under a starry Hungarian sky, marvelling at the pleasures of a resort long associated with ageing Germans wanting somewhere cheap, sedate and not too saucy.

Hungary's cheeky promotional cartoon is intended to change Balaton's dowdy image, and seize for central Europe's largest lake a slice of the booming market in amorous weekends and boozy breaks.

But the sex and infidelity in the film have not amused all Hungarians, many of whom are conservative Catholics who voted in recent general elections for the Fidesz opposition party where the slogan was "Work, Home, Family".

"This is a shameful way to promote the country, with a married man taking a lover on a boat," said Fidesz supporter Ildiko Matyas, a teacher in Budapest. "Balaton has always been a family resort - not a place for this sort of business." The Christian Democratic People's Party, which is allied to Fidesz, condemned the cartoon (posted at http://abalatoninyar.fw.hu/) for "encouraging sex tourism".

Spokeswoman Zsuzsa Halasz said: "It is outrageous that the Hungarian Tourist Board, which is financed by taxpayers' money, wants to attract tourists by offering opportunities for love affairs to married men, instead of showing our country's natural beauty and heritage."

The cartoon is the result of the tourist board's research which showed 20- to 30-year-old Hungarians visited Lake Balaton far less frequently than their parents, and that internet-based marketing was the way to catch their attention.

"We used a popular 1980s song called Balaton Summer as the soundtrack to the film, and it shows practically word-for- word what happens in the song," said Gabor Galla, director general of the tourist board. "It is funny and romantic, and didn't shock anyone 20 years ago.

"It is not about image-building for Balaton but getting young people to our website," he added. "I'm sorry about some negative response but the fact is the campaign has worked - in two days we had more visitors to the website than in one month last year." Three flights a week arrive at Balaton's airport, which is run by an Irish-Hungarian consortium that bought and renovated the old military airfield for around €8 million. Rumours persist that direct flights from Dublin will soon follow.

A few miles away, the 500-acre, €75 million Zala Springs golf and residential complex is taking shape, under the guidance of the Dublin-based Lewis family of Central European property specialists and Marty Carr, son of Irish golfing great Joe Carr. The resort is due for completion late next year. It will be interesting to see what its future patrons will make of the advert, and its apparent attempt to lure some of the weekend action away from Budapest, a city already awash with the Saturday night revelry and Sunday morning detritus of stag and hen parties - and the cash they bring in.

Such high jinks would be quite new to the lake area, where for years excitement consisted of the slow churn of pedalos and ice-cream dripping down a shirt-front.

When the Iron Curtain divided Europe, thousands of East and West German families reunited every year in Hungary, congregating at Lake Balaton in convoys of western Volkswagens and BMWs, and Eastern Bloc Trabants and Wartburgs.

But with the collapse of communism, growing prosperity and the proliferation of low-cost airlines, holidaymakers have drifted away to the coastlines of the Mediterranean and Adriatic.

"It's a fun film for young people, and it's good if they go to Balaton rather than abroad," said Sandor Horvath (52), as he scanned holiday adverts with his wife, Marianna. "Balaton is a big lake," she added. "There's room for all types of holiday and all types of people there."

Mr Galla said he hoped Irish and British visitors of all ages would come to Balaton. "We hope they will see it as a great destination for wine-tasting, spas, sports and so on," he said. "We don't want it to become an all-out party place."