The Characteristics of Retail Trade in the Hungarian–Slovakian Border Region

Abstract

People living in the Hungarian–Slovakian border region have been shopping on the other side of the borderline for decades. This phenomena has got a long tradition in the area, but nowadays, atter the EU and Schengen-accession it becomes more and more important, as there are no more strict border controls or high customs tariffs between Slovakia and Hungary.

The first part of the paper introduces the network of the retail-trade sector alongside the border, and analyses the short- and long-term economic trends and the spatial characteristics that are influencing the volume and direction of cross-border retail trade. Ön the basis of the results of our empirical researches I will attempt to determine the volume and spatial extent of the cross-border shopping tourism (gravity zones), and to give a short overview of the average spendings and shopping frequency of cross-border shoppers.