A gazdaságfejlesztés egy lehetséges útja termékkiálítások Pécsett a két világháború között

Absztrakt

In this study we examined Hungary’s Southern Transdanubia region’s largest city’s economic development. For centuries, Pécs had been the region’s industrial and commercial centre. However, WWI and the subsequent thirty-three month long Serbian occupation set back the city’s development. From the end of 1921 trade and distribution regained its importance once again. One potential for that was the organisation of trade exhibitions and fairs. The six, later twelve national fairs per year yielded increasing turnovers – except for the period of the Great Depression (1929-33). Trade exhibitions covered all industries: at first, the agricultural and horticultural expos, and later the industrial ones grew in numbers. The biggest trade exhibitions were held in the second part of the 1930s, when not only local and regional, but distant and even nationally significant companies brought their products to demonstrate and sell. The trade exhibitions were mostly paired with purchasing opportunities; meanwhile, they generated huge attention. In this study we present that these trade exhibitions greatly contributed to the fact that Pécs quickly became a developing city again prior to WWII.