The present study, which compares and contrasts the tourism and visitor-based economic development at major lakes in Hungary aims at describing how roles have changed and opportunities have presented themselves in the lake tourism sector. In the western part of Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia) lake tourism has grown to be a leading tourism product since the 1960s. Hungary saw a boom in its lake tourism in the mid 1960s as leaders of its centralized, planned economy changed their stance on tourism in an effort to generate income and counterbalance the possible siphoning-off of western tourists by Romanian and Bulgarian seaside resorts. Lake Balaton, Lake Tisza and Lake Velence were the recipients of state investment and and emerged as the most popular lake tourism destinations.