In the second part of the twentieth century, a rapidly developing tourism field came
to life as a result of the more and more important international role of economy and politics as
well as the developing technology: conference tourism. Conference tourism is one of the
fastest developing and most profitable fields of tourism. Because of it, a more and more
significant number of destinations consider the developing of conference tourism as a highly
important field when they elaborate their tourism policy. Taking a glance at the great lakes of
Europe, one must see that conference tourism is particularly typical at Lake of Geneva, Lake
Lugano, Lake Constance and the Wörthersee. This publication aims at offering a brief
overview of the lakes that play a crucial role in European tourism. I am about to examine the
working mechanism and participants of conference tourism at large European lake
destinations and also the way their characteristics can be used at Lake Balaton in order to
foster the development of the region.