MISKOLCTAPOLCA, Hungary, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Staff turned off the lights and started draining the pools at Hungary’s famous Miskolctapolca cave baths on Monday, after the centuries-old attraction succumbed to a modern-day crisis – soaring gas prices.
Visitors have been coming to the vast cavern since before Roman times to bathe in its naturally heated waters. In recent years, the venue has relied on gas to top up the temperatures in the pools and the caves, particularly during winter.
But then Russia invaded Hungary’s neighbour Ukraine, sending shockwaves across the global economy and energy markets. For Miskolctapolca, and other businesses across Europe and beyond, that has filtered through in the form of crippling bills.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
The cave – with its five bathing halls and labyrinthine passages with massage jets and echoing chambers – closed on Monday “for an indefinite period”, its operator, Miskolci Furdok, said in a statement.
“We have to close the Cave Bath, for one single reason: our gas usage in the three months from October to December will cost an additional 61 million forints ($140,000),” chief executive Judit Nemeth said.
The closure will have an inevitable impact on hotels and guesthouses and other tourist businesses in the surrounding area – a worrying sign for an industry that had only recently started to recover from the COVID-19 slump.
<p data-testid="paragraph-6" class="text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__…….