More tourists visited Hungary than ever before – photos
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The season brought records in all categories even compared to the previous one which was also a peak year.
Zoltán Guller, director of the Hungarian Tourism Agency said to Magyar Nemzet that though they do not yet have the data of the summer months, it can be stated that this season was very strong.
Hotels were full in August, which is the most active month in the Hungarian tourism. He added that now their goal is to motivate people to discover autumn Hungary, as well. Not surprisingly, in tourism, which is one of the key sectors of the economy, a ten pc rise is expected, which is much more than the EU average – he told.
The romantic ruins of the castle of Szigliget near Lake Balaton. Photo: facebook.com/szigliget
Among both foreign and Hungarian visitors, the Balaton area and Budapest are the most popular destinations, and both try to follow this demand with infrastructure developments. These can be completed
with the help of an 828 billion HUF (EUR 2.5 billion) sum,
the Hungarian government planned to give from EU and domestic sources for touristic developments until 2030.
Mr Guller added that Hungary is more popular than ever, which is boosted by the many international sports and cultural events that it hosts. Furthermore, more Hungarians spend their holiday in the country thanks to many different government measures (e.g. SZEP cards).
Budapest at sunset. Photo: www.facebook.com/RizsaviTamás
There is a slight increase in the number of Hungarians spending their summer holiday in a foreign country, but they book their travel early, mostly during spring. The weak HUF, however, significantly lowered their number in the summer months.
The most popular destinations were
Greece (the Greek islands) and Turkey while Egypt and Tunisia had excellent offers during the whole season. Italy and Croatia, Bulgaria and Spain were also popular. Albania is a rising star in this regard.
Tamás Flesch, chairman of the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said that the number of guest nights increased in all types of accommodation. Not only foreign tourists but also Hungarians spent more during their holidays.
Though July was weaker because of the weather, that was compensated by a solid August. Most foreign guests came from the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany, many came from the neighbouring countries (Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland) but
the number of Far Eastern tourists is also increasing rapidly.
Borbála Kisgyörgy, chairwoman of the Hungarian Organization for the Campsite Branch, said that thanks to the constant developments, the number of (mostly Hungarian) campers is also rising. She added that more travel with a caravan and said that the developments should concentrate on this branch of tourism and enable Hungary to join the European network of caravan campers.
The number of tourists visiting the spas of Budapest also rose by more than 50 pc.
Széchenyi Thermal Bath
Szilvia Czinege, marketing director of the Budapest Spas cPlc, said that there is no other capital like Budapest in the world where so many monument spas are functioning which is internationally very attractive. Most of their foreign tourists are English, American, Spanish, Italian and Chinese, but the number of Koreans is also rising.
