Spas closed? No problem. Hungarian hot tub maker’s got you covered

Gabor Kuntner had been planning to install a hot tub in his garden in a Budapest suburb for years but never got around to it until the pandemic prompted him to rush out and buy one to give his family some respite during lockdown.

As well as slamming the door on Hungarians’ seaside holiday plans abroad, COVID-19 forced the closure of the country’s famed spas and thermal baths, depriving its citizens of one of their favourite pastimes.

“Last year when the pandemic started and we read the reports about the troubles and lockdowns in China, I thought we would spend the whole year holed up in our house and the garden,” said Kuntner, a 43-year-old father of two children aged 12 and three.

“So I thought the time has come to buy a hot tub,” he said, adding that it set him back 2 million forints ($6,507.24). “Normally, we travel a lot more, even for longer periods, but now feel fairly confined. This helps to some extent.”

As demand for home wellness facilities grew, Hungarian hot tub manufacturer Wellis emerged as a rare winner of the pandemic. The company, which says it is the biggest maker of garden spas and whirlpool baths in Europe, saw sales rise by 60% last year and is now investing in a new factory to meet the soaring demand, not just in Hungary.