Eighteenfold gas price rise: will Budapest’s baths close?

Budapest’s deputy mayor, Anett Bősz, said that they saw an eighteenfold price rise in the case of gas and a sevenfold increase considering electricity compared to the 2021 sums in the most recent public procurements the capital’s leadership conducted. In 2022, they plan to spend HUF 1.4 billion (EUR 3.5 million) on energy. But that will rise to HUF 4 billion (EUR 9.9 million) in 2023. However, they would not like to close any baths in Budapest to save money and would do everything to keep their workforce.

According to Hirklikk, Budapest baths and spas are out of the Hungarian government’s utility price cap scheme from 1 September. That means they have to pay the market price for their electricity and gas consumption, which is a brutal increase. Therefore, the Hungarian media outlet argues that bath culture, one of Hungary’s most attractive tourist attractions, might be in danger. The rising prices cause considerable problems in Budapest and country spas alike.

To see clear, the opposition-close media outlet asked Anett Bősz, one of the deputy mayors of Budapest, responsible for the sector in the capital. Bősz was elected after the 2022 general elections after she could not win her constituency as a united opposition candidate. Before, she worked as an MP of the Democratic Coalition.

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Zoltán Kántás, the president of the Hungarian Bath Association, told Infórádió before that most Hungarian baths and spas were forced to implement drastic service restrictions from September because of the rising prices. Furthermore, the association conducted a survey. The results show that 33-50 percent of the Hungarian baths and spas will remain closed in the first half of 2023.

To make matters worse, the number of guests fell because fewer people came from Ukraine and Russia. G7.hu says that Russian tourists almost completely disappeared from Hungary after the outbreak of the war and the first Western sanctions. In January, there were 54 thousand nights Russian guest spent in Hungary. Meanwhile, that number fell to 5-6 thousand by this May. In spring 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of guest nights Russians spent in Hungary reached almost 80 thousand.