Hungary’s tourism sector may surpass pre-pandemic records in 2023

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Hungary’s tourism sector could surpass pre-pandemic records this year, the head of the Hungarian Tourism Agency, Péter Horváth, has said.

According to him, 14.2 million visitors spent close to 40 million visitor nights in this country last year, thus approaching 2019 figures, Schengen Visa website reports.

He noted that this year is off to a promising start, while January guest nights were up by 15 per cent compared to the figures of the same month a year earlier.

At the same time, in February 2023, bookings indicated a 10 per cent increase in comparison to the same month last year’s figures.

In addition, Horváth said that guest nights could increase to a total of 6.3 million in the first quarter of this year from 5.9 million registered in the same period one year earlier.

He noted that the country is expecting to welcome a large number of visitors during the peak summer season, following the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture program and the 2023 World Athletics Championships that Budapest will host.

The head of the Hungarian Tourism Agency said that the agency’s strategy for 2023-2030 aims to make the country a leading destination in Central Europe, bringing a total of 20 million travellers and thus boosting guest nights to 50 million.

The main purpose is to increase the tourism and catering industry’s contribution to GDP to a total of 16 per cent from 12 per cent registered last year.

He noted that in the 40 days since authorities in China decided to abolish pandemic restrictions, a total of 40,000 bookings have been made to this country.

Previously, Schengen Visa reported that Hungary and Balkan’s countries are eager to open their doors to tourists from China, thus helping their economies and tourism industries recover from the damages caused by the spread of COVID-19.

Hungarian authorities are working together in order to help the travel and tourism sector recover as soon as possible, thus helping the country’s economy recover from the financial losses caused by the COVID-related measures that affected many industries, especially the travel and tourism sector.

In November last year, authorities in Hungary said that they are expecting to welcome an influx of travellers from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

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