The government has provided grants worth hundreds of billions of forints to support tourism so far, has helped the sector with a series of coordinated actions, and has implemented a number of measures in the interest of businesses active in the industry, Government Spokesperson Alexandra Szentkirályi said in a telephone interview given to the Hungarian news agency MTI.

She said in the past few years the sector had been the Hungarian economy’s driver sector, with a major contribution. Therefore, at the time of the outbreak of the pandemic in March, the government took immediate and very firm action in order to help the sector stay alive, she said. She highlighted that they had announced tax and contribution cuts and discounts, had provided grants for the development of hotel facilities, had decided on the subsidisation of festivals, and had made preferential credit facilities available.

Among the measures implemented, Ms. Szentkirályi listed that until 30 June employers were not required to pay contributions in relation to their workers’ salaries, while the contributions of employees were reduced significantly; they were not required to pay a pension contribution and the health insurance contribution was reduced to the statutory minimum. The measure that rental agreements cannot be terminated and rentals cannot be increased is still in effect.

She added that up to the end of the year the government had suspended the principal and interest payment liabilities on loans taken out by private individuals and businesses up to the date of the announcement, and payment of the tourism tax had also been suspended. The social contribution tax on the fringe benefit ‘Szép’ Cards has been reduced to 4 per cent up to 31 December, while the maximum amount of the benefit has been raised from HUF 450,000 to HUF 800,000 in the private sector and from HUF 200,000 to HUF 400,000 in the state sector.

She mentioned among the relevant measures that in September the Széchenyi Card Programme has been extended to a new credit product which will only be available to micro-, small and medium-sized businesses active in the tourism sector. With the aid of the Széchenyi Tourism Card, businesses will be given access to any-purpose loans with zero per cent interest. The total credit line of the new product will amount to HUF 100 billion, and the maximum amount of loans cannot exceed HUF 250 million, she outlined.

She pointed out that in cooperation with the Hungarian Tourism Agency, in the interest of restarting tourism – instead of implementing austerity measures – the government has helped businesses to survive the crisis with tax reductions and the continuation of developments, thereby helping them get through this difficult period.

Ms. Szentkirályi stressed that every development carried out as part of the Kisfaludy Programme is able to guarantee the advancement of tourism and the preservation of jobs in the long run. According to her information, as part of the programme, they are making available HUF 150 billion for the implementation of the last phase of the programme that seeks to accomplish the comprehensive refurbishment of accommodation facilities in Hungary. From this amount, an allocation of HUF 85 billion was available for the construction and refurbishment of hotels with more than 100 rooms in the countryside.

Within the framework of another call for proposals with an allocation of HUF 60 billion, private accommodation providers in rural Hungary had access to grants worth HUF 1 million per room, she said, adding that they received almost 14,000 applications for grants to the value of HUF 45 billion. She also said a call for proposal with an allocation of five billion forints is now available for camp sites and commercial holiday homes.

Developments targeting bathing areas and facilities also continued; in the first three phases of the programme, 114 bathing areas have been refurbished from an allocation worth more than HUF 9 billion, while in the fourth phase announced in August, HUF 3 billion has been made available for the refurbishment of bathing areas near lakes and rivers.

The Government Spokesperson indicated that a variety of grants are available which seek to help most actors of the sector. The government has recently decided to provide another HUF 700 million for festival organisers in order to keep pop music festivals alive. In the call for proposals to be released soon, the maximum grant per applicant will be HUF 35 million, and according to her information, the organisers of pop music festivals with an attendance of more than 500 which have been cancelled or significantly reduced in programme due to the epidemic will be eligible to apply.

According to Ms. Szentkirályi, the summer numbers are already promising. Based on August data, rural Hungary has got back up on its feet; even compared with last year’s record, 300,000 more people spent their summer holidays in Hungary, and one third of the Hungarian population spent time in some commercial accommodation facility.

The government has done everything in its power to help the sector which has found itself in a difficult situation due to the epidemic, and everyone will have to contribute to the recovery of tourism in the capital. The metropolitan municipality, too, should start taking measures in order to protect the sector “because numbers in the capital are rather poor,” the Government Spokesperson said in summary.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)