In the second month of the year, the volume of tourism traffic grew by 12 percent in comparison to the already high base of the previous year. After the fluctuation in the number of arrivals at the end of last year, it is an especially promising sign that the number of arrivals soared in case of each of Hungary’s top ten source countries, including Germany, and Russian guests have also come in larger numbers.

The number of guests and respective tourism nights were up by 11.3 percent (595 000) and 11.6 percent (to 1.345 million), year-on-year. Accommodation fee revenues and the total volume of revenues at accommodation establishments rose by 10.94 percent (to HUF 10.94bn) and 11 percent (to HUF 21bn), compared to February 2015.

Within that, the number of foreign guests increased by 11.4 percent (to 273 000) in the month of February, and they spent 12.7 percent more (671 000) tourism nights at accommodation establishments. Along with the 5.4 percent increase in the number of arrivals by German guests, another noteworthy development was the growth of tourism nights by Russian guests (+6.4 percent), which is the first increase since May 2014. The number of arrivals from Ukraine, the 11th largest source country, grew year-on-year by 25 percent in January and 85 percent (!) in February. As another positive trend, the volume of arrivals also increased significantly from neighbouring countries: by 32 percent from Slovakia, 23 percent from Romania, 21 percent from the Czech Republic and 10 percent from Austria.

Along with foreign guests, Hungarian visitors have also remained active travellers. In February 2016, 322 000 domestic guests spent 674 000 tourism nights at accommodation establishments, which constitutes growth of 11.3 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively. Accommodation fee revenues generated by domestic guests rose by 19.4 percent year-on-year, to HUF 4.45bn. The use of SZÉP Cards has been a key determinant in this regard.

The combined effect of the significant increase of international demand and the steady growth of domestic tourism has resulted in massive expansion at the beginning of the year.

(Ministry for National Economy)