The number of tourism nights registered last year in Hungary soared by 5.4 percent, said Minister of State for Economic Regulation Béla Glattfelder, commenting on the latest data released by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH). Every Hungarian tourism indicator improved over the past one year, he added.
In 2014, he said, the overall number of guests was up by 7.2 percent, to 9.5 million and these guests spent 5.4 percent more tourism nights in the country (altogether 24.2 million). The number of domestic guests increased by some 10 percent, while gross revenues received from them jumped by some 15 percent, he said. Gross revenues from foreign guests were also higher by some 11 percent.
Béla Glattfelder stressed that the tourism sector expanded in every Hungarian region. In light of these data, further expansion is being expected in the sector in 2015, which will be underpinned by the success of the SZÉP Card programme and higher tourism sector competitiveness, he added.
As he explained, in December 2014 the number of tourism nights spent by foreign guests also increased impressively, by 14.9 percent, and gross revenues grew by 27.1 percent year-on-year. The number of tourism nights by domestic guests soared by 10.1 percent at accommodation establishments, which accumulated gross revenues of almost HUF 24.6bn, up by 18.5 percent year-on-year.
On the basis of the number of tourism nights spent in the country, Israeli visitors topped the ranking in December 2014, followed by guests from the United Kingdom and the United States of America. He emphasised that albeit the number of Russian tourists fell in Central Europe in general, Hungary was an exception as the number of tourism nights by Russians increased by 1.4 percent in the month of December.
Responding to questions of journalists, Deputy State Secretary for Tourism Ádám Ruszinkó remarked that according to the head of the association of Russian travel agencies the number of tourists visiting Europe dropped by 25-30 percent. On the other hand, Hungary and Cyprus have bucked the trend and the number of guest and respective tourism nights were – albeit slightly – higher compared to 2013. He added that the Ministry is doing everything in its power to preserve Hungary’s position on Russia’s tourism market.
Hungarian Tourism Ltd CEO Péter Faragó stated that Hungary’s new tourism marketing strategy is set to be presented on 26 February, the first day of the Travel fair and exhibition, which -- along with traditional markets -- will also place strong emphasis on conquering new ones.
(Ministry for National Economy)
