Tourism has again closed this spring with unbreakable growth rates: in May, 950 thousand guests spent HUF 2.25 million nights in the country’s accommodation establishments. Guest turnover and the number of guest nights increased by 6 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year.
Guests also spent more on accommodation: revenues at accommodation establishments totalled HUF 19.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent, while occupancy levels and average hotels prices also improved.
The uninterrupted upsurge in domestic tourism that has been characteristic of recent continued in May. Together with the popularity of the Széchenyi Recreation Card (SZÉP Card), Hungarian guests are also spending more of their earnings on domestic holidays. In May, 495 thousand domestic customers spent 1 million guest nights at commercial accommodation establishments, representing an increase of 7.4 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, while revenues at accommodation establishments increased by 14.5 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
Use of the SZÉP Card, which plays a definitive role in Hungarian tourism, grew by 6.6 percent in May. SZÉP Card holders spent HUF 1.8 billion on accommodation in over 2000 establishments.
Hotel occupancy ratios improved from last year (56.2 percent) and average prices also increased by 6 percent as a result of which the revenue per available room (RevPAR) also grew by almost 8 percent.
The structure of inbound turnover was more balanced in May compared to the previous months of the year: no outstanding increases or decreases occurred, unlike previously.
The fact that Hungary is considered an excellent value for money holiday destination plays a key role in inbound tourism: thanks to the developments of recent years, the country is regularly able to provide visitors with something new and interesting, and usually much more than expected.
In May, 464 thousand (+4.1 percent) foreign guests chose our accommodation establishments and spent 1.22 million nights (+1.9 percent) there, resulting in a year-on-year accommodation revenue increase of 4.3 percent.
Germany continues to be in first place among the top 10 sender countries and achieved a moderate increase of 1.1 percent, with Austria ranked second with a 19 percent increase and Great Britain third with a 11.3 percent increase in the number of tourists travelling to Hungary in May. With regard to the first five months of the year, however, the British rank second with an increase of 26 percent, while the Austrian “only” rank third (+8.3 percent).
Summarising the first five months of 2015, it is clear that tourism has proven successful as one of the driving forces of the national economy: between 1 January and 31 May, 3.4 million tourists spent a total of 7.9 million guest nights at commercial accommodation establishments and both guest turnover and the number of guest nights were up by 8.2 percent and 6 percent, respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year. Additionally, guests spent HUF 67.8bn (EUR 213.4m) on accommodation, a 10.1 percent increase compared to last year.
Deputy Minister of State for Tourism Ádám Ruszinkó from the Ministry for National Economy highlighted on Hungarian television channel M1’s Thursday morning program that most of the tourists who arrived in Hungary last year came from Germany, Austria and Russia, but in the first five months of this year, the number of British tourists increased significantly, by 26 percent in terms of guest nights.
Mr. Ruszinkó pointed out that hosting the Olympic Games would also have an important impact on tourism, but the event must be organised in such a way that the facilities constructed can be utilised in the long term, for example also with relation to expanding accommodation establishments.
Hungary has an excellent reputation with relation to tourism, he added. As an example, he mentioned that although the occupancy capacity of the Hungarian capital has increased significantly over the past ten years, utilisation rates still remain extremely favourable.
(Ministry for National Economy)
