The number of Chinese tourists visiting Hungary has increased at a steady pace year after year, and it showed unprecedented growth this year: in light of data for January-September 2014, the number of Chinese guests was up by more than 20 percent, Deputy State Secretary for Tourism Ádám Ruszinkó told state news agency MTI.

The Deputy State Secretary gave an interview after returning from the China International Travel Mart organized in Shanghai on 13-16 November, to which he was invited by the Chinese National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

Ádám Ruszinkó stressed the Ministry has been making efforts to attract more and more tourists to Hungary from the Asian country. Last year, some 75 thousand guests spent 140 thousand tourism nights in the country, which constitutes an increase of 9 percent year-on-year. In the initial nine months of this year, growth in the number of tourists was significant, 20 percent, while the number of tourism nights jumped by 15 percent, he added.

He also pointed out that Hungary has placed special emphasis on improving tourism relations, for which the Budapest-based China-CEE Tourism Coordination Centre is a potent tool. Hungary was selected in May this year to manage tourism coordination within the framework of an economic cooperation agreement between 16 countries. In line with that, Hungary shall represent these 16 countries as a common destination for Chinese customers.

He added that during bilateral meetings with the Deputy Chairman of the CNTA they reviewed upcoming tourism events and initiated discussions on easing visa requirements in order to boost tourism traffic as well as on improving transport options, for example through launching direct flights between the two countries.

Ádám Ruszinkó called it a remarkable achievement that the film "Think Hungary - More Than Expected" won the main award at the Mart and was selected as the best tourism image film from among 300 nominations. As he explained, they have managed to make a film that has successfully appealed to Chinese tourists.

He stressed that China has been the most dynamically increasing country among the world’s top ten countries of origin. The annual number of Chinese tourists visiting foreign destinations is some 500 million, and according to the latest statistics for the third quarter of 2014 their spending increased by 16 percent year-on-year. Competition for the extremely competitive Chinese market has been very fierce, as Chinese tourists tend to spend more than average. Last year, China became the world’s number one country of origin, ahead of Germany and the United Kingdom.

(Ministry for National Economy)