According to the latest data, expansion in Hungarian tourism is continuing, ever more foreign tourists are coming to Hungary, and Hungarians, too, are travelling more and more. Last November, the number of foreign tourists increased by almost 5 per cent, while domestic tourism increased by more than 8 per cent on a year-to-year basis, Zoltán Guller, Chief Executive of the Hungarian Tourism Agency said.

A communication released by the Central Statistical Office on Wednesday shows that last November the number of guest nights was 3.7 per cent higher than a year earlier.

Mr Guller highlighted that in the first 11 months of 2018 the sales revenues of domestic hotel facilities had increased by almost 10 per cent.

Mr Guller pointed out that in November, regarding the most important indicators of tourism, Hungary overtook both Austria and the Czech Republic. He said it is a welcome fact that last November the number of tourists coming from countries with a higher spending potential (United States of America, Israel, China, Canada and Spain) increased significantly compared with the corresponding period of the year before.

The Chief Executive of the Hungarian Tourism Agency said tourism had continuously increased in the past few years: compared with 2010, the number of guests has increased one-and-a-half-fold, while the sales revenues of hotel facilities have doubled. These results are owing to the facts, among others, that ever more foreign tourists are visiting Hungary as a safe and dynamically developing country, and Hungarian families in increasingly large numbers can afford to spend money on holidays.

Mr Guller pointed out that by 2030 the sector will account for 16 per cent of GDP. He also highlighted that in the past few years funds to the value of more than HUF 800 billion had been invested in the sector. This year, almost 1,000 tourism developments will be implemented throughout the country, and most of these will be completed before the end of the year. Never before have there been so many tourism developments under way at once, hotel and other accommodation facilities, restaurants, tourism sights and the tourism infrastructure are all making headway.

(MTI)