Record number of tourists in Budapest

The number of tourists coming to Hungary has been growing in the past decades, which is due to affordable accommodation possibilities, low-cost flights, and the many tourist attractions, portfolio.hu is cited by Daily News Hungary. Besides traditional sights, there are more and more people who also look up special attractions, like a good restaurant, a unique building, or a peculiar program here.

The country welcomes tourists with several natural and cultural sights. Lake Balaton, the thermal baths and the historic cities are all attractive for tourists. However, Budapest remains the leading destination, as almost 70% of the tourists come here. Most visitors prefer to stay for a weekend, the average length of stay is less than 2.5 days, and this has not changed in the past years.

Although, there is a slight increase in the amount of money spent during the stay, currently, an average foreign visitor spends somewhat more than HUF 14,000 (or EUR 45) a day. However, there are big differences in the amount of money spent based on which country a tourist comes from. According to the financial website, Russian and Ukrainian tourists spend around HUF 30-35,000 (EUR 96-112) per day, while this amount by Australian and American tourists is HUF 25-30,000 (EUR 80-96).

The number of nights spent in Hungary by tourists has tripled since the change of the social and political system in 1988-90, due to the increasing number of visitors and not to longer stays. Apart from the first year of the world economic crisis – that is, since 2009 – the number of tourists visiting Hungary has been dynamically growing.

According to tourism expert László Puczkó, “Budapest is already popular among tourists with its current attractions, but all big cities try to close any ‘attraction holes’ and develop unique elements. Budapest’s repertoire is currently missing very modern elements that can be enjoyed by groups, and easily consumable attractions, built on local elements like a person, a story, a brand or food.”

The location and the services of parks in the city play a part informing visitors about the history of the city, the life of locals. The expert says these are places where people can slow down and enjoy nature and cultural experiences. They also add to the growth in the number of days spent in a city, thus, increasing the amount of money spent, as well.