2024 Could Be a Record Year for Tourism in Hungary

In the first three months of the year, Hungarian accommodation establishments recorded 7.1 million overnight stays, up 14% on the same quarter last year. The Hungarian Tourism Agency said in a statement on Thursday that this year could be a record year based on the first quarter figures.

In addition to the number of guest nights, the number of guests also increased significantly. Between January and March, 2.9 million guests arrived at Hungarian accommodation establishments. The number is 18% higher than in the first three months of 2023.

More than half of the guests were domestic travellers, "meaning that more than one and a half million of our fellow countrymen went on holiday in the first three months of the year", 14% more than a year earlier, and a total of 3.3 million nights spent in domestic accommodation. They booked the majority of accommodation in the countryside, with 72% of all nights coming from domestic tourists.

The number of foreign visitors increased by almost a quarter compared to the previous year, accounting for almost half of the turnover of accommodation establishments. By March, 1.4 million foreigners had spent 3.7 million nights in Hungary. Foreign hotel turnover was 16% higher than last year. 317,000 tourists came from Germany, nearly 300,000 from the UK and 276,000 from Italy in the same period. Overall, all national quarterly accommodation indicators are said to exceed 2019 figures, they said.

Budapest received 1.2 million guests in January-March, 23% more than in the same period in 2023. The number of overnight stays in the capital was 3 million, 14% higher than in 2019. A significant share of guests were foreigners in Budapest.

In rural Hungary, 1.7 million guests booked accommodation, up by around 15% year-on-year. The number of guest nights increased by 13% compared to the same period last year. The most popular region in terms of accommodation turnover in the first quarter was again Lake Balaton with 877 thousand nights, followed by Mátra-Bükk (463,000) and the area around Budapest (450,000). However, the Sopron-Fertő (32%), Debrecen and its region (30%) and Bük-Sárvár (28%) regions recorded the highest growth rates, significantly above the national average. The most popular settlements after the capital were all spa towns: in order, Hévíz, Hajdúszoboszló, Bük, Zalakaros and Sárvár.