Event Center to be Turned into Boat Station

The Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTÜ) would transform the Bálna even center on the Pest side of the River Danube into a station for receiving hotel ships, CEO Zoltán Guller announced in a podcast.

Guller said the building will perform similar functions as an airport. Hotel boats will arrive and depart from there, but the building, located between the Szabadság ('Freedom') Bridge and the Petőfi Bridge, will also house a permanent exhibition, conference room, restaurant and tourist information center.

Soon, public procurement is also being announced, according to the CEO, and negotiations are already underway with the capital.

Guller also talked about the fact that hotel ships carry hundreds of thousands of tourists to Budapest every year, only American passengers numbered half a million last year. The industry has declined in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic, now giving time for change, which includes the transformation of the Bálna (its name meaning 'Whale' after the shape of the building).