June-July: Nearly 8 Mn Nights in Rural Accommodation

More guests stayed in rural accommodation in Hungary in June-July than in last year's record year; according to data from the National Tourist Information Center (NTAK), 2.9 million foreign and domestic travelers spent 7.9 million guest nights outside the capital in the first two months of summer, the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTÜ) told MTI on Friday.

According to the summary, besides Budapest and Lake Balaton, several rural destinations are also summer hits: the destinations with the highest growth in guest traffic among domestic visitors were Szeged and its region, and, among foreign visitors, Debrecen and its region. The largest growth in traffic was achieved in the settlements of Velence and Balatonkenese.

According to NTAK data, it was not only the waterfront experiences that attracted visitors, but also the cultural heritage. In the first two months of the summer, more than two thirds of Hungary's accommodation turnover took place outside the capital, 71% of which was generated by domestic guests and 29% by international guests.

Some destinations have seen an increase in popularity among domestic visitors, while others have been visited by foreign travellers to a greater extent than in the previous year. The largest increase in domestic overnight stays in the countryside was in Szeged and its region, where 127,000 overnight stays were spent by domestic visitors, up by nearly 6%. The second highest domestic growth was recorded in the Sopron-Fertő area, with 93,000 domestic guest nights in the first two summer months, up 4% year-on-year. Gyula and its region, also a winner, recorded an increase of nearly 3% with 140,000 domestic nights.

In terms of overnight stays by foreigners, the biggest increase was recorded in Debrecen and its region, outside Budapest. Here, international guests spent 245,000 nights in the first two months of the summer, over 8% more than in the previous year. Foreign visitors to Lake Balaton also spent 939,000 nights in the region, up nearly 6%, while the third largest increase of nearly 3% was recorded in the Mátra-Bükk region, with 129,000 international guest nights, MTÜ said.

They added that the data shows that among the settlements, the waterfront's popularity increased the most during the warm summer months. The highest growth in domestic accommodation turnover was recorded in the first two months of summer in Venice, where 38% more people stayed 29,000 nights than a year ago. With 33,000 nights, Balatonkenese also showed a strong increase of almost 28%, and Makó recorded a more than one fifth (21%) higher domestic accommodation turnover of 11,000 nights in these two months.

Debrecen recorded the largest increase of more than 32% in international guest nights, with 62,000 nights. Siófok and Kecskemét recorded similarly significant increases of nearly 27-27%, with the former and the latter recording 184,000 and 30,000 guest nights respectively.

In the first two months of the summer, rural accommodation thus achieved a total turnover of HUF 142.8 billion, 12% more than this time last year. Of this, around HUF 10.8 billion was paid by guests using tourism cards, the driving force behind domestic tourism, accounting for 12% of total spending by domestic tourists.