Best of Budapest & Hungary

More people vacationed in Hungary this year than ever before: in the first two hundred days of the year, the number of tourists increased by nearly 12 percent, and the number of guest nights by almost 8 percent compared to last year, according to the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTÜ).

    According to data from the National Tourism Data Supply Center (NTAK), more than 8.8 million guests arrived at Hungarian accommodations from early January to mid-summer, spending 21.3 million guest nights.

    The month since the start of the school holidays also brought stronger tourism results than the previous year: accommodation traffic in this short thirty-day period approached 6 million guest nights, about 7 percent higher than the previous year, while international traffic increased by 11 percent.

    By July 18th this year, almost 19 percent more foreign guests arrived in Hungary, and 6 percent more domestic guests vacationed away from home. The ratio of guest nights was balanced: international guests spent 10.7 million guest nights, while domestic guests spent 10.6 million guest nights at Hungarian accommodations, both exceeding last year's figures.

    The capital accounted for 37 percent of accommodation traffic according to the data. The 8 million guest nights in Budapest were 13 percent more than the traffic in the first two hundred days of 2023, with the number of foreign guest nights increasing by almost 15 percent, reaching 6.7 million.

    While 86 percent of the traffic in Budapest was from international guests, nearly 70 percent of guest nights outside the capital were spent by domestic tourists at accommodations. The data also shows that the most popular region in the first two hundred days of the year was still Lake Balaton, where the number of guest nights increased by nearly 7 percent compared to the same period last year. The region’s accommodations accounted for 30 percent of rural guest nights.

    According to NTAK data, the first month of the vacation also shows a similar increasing trend in tourism traffic compared to last year's record year. In the past 30 days, more than two million guests vacationed in Hungary, 12 percent more than the previous year. Since the start of the school break, the number of guest nights has reached 5.6 million. More than three-quarters of this, 4.3 million, were booked at rural accommodations, which saw a 5 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Outside the capital, 43 percent of guest nights were spent at Lake Balaton during the first thirty days of the vacation, nearly 6 percent more than the same time last year.

    Among tourist regions, the areas with natural waterfront beaches around Lake Balaton, as well as Debrecen and its surrounding area offering numerous bathing experiences, and the Mátra-Bükk region were the most visited by guests. These three regions registered the highest number of guest nights. According to the data, the area around the Parliament, Margaret Island, and then the Sóstógyógyfürdő in Nyíregyháza were the most popular in the month since the start of the holiday.