Ákos Niklai, the chairman of the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, told the paper that a number of hotels saw a drop in reservations for the first two weeks of October. He added that changes affecting railway travel as well as border crossings had made coming to Hungary a “precarious” undertaking for many tourists, but he placed most of the blame for cancellations on “negative news” about Hungary.
“Because of this, interest for travel deals for autumn and winter is less than expected,” Niklai said.
The chairman said that should the migrant crisis get worse, his association would ask the National Economy Ministry and state-owned tourism agency Magyar Turizmus to launch an international media campaign.
“A very tendentious media campaign is currently targeting Hungary,” Hungaryʼs Foreign Minister said last week in an interview in Hungarian weekly Figyelő.
