Hungary’s tourism sector moved closer to its pre-pandemic peaks in 2025, though the overall volume remained below the record level seen in 2019, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office said at a press briefing in Budapest. The recovery was driven mainly by inbound demand, while domestic travel showed a more uneven pattern: fewer Hungarians took part in multi-day trips at home, but those who did travel did so more often, for longer periods and with higher spending.
Tamás Tóth, deputy president of KSH, said tourism remained one of the country’s most important service-sector engines last year.
“Including linked services and indirect effects, tourism accounted for 10.2% of GDP in 2025,” Tóth said. “It was also the largest contributor to the services trade balance, generating a HUF 1.749 trillion surplus, while the sector accounted for around one-tenth of domestic employment, with some 420,000 people working in tourism-related activities.”
Eszter Németh, head of KSH’s Services Statistics Department, said the strongest impulse came from abroad.
“The upward trend was mainly due to foreign visitors, who came to Hungary in greater numbers, spent more time here and spent more money than a year earlier,” Németh said. “The number of foreign arrivals increased by 4.4%, their time spent in Hungary rose by 15%, and their expenditure was 12% higher.”
Among multi-day visitors, the sharpest increases came from Austria, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the United States. Accommodation data also pointed to stronger demand from Asian and South American visitors, as well as from France. The figures confirm that Hungary’s tourism recovery is being shaped not only by nearby markets but also by longer-haul demand and higher-value trips.
The economic weight of multi-day travel remains decisive, even though one-day visits account for a growing share of total travel flows. According to KSH, day trips represented about 70% of visits in 2025 and were important in both Hungarian domestic travel and foreign visits to Hungary. But longer stays generate the real economic value, because they are linked to accommodation spending, higher daily outlays and broader use of tourism services.
The structure of spending has also changed over the past decade. KSH data shows a significant shift toward accommodation services within tourism expenditure. Hotels still accounted for more than 53% of guest traffic at Hungarian accommodation establishments, while private accommodation continued its long expansion, hosting around one-fifth of guests in 2025. Paid private accommodation has also become increasingly important among foreign visitors, accounting for 19% of their accommodation use.
The geographic concentration of tourism remained high. Four out of 10 guest nights were recorded in Budapest, and tourists from eight countries accounted for half of foreign guest nights. At the same time, many domestic tourism regions benefited from the 2025 expansion.
Budapest and its surroundings posted the fastest growth in both domestic and foreign guest traffic, while Pécs-Villány, especially Siklós and Harkány, performed strongly among domestic travelers. Szeged and its region, including Makó, stood out among foreign visitors. Tokaj and the Nyíregyháza area were among the regions that benefited least from the overall expansion. Meanwhile, domestic tourism remained important, but participation narrowed.
“The data show that fewer Hungarians took part in domestic tourism in recent years, but those who did travel took more trips, stayed longer and were able to spend more,” Németh said. “Less than half of the population took part in multi-day domestic travel in 2025.”
KSH noted that Hungarian tourism activity remains in the lower third among European Union member states. The most frequently cited reasons for not traveling include financial constraints, health problems, old age and workplace obligations. Seasonality also remains a major structural issue, with summer continuing to dominate domestic tourism, especially around Lake Balaton.
Hungarians travel inside the country far more often than abroad, but foreign trips carry much higher spending. Németh said Hungarians took roughly three times as many domestic trips as foreign ones, but spent much more abroad. On one-day trips, Hungarian tourists spent an average of HUF 9,100 domestically, compared with HUF 40,300 abroad, partly because shopping trips to neighboring countries remain significant. For multi-day travel, daily spending abroad was roughly twice the domestic level.
Foreign travel by Hungarians increased in number, but total time spent abroad declined, suggesting a growing popularity of shorter city breaks and one-day trips. Neighboring countries, especially Austria, Slovakia and Romania, remained key destinations for short visits, including shopping-related travel.
Early 2026 data suggests that the sector’s momentum is becoming more mixed. Foreign inbound trips continued to grow, though at a slower pace, while multi-day visitors stayed longer and spent more. Accommodation traffic rose 4.5% at the start of the year, but growth slowed to 0.6% in March and declined 1% in April compared with 2025.
KSH said the April fall in foreign guest numbers may have been affected by conflicts in the Middle East, with a significant decline in visitors from some affected source markets, including Israel.
Regulatory changes in Terézváros also shaped the data in Budapest. KSH found that restrictions on private and other accommodation services in District VI cut local capacity by 40%, while first-quarter guest traffic fell by 28%. Excluding Terézváros, however, Budapest recorded a 12% increase in traffic, suggesting that part of the displaced demand shifted to neighboring districts.
The 2025 figures underline a clear split in Hungary’s tourism market. Inbound demand is carrying growth and strengthening the sector’s external balance, while domestic tourism remains sizeable but increasingly selective. For policymakers and operators, the challenge is no longer to rebuild post-pandemic traffic, but to broaden participation, reduce seasonal pressure and turn higher-value foreign demand into more balanced regional gains.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of July 3, 2026.
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