Hungary conference tourism on the upswing

The number of international conferences held in Hungary during the first half of 2011 rose more than 30% yr/yr, the state tourism agency Magyar Turizmus reported in a recently published analysis.

A total of 56,600 guests attended 212 international conferences in Hungary during the first half of the year, up 32% yr/yr and up 56.5% from the first half of 2008, before the onset of the global economic and financial crisis in the fall of that year.

The average duration of the 212 conferences was 3.8 days.

A total of 72.6% of the international conferences held in Hungary during the first half of the year took place in Budapest. Nearly three-quarters of the conferences took place in hotels, while 10.8% took place at conference centers and 6.6% at universities and scientific institutions.

Foreign companies organized the largest number of international conferences held in the country in H1 at 15.6% of all conferences held during the period, followed by foreign conference-organizing companies at 13.6%, and Hungarian companies and European alliances, both at 13.2% of all conferences.

The most common theme of the conferences was economy at 25.9% of all conferences held in H1, followed by medical at 25.0% and science at 13.7%.

Among foreign guests, Germans attended the H1 conferences in the highest number, representing 76.4% of all foreign guests, followed by guests from Great Britain at 69.3% and guests from France at 54.7%.