The number of foreign visitors in Hungary was up 5.3% yr/yr at 10.1 million in the second quarter of 2011 and the number of Hungarians travelling abroad rose 3.8% to 4.1 million, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said on Thursday.

The number of foreign visitors rose yr/yr in Q2 the third time since Q4 2009 and the number of Hungarians travelling abroad rose for the third time since Q2 2009. Both increases started in Q4 last year.

In the first two quarters of 2011, the number of foreign visitors rose 3.5% to 17.6 million, and the number of Hungarians travelling abroad was 7.6 million, up 3.4%.

Hungary’s tourism surplus rose 5.9% yr/yr to HUF 196 billion in the second quarter of 2011 as spending by foreign tourists (tourism exports) was up 1.2% at HUF 315 billion and Hungarians’ spending abroad fell 5.8% to HUF 119 billion. In the first two quarters of 2011, HUF 359.8 billion or more than two-thirds of the amount spent by foreign tourists was related to tourism consumption. Of tourism imports, HUF 165.080 billion or 72.6% of spending was related to tourism consumption.

The tourism surplus in the first two quarters totalled HUF 295 billion, down 0.2% yr/yr, with tourism exports amounting to HUF 523 billion, down 1.0% from a year earlier, and tourism imports totalling HUF 227 billion, down 2.1% from the first half of last year.