Ráhel Orbán, the daughter of PM Viktor Orbán who serves as the creative director of BDPST Group, which manages a range of upscale hotels in Hungary, pointed to the need for broad cooperation among professional organizations in the interest of advancing the sector further and suggested compiling an annual calendar of events.

She said that higher prices had squeezed domestic tourists out of their own markets across Europe and highlighted the importance of reaching those guests whose familiarity with their cultures guided their choices.

She noted a sharper focus on wellness tourism as well as demand for suites that could accommodate workshops and smaller-scale events.

Budapest has been impacted less by climate change than destinations in the south of Europe, which could work to its advantage, she said, adding that more visitors were coming in the fall, while weekends in December were now “peak” periods.

Tourism Sector “Not Doing Badly”

Balázs Kovács, the CEO of Danubius Hotels, said Hungary’s tourism sector was “not doing badly”, adding that guest numbers had recovered to pre-pandemic levels. He said that the profitability of the sector, impacted by higher energy prices, inflation, and rising payroll costs, was “more problematic”. Speaking as a leader of the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, he said “much progress” had been made in terms of cooperation among industry players in recent years.

He said more long-haul flights to Budapest could boost the number of high spenders from markets in America and Asia.

Zoltán Roy Zsiday, the owner of Zsidai Group and the head of the Hungarian Restaurant Association, said local offerings needed to be expanded to attract tourists with more spending power. Five “luxury tourists” are equivalent to a hundred “party tourists”, he added.