Tourism Nights Spent in Hungary Down Slightly in April

The number of tourism nights decreased by 4.7% and that of tourist arrivals by 1.3% compared to a year earlier

In April 2024, 1.2 million guests spent nearly 2.9 million tourism nights at tourist accommodation establishments. The number of arrivals was 1.3% and tourism nights 4.7% lower than a year earlier, due to the absence of holiday long weekends in April this year. The number of nights spent by domestic guests decreased by 8.9% and international tourism nights by 0.9%. The decline was partly caused by the different timing of holiday long weekends compared to April 2023. This year, three of the four days from Good Friday to Easter Monday fell in March and, unlike last year, there was no long weekend on May 1, KSH notes. 

Some 71% of tourism nights were at commercial accommodation establishments, where turnover was 5.5% lower than a year earlier. Private and other accommodation establishments registered 2.7% fewer tourism nights than a year earlier.

The number of domestic tourist arrivals decreased by 5.5% and that of domestic tourism nights by 8.9% compared to the same month of the previous year. Tourist arrivals numbered 598 thousand and the tourism nights spent 1.3 million at tourist accommodation establishments, within which commercial accommodation establishments registered 434,000 tourist arrivals and 952,000 tourism nights. Some 76% of the latter were spent at hotels, where the number of tourism nights was 3% lower than a year earlier. The number of domestic tourism nights spent at private or other accommodation establishments was down by 12% compared to April 2023. The number of tourism nights spent by domestic guests increased the most in the Bük and Sárvár tourism area (by 14%) and decreased the most in the Tokaj and Nyíregyháza area (by 22%) compared to the same period last year. In Budapest, the number of nights spent by domestic guests in tourist accommodation increased by 8.2%, while at Lake Balaton it decreased by 8.9%.

The number of international arrivals increased by 3.2% and international tourism nights decreased by 0.9% compared to the same month last year. The 609,000 guests having arrived at tourist accommodation establishments spent nearly 1.6 million tourism nights there, of which commercial accommodation establishments registered 433,000 guests and 1.1 million tourism nights, respectively. 82% of the latter were spent at hotels, where the number of tourism nights was 0.8% lower than a year earlier. The number of international tourism nights spent at private or other accommodation establishments grew by 5.5% compared to April 2023. The number of international tourism nights increased most in Debrecen and surroundings (by 26%), and decreased most (by 51%) in the Gyula region compared to the same period last year. In Budapest, the number of international tourism nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments increased by 4.2%, while at Lake Balaton it decreased by 6.7%.

A total of 22,532 tourist accommodation establishments, within which 2,409 commercial and 20,123 private or other accommodation establishments welcomed guests.

Of commercial accommodation establishments, 940 hotels and 1,024 boarding houses were open for part or all of April.

The total gross sales revenues of tourist accommodation establishmentsamounted to HUF 69.2 billion, which was 3.6% higher at current prices than a year earlier.

Széchenyi Recreation Card was used by cardholders to spend nearly HUF 3 billion, 5.6% less at current prices, at tourist accommodation establishments compared to the same month of the previous year.

In January-April 2024, tourist accommodation establishments registered a total of around 10 million tourism nights, up 7.7%. Domestic guests and international guests spent 4.8% and 10% more tourism nights respectively (4.7 million and 5.3 million) in tourist accommodation establishments.