Slight drop in tourist nights in April
In April 2018, the number of nights spent by international tourists in commercial accommodation fell by 2.2% due to a high base in April 2017, while domestic tourists spent 0.9% more nights compared to a year earlier. Overall April saw a 0.8% fall in tourist nights. In January-April, there was a 7% growth in tourist nights.
In April 2018, compared to the same month of the previous year, the number of international tourist arrivals grew by 0.8% to over 476,000, according to the latest data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH). The number of tourist nights foreign guests spent totaled a little over 1.2 million, 2.2% less than in April 2017.
In hotels - accounting for nearly 90% of tourist nights - the rate of decline was 2.7%. In the Budapest-Central Danube and Western Transdanubia regions, together accounting for 78% of tourist arrivals, the number of foreign tourist nights fell by 2.3% and 15%, respectively. In other tourist regions, the number of tourist nights rose or did not change substantially.
Guest nights spent by German and Austrian visitors dropped 6% and 16%, respectively. However, guest nights spent by U.S. nationals were up 13%, the data reveal.
The number of domestic tourist arrivals increased by 2.6% in April, while domestic tourist nights grew by 0.9% to just over 1 million. Turnover measured in tourist nights grew in boarding houses, holiday homes and campsites, and decreased in hotels and hostels. Accommodation establishments saw around 5% growth in some regions (Lake Balaton, Northern Hungary, Western Transdanubia, and Budapest-Central Danube), and falls of 2–12% in other regions.
Room occupancy in hotels increased by 0.3 percentage points to 61.2% in April.
Total gross revenues of accommodation establishments increased by 6.6% to HUF 39 billion in April; within this, accommodation fee revenues increased by 4.5% (to HUF 23 bln) and catering revenues by 23% (to HUF 9 bln), while other revenues fell by 2.4% (to HUF 7 bln) at current prices.
The amount of accommodation fee revenues from foreign visitors increased by 4.1%, while revenues from domestic visitors rose by 5.3% compared to April of the previous year.
State news wire MTI noted that the date of this yearʼs Easter Sunday, April 1, may have contributed to the overall decline in the number of guest nights in April. Travelers taking advantage of the three-day weekend would have spent two nights of their stay in Hungary at the end of March and just one in April, unlike in the base period, when Easter Sunday fell on April 16.
Steady increase in year to April
In January-April 2018, compared to the first four months of 2017, the number of tourist nights spent in commercial accommodation grew by 7.0% to a total of almost 7.4 million. Foreign guests spent 4.6% more (3.8 million) and domestic guests 9.7% more (3.5 million) nights in accommodation establishments.
Room occupancy in hotels increased by 2.7 percentage points to 53.4% in January-April.
Total gross sales in accommodation establishments grew by 12% at current prices to HUF 125 bln. Within this, accommodation revenues increased by 11% and exceeded HUF 69 bln in the first four months.
As of April 30, 2018, compared to the same date of the previous year, the number of accommodation establishments operating in Hungary increased by 84 to 2,799. The number of available rooms grew by 1.0% to nearly 82,000.
Data for tourist nights spent in commercial accommodation in May 2018 will be published by the KSH on July 11.
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