According to these figures, the yearly performance of Hungary's tourism sector exceeded all expectations, especially in the last month of the year. Compared to December 2013 - in the same period - foreign overnight stays increased by 14.9%, while room revenues increased by 27.1%. Domestic tourism also increased with overnight stays increasing by 10.1%, while the room revenues generated by these tourists increased by 18.5% compared to December 2013. Overall, we can say that in the final month of the year, tourist traffic increased by 12.5% compared to the previous year’s December.
The State Secretary of Economic Regulation, Béla Glattfelder, says that in December 2014 almost all major hotels in Budapest could have put up the "no vacancies” sign. He also highlighted that while Russian tourism was on the decline Europe-wide, two countries saw an increase in the number of Russian tourists: Cyprus and Hungary. A reported 20-30% fewer tourists traveled from Russia to other countries within Europe, however, despite this, there was an increase in the number of Russians visiting Hungary. The reason seems to be the thermal waters, with many Russians coming to Hungary to visit thermal baths.
Nights spent by tourists in Hungary produced quite incredible numbers in 2014. Last year 9.5 million guests spent 24.2 million nights in Hungary's hotels, motels, hostels and camping grounds. The domestic visitor numbers increased by 10% too and the room revenues from local tourism increased by 15%. The accommodation revenue increase from foreign tourists almost reached 11% as well. In connection with this the Deputy State Secretary for Tourism, Ádám Ruszinkó, says that over the past few decades tourism has become a key industry in Hungary, and that the hotel capacity has also increased enormously in Budapest to keep up with this growing demand.
By looking at the number of guest nights, in 2014 foreign tourists primarily came from Germany with 2 008 068 German tourists visiting Hungary, then Austria with 816 225 visitors, and thirdly Russia with exactly 778 561 Russian tourists coming to Hungary.
The CEO of the Hungarian National Tourist Office, Péter Faragó, added that Germany is one of the most important targets for tourism marketing campaigns, and that in the future, they will reach out to the younger generation of Germans too.
