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The most visited Hungarian tourist destinations – top list
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Tourism in Hungary is flourishing: records of guest reservations are broken every year, and hotels are full all the time, which also makes tax grow significantly. HelloVidék.hu has examined the most visited settlements where local governments get the highest income from tourism tax.
According to the analysis of KSH (Hungarian Central Statistical Office) from 2018, the sector has constantly been growing since 2013. The accommodation service’s gross income grew by 8.8% (on the same rate) in 2018 and exceeded the average growth tempo of the GDP in the country. The number of employees in the sector was 105000 last year, which means a 3% growth compared to 2017.
Since 2009, the number of overnights has been rising significantly every year.
Last year, it exceeded 30 million and is still rising.
During the first 5 months of 2019 (10015827), there have been more guest overnights spent than during the same period of 2018 (962450), based on the information of KSH.
Serious differences can be recognised based on seasonality. According to KSH, in July and August, the number of guests was three times more than in January and February this year. The warmer climate intensifies tourism, and at the end of the year, during autumn and winter, it slows down again.
There are five special regions in the country that are financially supported by the government to attract tourists. In Tokaj, Felső-Tisza, and Nyírség, significant growth was achieved in terms of guest overnights compared to 2017. The guest turnover increased by 12.9%. At the Danube Bend, the rise was 6.9%. The region of Balaton has not achieved outstanding growth. However, it is still the most visited tourist site of all in the country.
According to the Hungarian Touristic Agency (MTÜ), the top three accommodation sites of 2018 were in
Budapest, Hévíz, and Hajdúszoboszló.
Among the Hungarian citizens, Budapest and Hajdúszoboszló are the most popular, with Zalakaros in the third place. Foreigners prefer the settlements around Balaton after Budapest because of the spas. In 2018, the ten most-visited settlements registered altogether 16 646 635 overnights, and this is 53.5% of the whole customer turnover in Hungary.
Here is the list of the 20 most visited settlements of Hungary
- Budapest
- Hévíz
- Hajdúszoboszló
- Bük
- Balatonfüred
- Zalakaros
- Siófok
- Sárvár
- Győr
- Szeged
- Gyula
- Eger
- Miskolc
- Debrecen
- Sopron
- Visegrád
- Pécs
- Kecskemét
- Velence
- Gyöngyös
Compared to the previous one, this list changed a lot. We can see that the spas and county seats are the most favoured destinations of tourists. The settlements including spas for all seasons have made considerable progress on this list. So, we can see what we should aim to improve.
