Foreign runners are flocking to Budapest

According to mno.hu, the number of guest nights spent in Budapest has grown almost by 50% over the past five years, but tourism indicators per capita are still low.

To the Budapest Half Marathon in autumn, 30%, to the Marathon, 50% more people registered by the end of July than this time last year – Vilaggazdasag wrote. Arpad Kocsis, executive director of BSI said the runners and their companions will be an average of 3.2-3.8 nights in the city in 2015, mostly in 3 and 4-star hotels. Among the accomodation, the rate of apartment has increased: between 2012 and 2014, this figure rose from 11% to 24%.

Number of Eastern European increased

The number of Eastern European participants has also increased in recent years, even the 2-2.5 times of the earlier. This is due to the fact the registration costs 60-80% of the entry fee of the Berlin Marathon.

“At Half Marathon, the national top list remains to be led by the British, while the 42.2 km-length is led by the French. The third place is for the Italians, the list includes a total of 75 countries” – Arpad Kocsis told Vilaggazdasag.

According to the comparative study of Roland Berger consulting firm, thenumber of guest nights spent in Budapest has increased by 45% in the past five years, but the specific indicators remain low per capita. The international mass sports event is a little-exploited genre so far, while a total of 15 thousand runner tourists arrived to competitions of Telekom Vivicitta, Wizz Air Budapest Half Marathon and Spar Marathon Budapest last year.

based on the article of mno.hu
translated by BA

Source: http://mno.hu