Hungarian travel agency deceived people for years

The Hungarian National Bank fined a Hungarian travel agency for deceiving tourists for years.

City Holiday Ltd is a travel agency headquartered in Siófok, a popular Hungarian tourism hot spot on the southern bank of the country’s iconic Lake Balaton. Siófok is known among tourists for its spectacular beach promenade, offering a variety of fun summer activities and a long array of bars, cafés, restaurants and open-air party places, including the Everness Festival organised in June.

Now the Hungarian National Bank fined a Siófok-based travel agency for deceiving their customers. The firm offered money exchange for years, even though they did not have the necessary permit. Therefore, they were fined over than HUF 10 million (EUR 26 thousand), Blikk, a Hungarian tabloid, wrote.

Read also:

• 5 facts you may not know about Siófok

Travel agency in hot water for illegal money exchange

The company served customers both online and in their Siófok office, where they placed an ad indicating that money exchange was also available. However, they did not obtain the permission of the national bank. During the examination, the experts of the national bank established that the company engaged in such illegal activities on a regular basis to gain extra profit. The police have not yet managed to identify their customers.

The act of illegal money exchange was caught on the spot both by monitoring and a test transaction. Both was successful, which was bad news for the company. According to the national bank, City Holiday Ltd conducted the illegal business for years even though they were well aware of the necessary permit such activity required.

Read also:

• Lake Balaton’s famous tourist destination to restrict drinking, parties, erotic dance – check out some photos and the details in THIS article

The Hungarian national bank did not shut down the company but barred them from continuing the black business. Furthermore, they fined the owners over than 26 thousand euros for the serious misconduct. However, that is not the end of the story since the national bank also reported the case to the police. Therefore, the agency should expect a long criminal process.