Hungary leaves Austria and Croatia behind as tourism smashes all records in 2025 – latest data

Hungary’s tourism sector set a new all-time record in 2025, surpassing even the previous year’s historic high, with the total number of visitors exceeding 20 million, according to Zoltán Guller, President of the Hungarian Tourism Agency.

Speaking at a press conference in Budapest on Monday presenting the preliminary tourism results for 2025, Guller described the performance as exceptional, noting that a country of just 10 million inhabitants welcomed roughly twice as many guests as its population.

Tourism growth outpaces regional competitors

In terms of visitor growth, Hungarian tourism expanded at 2.5 times the EU average, outperforming several major regional competitors. Compared to 2024, Hungary’s growth exceeded Austria’s by more than double, Croatia’s by more than fivefold, and the Czech Republic’s by over two times.

Guller highlighted that

Hungary ranked 7th in the European Union in terms of visitor-number growth, calling the result a source of national pride.

Balanced domestic and international tourism

According to preliminary data, domestic and international tourists each accounted for roughly half of total arrivals in 2025. In Budapest, the number of visitors rose by more than 13 percent, with over 7 million foreign and more than 1 million domestic guests.

Nationwide, the number of guest nights also increased significantly, reaching 48.92 million, up from 46.65 million a year earlier.

Strong performance outside Budapest

Tourism growth was not limited to the capital. Rural Hungary welcomed more than 12 million visitors, including 9 million domestic and nearly 3.5 million foreign tourists.

The Balaton region alone attracted 3.4 million visitors, including more than 2.5 million Hungarians and nearly 830,000 foreign tourists. Accommodation providers around Lake Balaton generated approximately HUF 218 billion (€560 million) in revenue, accounting for more than 20 percent of total rural tourism traffic.

Based on guest-night figures, the most visited rural destinations were Siófok, Hévíz, Hajdúszoboszló, Balatonfüred, and Bük.

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Key source markets

Germany remained Hungary’s most important source market, recording 13 percent growth, followed by Romania, Poland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Additional increases were registered from the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, the United States, and Spain.

In Budapest specifically, the largest number of foreign visitors arrived from the United Kingdom, followed by Germany, Italy, the United States, Spain, Romania, Israel, Poland, and France.

SZÉP Card spending and future priorities

Domestic tourism spending also reached new highs through Hungary’s SZÉP Card system. In 2025, card top-ups totalled HUF 499 billion (€1.28 billion), a 10 percent increase, while spending reached HUF 492 billion (€1.26 billion), up 14 percent year-on-year. By the end of December, HUF 127 billion (€325 million) remained available on SZÉP Cards.

Looking ahead, Guller stressed that the government’s priority is not to significantly increase visitor numbers beyond 20 million, but to focus on quality and attract higher-spending tourists.

“The goal is quality-driven growth rather than sheer volume,” he said.

Tourism service providers can continue to access fixed-interest loans at 2.5 percent, available through the Kisfaludy Tourism Credit Centre.

Budapest Airport reaches 19 million passengers on December

Hungary’s tourism boom was also reflected in air traffic figures. Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport has emerged as one of the most dynamically developing airports in Central Europe in recent years.

After handling 17.6 million passengers in 2024, the airport set multiple new records in 2025. From April onward, monthly passenger numbers consistently exceeded 1.5 million, followed by the busiest summer in the airport’s history. Traffic remained exceptionally strong in the autumn months as well, averaging 1.8 million passengers per month.

December marked a historic milestone: before the end of the year, passenger traffic surpassed 19 million, the highest figure in the airport’s 75-year history, underscoring Hungary’s growing role as a regional tourism and aviation hub.

As we wrote earlier, the long-awaited airport rail link project finally kicks off: Fast track from the capital to Budapest Airport.