Hungary to say goodbye to masks and welcome tourists?

Hotel and restaurant owners alike are pleased with the alleviations to be made by the government as soon as the number of inoculated people reaches 5.5. million in Hungary. According to experts, thanks to the ease of restrictions, demand may skyrocket in the tourism sector.

As we previously reported, a number of epidemiological measures will be lifted in Hungary as soon as vaccinations reach 5.5 million. Accordingly, wearing a mask will no longer be mandatory indoors, and people will be allowed to go to hotels, restaurants, baths, and water parks without an immunity certificate. The certificate will only be required at mass events, including concerts, festivals, sports events, nightclubs, etc. For the time being, mandatory mask-wearing remains in healthcare; however, it is still questionable whether non-vaccinated hotel or restaurant workers will be required to wear a mask.

The ease of restrictions in Hungary will probably generate an explosive growth in demand that will significantly affect the tourism sector. According to the vice president of the Association of Hungarian Hotels and Restaurants, the growth of vaccination in Hungary has slowed down in the last 3 weeks, which means that anyone who wanted to get a vaccine in Hungary has gone for it, while the rest of the people are most likely unwilling to do so.

According to hotel owners, the Hungarian government has definitely made a good decision with the ease of restrictions, thanks to which demand has started to increase in the sector.

Csaba Baldauf also added that they had already reached 90% occupancy in their hotel near Hévíz, and a full house can be expected in July. People’s desire to travel and relax has increased noticeably in recent weeks.

In addition to the partial abolition of the immunity certificate, the EU Green Passport will come into force from 1st July, contributing to the restart of international tourism for those in the European Union who have been vaccinated or have gone through the disease.

Bilateral agreements concluded by the Hungarian government with other countries have caused a number of benefits to accommodation providers, thanks to which,

in addition to domestic tourism, international tourism can also start to revive.

As the Hungarian news portal Portfolio reports, its winners so far are the hotels in Sárvár and Bükk, welcoming more and more Czech and Slovak guests. As far as Budapest hotels are concerned, the eighth final of the Netherlands-Czech Republic Football Championship match at the Puskás Arena on Sunday will probably bring outstanding occupancy, as thousands of tourists can come from these two countries. However, due to the weak vaccination campaign in Russia, few Russian tourists are likely to arrive this year. Similarly to Israeli tourists who – despite the country’s world-leading vaccination programme – have been asked to minimise their travel abroad this year.

Restaurant owners are also pleased with the alleviations made by the government. Previously, there were several cases when families could not eat indoors as one of the members did not have an immunity card. This led to embarrassing situations. Such was the case, for example, when unvaccinated guests sitting on the terrace of a restaurant in Lake Balaton could not be let inside the building when a storm suddenly appeared. Or when unvaccinated people were separated from other guests at a wedding.

According to László Kovács, President of the Hungarian Catering Industry Association, the abolition of the mandatory application of the immunity certificate will have a positive effect on demand in Hungarian restaurants. He added that a rational decision has been made, and they trust that the government’s epidemiological advisors and experts have given the matter sufficient thought.

The experts also emphasised that despite the current promising situation, they are worried about a possible autumn outbreak of the virus and expressed their support for the government’s vaccine campaign so that this scenario can be avoided. According to the vice president of the hotel association, the majority of entrepreneurs would probably not survive another nationwide lockdown.

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