Russian tourists completely disappeared from Hungary

Since the outbreak of the war, the number of Russian tourists in Budapest has decreased significantly. According to the Association of Hungarian Tour Guides, Russians can only come to Hungary with a transfer due to the sanctions, so the journey is much longer and more expensive.

Russian tourists do not come to Hungary anymore

At the beginning of 2022, the number of hotel guest nights of Russian tourists in Budapest reached the pre-covid level. By the beginning of this year, however, it had decreased to barely a tenth of the previous year. According to the data of the National Tourist Information Center, this is the trend throughout the country.

A particularly large decline can be observed at Lake Balaton. Compared to 2019, the number of Russian guest nights at Lake Balaton decreased to one-twentieth. Russian tourists are also missing from Hévíz, where they used to make up a significant part of the guests. There, they are trying to replace the missing Russians from other countries.

Why have the Russian guests disappeared?

The loss of guests is very noticeable, since the Russian guests spent 10-12 nights with us in Hévíz, and they are well-spending guests, so they used the services, not only in their accommodation, hotels, private accommodations, but also outside the city, Gábor Papp, the mayor of Hévíz, told RTL.

According to the Association of Hungarian Tour Guides, fewer people are coming due to the difficulty of air transport. Last February, the EU banned all Russian airlines and private planes from its airspace.”The direct flight between Budapest and Moscow has stopped, you can only get here by taking very long detours. Recently, tourists mainly come to us from Buaku and Istanbul, but they can also come via Dubai, Belgrade and Astana,” explained tour guide Júlia Sarlai, one of the leaders of the Association of Hungarian Tour Guides.

The situation is similar in whole Europe

Because of the transfers, the flight was not only longer, but also much more expensive. According to Júlia Sarlai, the situation is similar to that in Hungary throughout Europe: the number of Russian tourists has decreased by 90-95 percent. According to the Hungarian Tourism Agency, with the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Russian war, the decrease in Russian visitor traffic can be felt especially in the spa towns.