Tourism, catering

Tourism is the activity of people who travel from their usual environment to another place, where they spend no more than one year for recreational, business or other purposes, but do not engage in gainful activity. 'Tourism and catering' includes statistics on the transit traffic of border crossings in Hungary, on the demand side of inbound, domestic and outbound tourism as well as on tourists, their journeys and related spending. In addition, it contains statistics on the capacity, guest turnover and revenues of commercial accommodation establishments and non-profit and for-profit other accommodation establishments in Hungary, as well as the characteristics of catering units operated in Hungary.

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In September the turnover of catering units decreased

The favourable trend in consumption at catering units, typical for the summer months, was interrupted: compared to the same month of the previous year the loss of revenue at catering units was greater than in July or August. Turnover at comparative prices was 22% lower than in September of the previous year. In addition to the decline in domestic tourism in September, this may have been caused by a decline in foreign guest arrivals, connected to border crossing restrictions.

The number of tourism nights decreased by 59% in September, which was still a 15-fold increase compared to the April low, Commercial accommodation establishments, September 2020

In September 2020, as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, international tourists spent 91% fewer tourism nights in commercial accommodation establishments (hotels, boarding houses, camping sites, bungalow complexes and community hostels) compared to the same period of the previous year. Domestic guests spent 16% fewer nights. 88% of all tourism nights were spent by domestic guests. Total gross sales revenues declined by 65% at current prices in commercial accommodation establishments. The number of tourism nights was 15 times higher than the April low.

Hungarians crossed the Schengen border less often in August than in July

In August 2020, the number of people crossing Hungary's external Schengen borders at border crossing points (3.6 million people) was 61% lower than the high base a year earlier, and the annual rate of decline was higher than in June and July. The decrease was more significant for Hungarian citizens (76%) than for foreigners (57%), and our compatriots crossed the Schengen border less often in August this year than in July, contrary to the trend of previous years.

International trips, Quarter 1 2020

International trips, both to and from Hungary, showed an increasing trend in previous periods, which turned into a decline in the first quarter of 2020 (March). Due to the epidemic, Hungary introduced travel restrictions in mid-March, reducing foreign arrivals by 13% and inbound visitor spending by 7.9% at current prices in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year. Overnight business and conference arrivals as well as same day leisure and VFR arrivals decreased significantly, and 19% fewer outbound trips were made from Hungary.