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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Turnover at food service establishments in April was significantly lower than before the epidemic

The easing of the epidemic situation allowed food service establishments to open their terraces at the end of April, resulting in a total of HUF 67 billion in revenue for the month, more than in any month since November 2020. At comparable prices, the volume of turnover was more than double the April 2020 figure measured during the first wave of the epidemic, but still 48% below April 2019.

Browse our data on the coronavirus pandemic

It is particularly important to present, in addition to our regular and detailed publications, the current situation of the areas most affected by the pandemic with flash estimates using a limited information base. Our WEEKLY MONITOR presents the economic and social impacts of the pandemic through daily, weekly and monthly updated preliminary data as a collection of interactive diagrams.

Tourism nights nearly tripled compared to April 2020 and fell 91% on the same month in 2019, Commercial accommodation establishments, April 2021

As a result of border crossing restrictions and Covid-19 protection measures for commercial accommodation, domestic tourists spent 87% fewer tourism nights in commercial accommodation establishments (hotels, boarding houses, camping sites, bungalow complexes and community hostels) in April compared to the same month in 2019, before the outbreak. International guests spent 94% fewer nights. Compared to April 2020, the observed indicators show an increase, with the number of tourism nights in April 2021 almost three times higher than a year earlier. The number of domestic tourism nights increased by 2 thousand compared to the previous month.

In April, border crossing traffic was the highest since October 2020

In April, nearly 2 million people crossed Hungary's external Schengen border crossings, with the average daily passenger traffic (66,000) the highest since October 2020. This figure was more than four times higher than in April last year, when the border was also closed due to the epidemic, but only 43% of the figure for 2019.

Number of restaurants down by 260 in 2020

The decline in the number of food service providers in Hungary continued in 2020. There were 25,000 restaurants and nearly 15,000 drinks outlets and music venues on the last day of the year, 260 and 1,030 fewer respectively than in 2019. In contrast, the number of food service providers providing workplace, event and public catering services continued the trend of previous years.

International trips, Quarter 4 2020

From October to the end of December 2020, Covid-19 border measures reduced year-on-year the number of foreigners visiting Hungary by almost half, with overnight leisure, entertainment and health preservation trips falling to one tenth, trips abroad made by Hungarian residents decreasing by 61% and working trips by barely one tenth.