Tourism sector engine of economic growth, says national tourism company head

Budapest, December 28 (MTI) – Tourism is one of Hungary’s engines of economic growth, a sector showing a steady increase between 2010 and 2014, the head of the Hungarian Tourism company said on Monday.

The number of tourists arriving from other European countries went up by 29 percent during the period, Peter Farago told MTI in an interview.

Within Europe, the number of tourists arriving from Slovakia went up by 80 percent, and from Britain and Poland by 50 percent both, he said.

The number of tourists coming from Asia increased by 60 percent and from America by 56 percent, he added.

In the first half of 2015, the number of all foreign tourists visiting Hungary went up by 17.5 percent, which was four times the global average, said Farago.

In the first ten months of the year, the number of guests and the number of guest nights spent at commercial accommodations went up by an annual 8 percent and 6 percent, respectively, he said.

Foreign tourists in Budapest alone spent around 6.7 million guest nights between January and October, 8.8 percent more than during the same period in 2014.

Based on these figures, the tourism sector is expected to post record numbers this year as well, Farago said.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters