Tourist season in trouble in Hungary’s most popular destination

The buffets at Lake Balaton promise that they will try not to raise their prices too much. There is a huge shortage of skilled chefs and bartenders who speak languages at the Hungarian sea. However, it’s not easy to negotiate a wage that they would accept.

Tourist season is starting, Balaton restaurants and bars in trouble?

The tourist season at Balaton is about to begin. One of the biggest questions is again what prices will be charged at lakeside bars and restaurants, and how to attract staff, hvg.hu writes. Sonline has made a report on the restaurants and cafés at Lake Balaton, and their findings are quite interesting.

According to the news portal, most of the restaurants they surveyed offer food at last year’s prices. On average, a cheese and cream lángos costs HUF 1700-1800 (EUR 4.60-4.87) (in some places, it is even more expensive: we wrote about this in detail HERE). Many have already hired their entire summer staff, but some cannot find a cook for HUF 30,000 (EUR 81.19) a day.

Trying not to raise prices amid EU-record inflation

Almost everyone told Sonline that they are trying not to raise prices too much from last summer. This is a challenge because food prices are much higher than a year ago. Thus, restaurants either have to cut back on quality, cut back on workers’ wages, or their profits will be much lower. In any case, there were those who said that “together with other restaurants we have squeezed prices”.

Many people apply to be a bartender, but it’s hard to find someone who speaks foreign languages, those questioned said. Some people complained that they had not been able to find a qualified cook, even though they were offered a net salary of HUF 30,000 for 10-12 hours a day.

Development makes these places attractive to guests

Tamás Fekete, vice-president of the Balaton Tourism Association (Balatoni Turizmus Szövetség), told the portal that companies see that if they want to remain attractive, they have to reinvest their revenue back into development. In any case, based on their preliminary data, they expect good months ahead.

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