Hungary: A Spotlight in the Middle of Europe
Well positioned in central Europe, Hungary has seriously invested in its tourism performance with several valuable prepositions for the MICE industry. Despite the pandemic-driven setback, Hungarian tourism sector bounced back almost entirely to pre-pandemic levels registering some 16.2 million foreign guest nights, according to the Hungarian Tourism Agency (HTA). This summer, Hungary was able to welcome almost 2.5 times more international tourists than last summer with around 6 million foreign and 10.7 million Hungarian guest nights spent in all of the country's accommodation.
Destination Highlights
Hungary today offers a perfect combination of leisure, adventure, incentive programs and event spaces with excellent infrastructure for meetings and events. This also makes its capital Budapest a very pleasant destination for tourists and delegates. But what is making Hungary one of the world's top destinations anyway? Right from the start, its incredible and convenient accessibility makes life easy for those who visit: the capital Budapest has an excellent rail network with direct links to destinations such as Vienna, Bratislava and Prague. From Budapest, you can also reach Vienna in two and a half hours, Bratislava in two hours and anywhere in the country in less than three hours.
Innovation pinches in Hungary
Hungary is now strategically betting on digitalisation. "In September, we launched our Hungarian Digital Agency which aims to assist the government in the process of digitalising services, identification and migrating the entire administrative process to online." But the big news for the tourism sector is a new statistical software that will focus directly on data collection on stay bookings and tourist information that will be extended to the MICE industry.
Country’s investments and major industries
Long before COVID-19, there was already a lot of investments, especially in the booming automotive industry. "We have well-known automakers in the country, such as BMW, Suzuki or Mercedes-Benz with one of the biggest factories in Europe, attracting many other small manufacturers to the market. A Chinese manufacturer of car batteries has also entered the country with a plant in one of the biggest investments ever in Hungary. They are a magnet for our economy," tells us Ivan Ljubinkovic (on the left), Regional Head of Business Development at HTA.
HTA and HCB strategic promotions
HTA outlined a strategy that aims to boost the country's tourism by 2030, and with that several partnerships were built. B2C communication marketing campaigns with entities such as CNN, National Geographic, Expedia Group, and other agreements with airlines such as Lufthansa to improve connectivity between Hungary and the rest of the world.
