The number of foreign guests increased by 16 percent in the first quarter of 2025

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 04. 29. 12:00

In the first quarter of 2025, nearly 3.2 million guests arrived at Hungarian accommodation facilities, 8.4 percent more than in the same period in 2024. Guests spent a total of nearly 7.3 million guest nights in our country, which is a 1.1 percent increase compared to the first three months of last year’s record year. Accommodation facilities nationwide recorded more than 190.6 billion forints in revenue, 14.4 percent more than at this time last year. The outstanding results are largely due to the continuously strengthening foreign demand, the Ministry of National Economy (NGM) highlighted on Tuesday, analyzing the latest tourism data.

It was announced that the number of foreign travelers of 1.7 million increased by 16 percent, while the almost 4.1 million foreign guest nights exceeded the value of January-March last year by nearly 7 percent nationwide, and by an even greater extent, 10.3 percent in the capital.

The analysis provided to MTI cites data from the Central Statistical Office and the National Tourism Data Service Center, according to which a total of 1.1 million guests, including more than 600,000 foreigners, stayed at Hungarian accommodations in March 2025. The number of foreign guests increased by 5.6 percent compared to the same period last year.

The NGM also drew attention to the fact that bad weather had an adverse effect on domestic travel sentiment (the average monthly temperature in March this year was 1.5 degrees Celsius lower than in the third month of 2024, while the national average rainfall was nearly three times that of last year), and the data was also negatively affected by the fact that Easter fell in April this year, not March, and that, unlike last year, March 15 did not result in a long weekend. As a result, guest traffic fell slightly, by 1.1 percent, from last March.

Despite the bad weather conditions, domestic accommodation establishments registered nearly 2.7 million guest nights. The 1.5 million guest nights spent by foreign guests exceeded the value of last March, but the total guest night turnover in accommodation establishments still decreased by 5.9 percent compared to last March.

The analysis highlighted that accommodation establishments recorded a total revenue of 69.2 billion forints in March, which represents a 6.2 percent increase compared to last year. Of this, 36.2 billion forints were spent by tourists in the countryside, where revenues were practically the same as the previous year.

The continuous and dynamic expansion of foreign guest turnover also highlights that Hungary is an increasingly attractive destination among international travelers. Tourism is a sector of strategic importance to the Hungarian economy, providing a livelihood for around 400,000 families, and thanks to the exceptional results of the past year, it has emerged as one of the most important economic driving sectors, the Ministry of Tourism emphasized.