BSI: This year’s running races brought multi-billion-dollar revenue and a record number of tourists to Budapest

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 11. 21. 10:05

🎧 Hallgasd a cikket: Nyelv: Sebesség: 1.05×

A record number of more than 50,000 foreign tourists came to Budapest this year for the three highlight events: Telekom Vivicittá, Wizz Air Budapest Half Marathon and SPAR Budapest Marathon Festival, and it is estimated that they spent over 100,000 guest nights and spent almost 4 billion forints – according to a Wednesday statement by the Budapest Sports Office (BSI), which organizes the running races.

According to the report, almost 125 countries from 125 countries participated in the three events. 19 thousand foreign runners participated, which is an outstanding result in the region. They emphasized that the number of foreign runners has increased steadily and dynamically in the past three years, and the combined number of foreign runners in the three key events has more than doubled since 2023.

A questionnaire survey of several hundred people conducted after last year’s and this year’s races revealed that a foreign runner brings an average of 1.8 companions with them, which means that more than 50 thousand foreign visitors came to Budapest during the year thanks to BSI events. The survey also revealed that tourists do not only stay in the Hungarian capital during the event, as they spend an average of more than three nights here, choose quality accommodation, spend an average of 350-500 euros per person, and almost half of those surveyed travel to Budapest by plane.

“We are proud that our events have now become the defining drivers of Budapest tourism. When nearly 19,000 foreign runners choose Budapest, it is not only a sporting success, but also a factor in the national economy. These runners and their companions fill the hotels and restaurants, and spread the city’s good name all over the world. As a result of positive experiences and personal recommendations, more runners choose Budapest from the vast international competition offer every year”

– said Árpád Kocsis, CEO of BSI.

The announcement also states that in the past three years, the largest number of people coming to Budapest for the major autumn competitions has come from Great Britain, while the largest number of foreign participants for the shorter spring distances has come from neighboring countries and Germany. In addition, the participation of Spaniards, Norwegians and Israelis has doubled in one year compared to 2024, and compared to the numbers in 2023, almost three times as many entries have been received from all three countries. BSI events are also prestigious internationally, as evidenced by the fact that runners from the United States are among the ten most popular foreign teams every year.

The three major BSI events, including foreign participants, had more than 93,000 participants this year.