According to experts, gastro-tourism is booming in Hungary

Balázs Csapody, president of the Pannon Gastronomic Academy (PGA), said that with the strengthening of gastrotourism, the number of Michelin-starred restaurants in Hungary could continue to increase. There are currently two 2-Michelin-star and seven 1-Michelin-star restaurants in the country, as well as six so-called Bib Gourmand restaurants. The latter is a restaurant with high-quality cuisine, where you can get high-quality food at a good value for money, at a more moderate price, he explained.

He added: the number of these restaurants will continue to grow, more and more high-quality catering establishments are operating. The guests also have a demand for this, more and more people are looking for high quality and consciously choose a restaurant. More and more people are buying high-quality meat or bread from local producers, and there are also foreigners who choose a destination in Hungary because of the restaurants and wines.

He touched on the fact that they are working to raise Hungarian gastronomy to world class, and the newly established Tourism Advisory Board is also strengthening this work. He called it important that they can participate in the development of sector rules, so that communication between sector actors and decision-makers is useful and continuous. It is in everyone’s interest that a profitable, developing gastronomy with a vision for the future operates, he said, and he believed that this might require simplifying the administration.

According to Balázs Csapody, the number of guests may continue to increase this year, domestic tourism will pick up, and people are expected to spend more as real wages rise.

According to László Kovács, the president of the Hungarian Catering Association, the fact that the Hungarian team reached the finals of the Bocuse d’Or international cooking competition in Lyon this year also shows that there are excellent professionals working in the country. Hungarians are at the forefront of Europe, their work has a great impact not only on their immediate environment, but also on the entire profession – he emphasized.

He added: Hungary’s good position in gastronomy is characteristic not only in the region, but also globally, “Hungarian cuisine is world-class”. As an example, he mentioned that the diversity of Hungarian soups – from thin soups and broths, to ragout soups, to condensed soups – is not typical in many other cultures. More and more foreign tourists are coming to the country with the specific aim of getting to know Hungarian gastronomy and trying one of the dishes, he said.

The president called the creation of the Tourism Advisory Board, which was established in March and already held its first meeting, of great importance. The board will function as an advisory and consultative board of the Ministry of National Economy in matters concerning the tourism sector, it will meet quarterly, he explained. According to the plans, the board will assist the work of the government with information and suggestions coming directly from the actors of the sector, so that the most well-founded governmental decisions can be made in matters of strategic importance related to tourism and hospitality, he said. According to him, this will also promote the more effective use of the opportunities of Hungarian tourism, so that Hungary becomes an even more attractive destination for both foreign and domestic tourists.

He explained that changes are needed in vocational training, because the sector is dominated by small businesses, 90 percent of which are micro-enterprises, and because of this, few people are able to participate in dual training, mostly due to the lack of capacity. He noted that vocational training has not developed enough in the last 25 years, but at the same time, with direct contracts from schools, students have the opportunity to study in foreign, Michelin-starred restaurants.