Improving trends

Hospitality specifically related to tourism

Gross sales in the tourism accommodation segment (commercial, private and other) amounted to HUF 905bn in 2023, 24% more than a year earlier at current prices. Revenues from accommodation fees represented a value of HUF 618bn in 2023, catering generated HUF 198bn and other revenues amounted to HUF 89bn. Expenditure on domestic overnight trips totalled HUF 632bn in 2023 (vs. HUF 512bn in 2022), from which meals in restaurants, bars and cafés accounted for HUF 83bn (vs. HUF 71bn in 2022). As regards expenditure on hospitality, in 2023 the main destinations for domestic multi-day trips were Lake Balaton (36%), Northern Hungary (15%) and the Budapest-Central Danube Region (11%).

Enterprises in the hospitality sector and VAT rates in international comparison

In 2022 there were 13.1 thousand self-employed people and 14.7 thousand businesses operating in the catering sector. 62% of the self-employed worked in restaurants and mobile food service and 30% in beverage service. With the exception of 10 large companies, the 27.8 thousand self-employed and businesses in the sector were SMEs. Hungary’s preferential VAT rate that applies to certain segments of the catering sector is the second lowest in the European Union. All EU member states except for Denmark apply a reduced VAT rate to accommodation services, and 21 countries have a reduced VAT rate for catering (typically food and non-alcoholic beverages). //