What will happen with the hospitality industry?

Tourism is one of the key sectors of the Hungarian economy. Nearly 300 thousand people works there and brings 8-10 percent of the GDP of the country. Catering is the 40 percent of tourism.

28-30 percent of the resturants can disappear due to the crisis and govermental measures,  which may affects 35-40 thousands workers – declared Háber Tamás President of Hungarian Caterers Industry Panel (MVĮ). In Háber’s opinion hospitality industry is overtaxed, and the five percent Value Added Tax increase makes things worse. Neighboring countries have much lower taxes in similar services. For example in Austria 10, in Italy  9 and in the Czech Republic the VAT taxe rate is 5 percent. In Hungary, after increasing VAT accommodation and travel will be more expensive and cost of the catering industry may grow with one-third part. Planning the introduction of  property taxes will bring more serious problems.