Let’s find out if it’s still possible to go on cheap holidays in Hungary

By: Trademagazin Date: 2022. 08. 29. 10:07

Tourism does not have easy years: it has barely overcome the closures due to the coronavirus epidemic, and the new challenge, the energy crisis, is already here. The big question now is whether there is a way out of this. According to the expert, it is, because the resilience of the sector is clearly underestimated, and although we are not yet at the 2019 level in terms of volumes, the current results are reassuring in many ways, Márton Takács told Pénzcentrum. The global head of the Moore Global Hotel and Tourism working group also spoke about the already mentioned relationship between Budapest hotels and Hungarian tourists, but room prices and the now inevitable sustainability were also discussed.

In 2019, 85 percent of all hotel guest nights in Budapest were foreigners

Pénzcentrum: The relationship between tourism and the coronavirus epidemic is quite complicated: as they say, tourism was the first to be cut down by covid, and it will be the last to recover. Do you think this statement holds true?

Márton Takács: Compared to other large industries, the epidemic really affected tourism much more, this part is true. But I think that the resilience of the sector as a whole – and this includes the hotel sector, the travel industry, the airline industry – is greatly underestimated by many actors. Although we are not yet at the 2019 level in terms of volumes, the current results are reassuring in several ways.

Since the travel restrictions were lifted, recovery has begun at a pace that can be said to be exemplary. I strongly dispute the opinions that this is an overly sensitive sector that cannot stand on its feet. Among other things, it is a very encouraging fact that the forecasts issued by the UN World Tourism Organization during the pandemic have not significantly deteriorated, even in the midst of the current war events, in the already challenging economic environment. According to this forecast, 2024 is still the date when we reach the travel volumes of 2019.

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