NGM: Márton Nagy asked Booking to comply with the law and ensure the acceptance of the SZÉP card

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 10. 25. 12:01

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Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy received Katerina Shearer, Booking.com’s head of government relations for the Central and Eastern European region, in his office. At the meeting, the current situation of domestic accommodation bookings and tourism was reviewed – the Ministry of National Economy (NGM) announced on Friday.

According to the announcement, “it has been established that the performance of Hungarian tourism is steadily strengthening: in the first eight months of the year, the number of guest nights increased by 5.5 percent, so the sector can close a record year in 2024 as well.”

They stated that maintaining the dynamic growth of tourism is a common interest – added the NGM.

The parties also agreed that online solutions are increasingly preferred by tourists, as they provide fast, convenient and transparent administration, as well as the opportunity to compare different accommodations.

Booking.com is one of the largest online accommodation brokerage platforms, which is also a dominant market player in our country. It currently displays more than 22,000 Hungarian service providers on its interface, of which around 6,800 are Budapest accommodations.

Although online accommodation brokers make the market more transparent, a number of issues and problematic areas have recently emerged regarding the operation of Booking.com from accommodation providers, consumers and authorities alike.