Statistical report 2025

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/8-9.

Károly Zerényi
advisor to the president
MVI

The first part of the summary of the status report deals with the economic importance of tourism and hospitality. Tourism is one of the largest sectors of the national economy, accounting for 9.3% of the GDP in 2023. The tourism sectors (including hospitality) contributed 6.3% to the national economy and 422,000 people were employed in these areas.

The hospitality network

At the end of 2024 there were 43,600 hospitality establishments in Hungary – 1,300 fewer than a year earlier. The number of commercial hospitality establishments was 1,000 fewer than at the end of 2023. Despite the decline in the number of units, the geographical distribution of catering establishments didn’t change significantly in 2024: as in previous years, 30% of them (13,200 units) were concentrated in the Central Hungary region, which includes Budapest. In 2024 there were 45 catering establishments per 10,000 inhabitants, 7 fewer than in 2019. The role of sole traders in the operation of catering businesses continued to decline, with sole traders operating 29% of them at the end of 2024 – compared to nearly 40% a decade earlier. Owing to unfavourable demographic trends, a shrinking workforce is likely to remain one of the biggest challenges in the sector.