Travel
Discover Hungary's Top Destinations for International Travelers
The capital, Lake Balaton, and the major spa towns once again took the lead as the most favored domestic destinations in the previous year. However, there's a notable contrast between domestic and foreign tourists. While domestic tourism gained prominence during the COVID epidemic, the year 2022 witnessed foreign tourist nights surpassing domestic ones, totaling 13,400 and 8,800, respectively, according to research conducted by the Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation.
In the wake of this recovery, foreign visitors are gradually making their way back to Hungarian tourist destinations. Among them, Budapest remained a primary attraction for foreign tourists last year. When it comes to rural destinations, spa towns like Heviz, Buk, Sarvar in western Hungary, and Hajduszoboszlo and Debrecen in eastern Hungary, as well as Siofok and Balatonfüred around Lake Balaton, Gyor in northwestern Hungary, and Szeged in southern Hungary topped the list of popular spots.
While many Hungarians also visited the capital, Budapest was the destination of choice for approximately three-quarters of foreigners, in stark contrast to only a quarter of Hungarian tourists.
Among rural destinations, the most frequented were the areas surrounding Lake Balaton, particularly Siofok and Balatonfüred. These cities were closely followed by spa towns like Hajduszoboszlo, Zalakaros, Heviz, Gyula, Eger, Miskolc, and Bük.
Although foreign tourists are most likely to explore Budapest, there are several popular countryside destinations that attract them as well. Heviz, for instance, has traditionally been a favorite among Russian tourists, but recent geopolitical developments have impacted their numbers. As a response, the town is striving to compensate for the loss of Russian visitors by targeting other markets, primarily neighboring countries such as Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic, as well as Germany, which has long been a traditional market for Hévíz tourism. In 2022, the total number of tourist nights exceeded one million, signifying the ongoing recovery and the partial replacement of Russian visitors.
Hajduszoboszlo, located in eastern Hungary, primarily draws in tourists from Poland and Romania, as well as visitors from Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and other EU countries. The spa town of Bük, situated in western Hungary near the Austrian border, ranks as the third most popular destination, with the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, and Slovakia as the most significant visitor markets.
Recognizing that spending leisure time abroad can have an impact on the country's balance of payments, as income flows out of the nation, the government has introduced a series of incentives to support the tourism sector.
The Szechenyi Pension Card (SZEP Card) serves as a fringe benefit within the cafeteria system that employees can receive from their employers. It stands as a crucial tool for stimulating domestic tourism, with the primary objective of boosting the turnover of tourism service providers and assisting them in achieving profitability.
The Kisfaludy program is a cornerstone of the government's National Tourism Development Strategy 2030 – Tourism 2.0. This comprehensive program's aim is to position Hungary as the tourism hub of Central Europe by 2030, bringing together some of the most significant domestic tourism developments to achieve this goal.
.jpg)
