Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy and MTÜ President Zoltán Guller announced the launch of a sectoral support program aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of tourism. Rural catering establishments, Tourinforms and gypsy musicians can apply for the HUF 15 billion budget.
The most important goal of the complex, three-pillar, HUF 15 billion support program package is to strengthen competitiveness and improve the quality of services, as well as to stimulate the economy of rural service providers through targeted subsidies. Applicants can get the support with minimal administration, on an electronic interface, in record time.
| Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy |
| Photo: MTI//Zoltán Balogh |
Great Martin according to his announcement, the three elements of the new support program:
- at the suggestion of the Hungarian Tourism Agency and the service providers, helping the development of rural catering enterprises with a budget of HUF 13 billion.
- Modernization of the infrastructure of Tourinform offices and expansion of services from HUF 1 billion.
- preservation and promotion of gypsy music in cafés from HUF 1 billion.
The Minister of Economy justified the support of rural restaurants by saying that they see a much stronger rebound in hotels and other accommodation than in the catering segment. Zoltán Guller, the chairman of the board of MTÜ, supported the territorial concentration of tourism with numbers. While last year the average annual revenue per restaurant in the capital was HUF 94 million, in the countryside it was only HUF 37 million.
The details of the tenders were presented by the president of MTÜ at the press conference.
Guest houses
Small and medium-sized catering enterprises in rural areas can apply for the largest subsidy, with a total amount of HUF 13 billion, to finance their developments, from the purchase of modern kitchen technologies and equipment to energy-efficient and economical operation. All year-round restaurants can apply for HUF 1 million support per unit – with the exception of operators of fast food restaurants, mobile catering establishments, event and workplace caterers, which has at least one closed business year and is registered with the National Tourist Information Center (NTAK). In this way, the tender can provide about 13,000 businesses with the opportunity to modernize and purchase equipment.
| Restaurants open all year round can apply for a subsidy of HUF one million per unit |
| Photo: 123rf.com |
In order for the support resources to reach the businesses as quickly as possible, the application process is conducted within a simplified framework, the applicants will be able to start the application from the NTAK online system, stressed Zoltán Guller.
Tourinform offices
The second tender, with a budget of HUF 1 billion, supports the infrastructural renovation of the Tourinform offices, the purchase of equipment, and the expansion of services. There are around 90 Tourinforms operating in the country, which handle two million guest inquiries every year. Among them, 32 offices were previously renovated with HUF 670 million support from MTÜ – this can now continue for another 35-45 offices. Applicants who have not previously applied can use the subsidy for interior design, building engineering, and energy renovations from the HUF 35 million that can be awarded. Those Tourinforms that have previously received such support can apply for service expansion up to HUF 10 million.
Gypsy musicians
The Muzsikáló Hungary 2024 program, which also supports Gypsy musicians and has a budget of HUF 1 billion, also had a history with two previous projects. According to the data, around 120-130 bands with 550-600 musicians are currently nurturing the tradition of gypsy music in coffeehouses. Now it will be possible to support almost 500 Gypsy musicians from HUF 800 million. The funding from the tender can be used to finance the employment of Gypsy musicians for four months in the catering establishments – in this way the government essentially assumes the cost of the live music. The condition of the support is that they play music in the restaurant four days a week for a period of 3 hours. From the remaining amount, MTÜ organizes the Dankó Pista Memorial Day with the intention of creating and popularizing tradition.
The new sector support programs announced today will be phased in over the coming weeks.
Tourism has recovered, a new record is expected this year
The final statistical data for 2023 were also presented at the press conference. Márton Nagy highlighted that Hungarian tourism has now fully recovered after the epidemic last year, and this year a sustained increase in guest nights is expected, which is supported by the moderation of inflation, the rise of real wages, and the improving economic outlook. With the 41.8 million guest nights realized in 2023, it was possible to exceed the 41.6 million guest nights in the peak year of 2019 and reach the then number of 16.2 million guests. The revenues of accommodation increased to HUF 906 billion (562 billion in 2019), and that of catering to HUF 1,780 billion (1,044 billion in 2019). Top-ups of the SZÉP card, which is the engine of domestic tourism, amounted to 445 billion forints in 2023, and spending amounted to 449 billion forints, after 355 and 385 billion forints in the previous year, respectively.
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| Zoltán Guller, president of the Hungarian Tourist Agency |
| Photo: MTI/Zoltán Balogh |
Tourism also performed well in Budapest last year, with 14.2 million guest nights (14.1 million in 2019). The traffic on Lake Balaton also exceeded the pre-Covid numbers: in 2023, the number of guest nights reached 8.8 million, compared to 8.7 million in 2019.According to expectations, 42.8 million guest nights will be available this year, which would mean a 2 percent increase by 2023 and a 3 percent expansion compared to 2019. The long-term goal is to reach 50 million guest nights and the sector’s 16 percent GDP contribution by 2030.
MTÜ president Zoltán Guller analyzed this year’s prospects and reported on the results of the first hundred days. According to the data so far, 3.4 million guests arrived between January and mid-April by 15 percent, the number of guest nights increased by 13 percent to 8.3 million. In the first 100 days, the sales revenue of hotels rose by 18 percent to HUF 188 billion, and that of restaurants by 14 percent to HUF 480 billion, he listed. The numbers of the year so far give cause for optimism, and a new record may even be set this year.
