A total of 112.7 thousand Russian tourists
stayed in Hungary’s
hotels since the beginning of 2012. That is 25.5% more, compared to last year. The
number of nights that our tourists spent in Hungary also grew by 30%. And it
has been like this for some years now. The Russian tourist flow grows much
faster than the overall inbound flow to Hungary. Over the last nine months
the foreign tourist flow to the country grew by 9.2%. And even though Russians
amount to less than 5% of that flow (2.8 million visitors), Hungarian
authorities see them as one of the most promising tourist sources.
The presence of Russian tourists can be felt
especially well in the spa-hotel segment. They show the most increase in the
number of spent nights, and are taking second place as most popular guests at
such resorts. Throughout 2012 Russian tourists spent 19 thousand nights in
Hungarian spa-hotels, which is 46.8% more, compared to last year. Since the
beginning of the year
Lake Balaton has received
23% more Russian tourists than in 2011, which is a huge increase, considering
that the average increase is four times less for this particular place.
Russians have spent a total of 163551 nights on Lake
Balaton, which is a 34% increase of last year’s numbers.
According to Olga Volkova, Head of the European
Department at BSI Group, the Hungarian Tourism statistics are pretty accurate.
“Hungary
is one of the very few European destinations which has a perfect balance
between price and quality, and also has a simplified visa regime. We have many
returning customers, especially for hot spring resorts. Usually people go to
these spas two?three times a year. We’ve worked with Hungary for many years and haven’t
had a single complaint from agencies”, she told RATA-news.
Hungary
is a big spa, created by mother-nature herself. Over 80% of underground territory
is hot springs.
The country houses the biggest thermal lake in the world – Heviz, and the
biggest lake in Central Europe – Balaton.
There are a total of 1300 registered thermal springs in Hungary. You
can continue working on your health even in the capital – Budapest – which has at least 15 natural
baths of its own. But the main advantage that Hungary has is the price. The next
country offering thermal springs is Slovenia, where for the same price
you will get less service. Other popular spa destinations like Germany, Switzerland
and the Czech Republic
are at least 30?40% more expensive.
Olga Volkova believes that the tourist flow
from Russia
would be even higher if Malev – Hungarian flag carrier – was still in business.
After the company went bankrupt, Aeroflot is the only carrier with direct
flights to Budapest,
and that had some consequences. For instance, tickets to Budapest for New Year holidays are now around
$1240-1850. “The ever increasing tourist flow to Hungary
only shows that we have made the right decision to fly tourists to Vienna or Bratislava,
which are close to Heviz, Hajduszoboszlo, Buk and Sarvar resorts. Thanks to
this, the latter two are gaining popularity on the Russian market”, - she
explained.
General Manager of Alces, Igor Chukanov is also
happy with the season. “The New Year sales are rather promising due to variety
of available flights. They are going much better than last year”, - he
explained. Regional sales of Hungary
are too going well. According to Commercial Manager of Evroport, Anton Potapov,
Hungary
was in high demand for winter holidays, and all the flights from Yekaterinburg have
been packed by the middle of November.
At the same time, the first nine months of 2012
have proved another tendency to be true – Hungary is gaining spa-tourists,
yet loosing sightseers at the same time. Spa-resorts accommodated twice as many
Russian tourists as Budapest
hotels. With Malev’s bankruptcy Russians are looking towards Prague
and Vienna for
their excursion needs. Catching a flight to one of them is not a problem, and
that makes them useful and efficient hubs for excursion-tours.
