Hungarians are still eager to travel domestically, and the favourable weather in recent weeks has boosted the enthusiasm for bookings, as evidenced by high occupancy rates in July and the the advance bookings for August, Szallas.hu reported.

According to the latest data from the online accommodation platform, the current volume of summer bookings is still 19 per cent below last year’s record summer, and it falls just below the pre-pandemic level of 2019. Evaluating the data, Lili Kelemen, the spokesperson for Szallas.hu, mentioned that travellers started making vacation accommodation reservations earlier this year. However, as the season approached, there was no significant increase in demand.

Despite this, there is a clear winner of the season: Visegrád saw a nearly 10 per cent increase in summer bookings. Overall, Siófok remains the most popular destination among Hungarians during the summer holiday period, followed by Hajdúszoboszló, Budapest, Eger, and Gyula. At the regional level, similar to the previous summer trends, Lake Balaton remains the most popular destination, with every third summer booking being for the Balaton, compared to every fifth booking just a month ago.

The data shows that the average nightly rate per person is highest in Budapest and its surroundings, at 14,400 HUF. The Balaton region follows with 12,500 HUF, and the Western Transdanubia with 12,000 HUF. The Tisza Lake offers the most budget-friendly option with an average of 9,311 HUF per person per night.

Compared to last year, there is a more significant price increase at Tisza Lake than at Lake Balaton, with a 16.5 per cent and 15.3 per cent change, respectively. The moderate percentage of price increase at Lake Balaton is due to significant price hikes that already occurred in the region last year. This year, the Velence Lake experienced the smallest price increase among the waterfront regions, with a little over 11 per cent, which means an average increase of 1,200 HUF.

Among the different types of accommodation, hotels have the highest average price, with an average of 20,600 HUF per person per night. For guesthouses, the average is 11,400 HUF, while apartments are priced at 9,100 HUF, and guesthouses at 8,800 HUF.

Based on advance bookings, non-hotel types of accommodation account for 74 per cent of reservations, similar to previous years, with apartments being the most sought-after, comprising over a third of all bookings.

In terms of payment methods, a quarter of the bookings were made using the SZÉP card in both June and July, and there was a 7 per cent increase in its use compared to last summer.

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Source: Hungarian Conservative/MTI