The tourism sector slightly recovered in 2021, but is still very far from its pre-pandemic levels, but the outlooks are much better, according to the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTU), a state-owned national tourism marketing organisation, which cited the statistics published here on 7 February.

"In January-December 2021 compared to the same period of the previous year, commercial accommodation establishments registered 11% more, a total of 15 million tourism nights," the country's Central Statistical Office (KSH) informed in a report.

"Domestic guests spent 5.9% and foreign ones 25% more (respectively 10.5 million and 4.7 million) tourism nights at commercial accommodation establishments," KSH added.

But the number of nights spent by domestic guests in commercial accommodation establishments (hotels, boarding houses, campsites, holiday homes and community accommodation establishments) was still 35% lower than before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019, according to KSH.

Furthermore, the number of nights spent by foreign guests was 49% less than in the same period in 2019.

But MTU is hopeful that the sector has left the worst behind. The number of guests in Budapest, Debrecen and Szeged also increased significantly due to foreign tourists attending different sport events.

"The numbers for the coming months are encouraging as well, as there is a definite increase in foreign bookings, and the recovery in the capital is also continuous," MTU told Xinhua in a letter.

Hungary recently hosted the European Handball Championship and is to host the Swimming World Championship in June, attracting even more tourists. The Sziget Music Festival, which is scheduled to reopen in the summer after three years, is expected to draw around half a million tourists.