After a drastic decline in the first quarter of 2009, Budapest tourism seems to be bottoming out, national daily Nepszava said on Thursday.
In line with the European trends, Budapest hosted 20 percent fewer visitors in the January-March period than a year before. In the second quarter of the year, however, the decline was just 8.6 percent, Laszlo Fekete, CEO of Budapest Tourism Services, said.
In the first half of this year, the number of visitors dropped by 15.8 percent, and that of guest-nights by 16.8 percent as against the 2008 figures.
Hungary generally receives the most guests from Germany, Britain, Italy and the United States, countries that are especially hit by the global financial crisis, Fekete said.
Trends show that even those who leave for a holiday go for resorts and spas and spend less on visiting cities in weekend tours, he said.