The almost 12 million tourist nights recorded at Hungarian commercial accommodations between January and July surpass both pre-crisis and post-crisis levels.

In the past two years, the Government introduced measures to boost tourism, such as the SZÉP electronic voucher card, as part of the reformed domestic fringe benefit services system as well as the Hotelstars.hu trademark as the national trademark for domestic accommodations. Talking about the SZÉP card Minister of State Kristóf Szatmáry said that data so far indicate success which greatly surpasses prior expectations.

During the three summer months more than 20 billion forints was spent via these cards on domestic tourism services. Total spending for the year so far, on the other hand, was almost 26 billion forints. Consequently, this new service has fulfilled expectations and those who had prophesized a domestic tourism crisis due to the abolition of Recreation Vouchers have been proven mistaken.

Parallel to acknowledging the economic achievements of tourism, the Minister of State pointed out the significance of the sector in the creation of jobs. 318 thousand people -- 8.4 percent of the total number of employees -- work in the sub sectors associated with the tourism industry, according to 2008 data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. Tourism generates jobs, therefore not only tourists but locals can also enjoy the advantages provided by a well functioning touristic sector.

High quality services have been a key factor behind the favourable tourist traffic trend. It was in this spirit that Minister of State Kristóf Szatmáry and Ms. Andrea Kopócsy, President of the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, handed over together the 250th Hotelstars national trademark. Thanks to the national trademark jointly managed by the Ministry for National Economy and the professional organization, Hungarian hotels can belong to a quality standard system operating in 12 countries of Europe which can contribute to increasing tourist night numbers, higher revenues and better quality.

At the conference Ms. Andrea Kopócsy presented the results of a survey on SZÉP card turnover at 47 member hotels belonging to the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association. According to this study, in July the joint turnover of Recreation Vouchers and SZÉP cards was 34.5 percent more than that of Recreation Vouchers in July 2011. In the observed month SZÉP card utilization was almost three-fold higher than that of Recreation Vouchers.

Source: Ministry for National Economy - kormany.hu