Mate Terjek, Head of Business Development, UK, Italy, Spain for Visit Hungary, tells Steve Hartridge how Budapest and the greater country beyond the capital offers a well-rounded break for clients with all budgets and interests.
What kind of a year did Hungary have in 2024, in terms of its tourism sector?
We had a very good year. It was the year I stopped comparing numbers to 2019 as I think we are now far enough distanced from the “Covid Years”.
In terms of growth, last year was the best year we have had in the last four years. The UK is the second-most important market for Hungary, with Budapest the main draw.
In fact, most UK tourists don’t travel beyond Budapest and the area immediately surrounding the capital, and one of my goals is to get them to see and explore more of the country.
One report in early January showed that when it comes to Brits booking a city break for winter and spring Budapest ranked among the top two cities. How do you sum up the city’s enduring appeal?
Well, I would like to think that is down to the increased PR and marketing efforts we have been doing in the last 18 months or so!
Seriously, what we are noting, and our breakdown of visitor types of back this up, is that a greater variety of travellers are choosing Budapest.
Of course, we have long been known as a favourite choice for stag and hen weekends, but our graphs show us that even among the 18-25 age group many are now coming just for a couple of nights in the city centre, taking in attractions and enjoying our great nightlife.
We are also seeing visitors coming for our many cultural and historical attractions; they pack as many of these as they can into a short break.
Another big draw card is our gastronomy and wine, found in Budapest and throughout Hungary. Hungarian wine is still not so well known in the UK, but we have several wine regions across the country and this is a segment we are concentrating on, along with other niche interests such as activity breaks and sports tourism.
We are also making an impact among those looking for luxury and high-end products and tailor-made trips based around more bespoke experiences.
In recent times, we have seen several top-end and five-star hotels opening in Budapest, which is giving us an opportunity to attract a whole new sector of travellers.
Anyone who walks around Budapest can’t fail to notice that a lot of old and historical buildings are being repurposed for a new use. It feels like Budapest is getting a major refresh.
Yes, that is true, and some exciting things are happening both in the Buda and pest parts of the city.
Many unique buildings that had former uses are being brought back to life by being refurbished and taking on new identities, perhaps as a hotel or a restaurant. Examples include the new Dorothea Hotel (once a home for insurance and shipping companies), the W Hotel (which until 2002 was the home of the Ballet Institute) and the Kimpton REM Hotel (an ex-military barracks), Outside of Budapest these repurposed building even include palaces and castles.
However, these old buildings still mean a lot for those who live in the city, so we must proceed carefully: we don’t try to destroy or erase what they were in their former existence but instead embrace their original purpose and embrace their past by incorporating it into new design features, where that can be done. In that way, they can still be cherished by our local community but also enjoyed by international guests.
Something similar is being done elsewhere in Hungary, to ancient castles and royal palaces, although these take a lot more time and the logistics are not as easy.
For example, in the Tokai region The Andrássy Kúria & Spa is a high-end that hotel sits within a 200-year-old manor house once used as a hunting lodge by the Andrássy family, a Hungarian noble family of ancient lineage that was prominent in Hungarian history. It retains its historical edge but is now a beautiful, high-end hotel.
Museums can be a little bit dull – but not if you are able to sleep over in a comfy bed in a living part of our history. This just adds an exciting new dimension.
One of those major restoration projects involves the vast Buda Palace and Castle complex that overlooks the city from the Buda side of the river. Explain what is happening up there.
Yes, we call that the Royal Palace Hill or, as locals call it, Buda Hill. It is a complex of buildings, walls and towers that has a symbolism and meaning for all Hungarians. What is happening up there is very impressive.
The National Hauszmann Program is a national renovation plan for the entire Buda Castle district in Budapest, which aims to rebuild or restore several buildings, gardens and parks to their former glory.
Hauszmann was the engineer who built the castle part but during WWII first the Germans and then the Russians bombed Budapest, destroying the bridges and a lot of Royal Palace Hill.
In the years after the war, efforts were made to put things back together, but the truth is what was done was really a pale imitation of its former self, not a true recreation of what was there before. Then many years of neglect set in.
But now the project is all about restoring the old Royal Palace, bringing it back to its old look, and restoring the other buildings that were once there.
The aim is to “return” the castle to the Hungarian people and create a district where it is good to live and stay; a district which deserves repeated visits because it offers new experiences every time.
My generation and my mum’s generation never got to see the original Royal Palace, so now with this restoration the younger generation will see how Buda Castle Hill looked like before 1940.
Another major initiative taking shape in the is called the Ligeti Project, which is adding new visitor attractions for visitors.
Yes, the Liget Project is currently Europe’s largest urban development project and has a major cultural content.
There are two main developments taking shape, the one up in Buda around the castle complex I have mentioned and the other in the city centre in Pest.
The main idea of this – which started during Covid – is to bring back to life those buildings that were there during former times but with modern twists.
For a little background… in the 1890s, when Hungary celebrated the millennium of its founding of the nation, there was a big event, in fact one of the first-ever world fairs.
The emperor of Austria attended along with a lot of other European dignitaries. The main centre for that was Heroes Square, which today is a major attraction that most tourists visit. For that fare, there were several different pavilions, but these were also destroyed in the two wars.
However, Városliget Park, one of the oldest public parks in the world, remained and was mostly used for hunting, by Royals living in Buda.
The Liget Project plans feature the total renovation of the park, the reconstruction of historic buildings and the building of new ones for existing and cultural institutions.
In fact, the aim is creating a new museum quarter. So, for example, we have the House of Hungarian Music, which previously existed but now has a modern look, with a roof featuring holes and trees growing into it. A striking element is the abundance of glass. The concert venue can stage two concerts at the same time without them disturbing each other acoustically.
It was designed by Fujimoto, who is a famous Japanese architect that won a design competition to build the facility.
Another main attraction is the Museum of Ethnology, a museum built underground but with a half-moon-shaped roof, with fake grass, where you can walk up both sides for good views of the city.
As a funny aside, those artificial lawns were supposed to last for at least a year but after three months they had to be replaced because of the thousands of dogs that were using it every weekend!
We also have a park, with interactive facilities there for blind people; we have basketball and football pitches, workout areas and cabins and showers. If you go at weekends there will be lots going on: people playing tennis, kids playing.
There is another castle in the park, which houses the Agricultural Museum, which is another very interesting development, and there is also a tethered hot-air balloon, another thing that drew crowds at the Millennial Exhibition fare in 1896.
I have noticed that Hungary and Budapest are appearing in a lot of modern movies – this must be great exposure for the city and country?
Yes, the tax incentives we offer production companies is turning Budapest into something of a movie set! A short distance from Budapest we have studios that are popular with Hollywood and some of the most used in Central Europe.
Recent films include Maria, with Angeline Jolly playing the troubled opera singer Maria Callis. In the film we see the Hungarian State Opera, the Budapest Academy of Music and Szabadság Square, amongst many featured locations.
Other films with a Budapest link include The Brutalist, The Day of the Jackal, Dune, Dune Part Two and Black Widow.
On the other hand, unfortunately in some movies scenes that are filmed here see Budapest ‘stand in’ as a double for other cities, such as Paris and Moscow.
Are there any other new attractions our readers should be aware of?
We are now one of Europe’s leading capitals for sports events. Of course, our biggest profile event is probably the annual Formula 1 race in Budapest (August 1-3 in 2025). Most events are still in Budapest, but they are spreading to the rest of the country.
For example, MotoGP is coming back to Hungary in 2025 after 33 years, to the new Balaton Park Circuit, next to Balaton Lake, which is around 90 kilometres from Budapest.
Balaton is biggest lake in Central Europe, with 1,000kms of cycle paths around it, trails which wend past castles and small villages. There are various routes you can take, with say moderate to easy trails that covers distances of 25–65 kms a day.
The cycle paths are part of an initiative called Balaton Bike 65, a major project we have been working on these past two years. Interested readers should check out its great website, balatonbike365.hu, which is in English with maps and downloadable coordinates.
There are plenty of opportunities for water sports in Hungary too. Last December the Duna Arena in Budapest held swimming’s Short ours World Championships in its 25- pool, and we often host tournaments for athletics, karate, judo and others.
For visitors, Aquaworld Water Park in the northern part of Budapest has 11 giant water slides, wave and surf pools, saunas and thermal baths.
Finally, do you any specific plans this year for the UK trade, particularly agent training, fam trips and the like?
Yes, I am formulating those plans, and it will be a mix of a little bit of everything. Our aim is to “get back” in the UK market because we haven’t been there for a couple of years, and we need to get back on track.
I plan to organise a Visit Hungary trip to the UK this year, with some key Hungarian partners, which will see us making sales calls and I would like us to do a visit Hungary Roadshow every year.
Last year Visit Hungary did not attend World Travel Market, but this is currently in the plan for November. Then there are B2B fams, media trips and ongoing training for agents. I would also like to introduce a regular newsletter. We have a UK agency (Black Diamond) who supports us on these activities.
We want to put the message across that yes Budapest is a truly great and much-changed city but also that there is so much else to see and do in Hungary.
