The Budapest hotel market is set to expand by one thousand rooms in 2010

Although 2009 saw a decline in tourism, in spite of this hotel development has not diminished, on the contrary numerous new players plan on entering the market in 2010, due to developments started before the crises. „Higher quality level buildings proved to keep their value, although decrease in price was most characteristic in this segment too. Looking at occupancy levels, four and five star hotels performed the best. As for tourist destinations, Budapest is by far the most popular destination for travelers from abroad” – said Ákos Balla, Director of Valuation and Market Research at Colliers International’s Hungarian office, addressing the hotel market situation.

The global financial crises resulted in a worldwide decline in tourism, and depressed Hungarian tourism as well – both number of guests and number of guest nights decreased during the course of 2009. The level of decline was 8 percent in both cases, although the number of tourists arriving from abroad declined more than the number of domestic tourists. Within Hungary, Budapest remains the most popular destination for travelers from abroad, with more than half of the guest nights in the country spent in the capitol. As for domestic tourists, Balaton is the number one preferred destination.

Budapest hotels have been seriously affected by the level of decline from foreign tourism, and as a result of which most categories suffered occupancy drops of around 10%. The average hotel occupancy rate in 2009 was 49%, with different categories experiencing differing occupancy rates depending on their level of quality. Thanks to this, five star hotels experienced the smallest decline, while the four star hotel decline was unequivocally influenced by new hotel handovers.