The FINA World Championships has had a positive impact on Hungary’s image, the Hungarian Tourism Agency has said.
Zoltán Guller, Chief Executive of the Hungarian Tourism Agency, said the country was given an unprecedented opportunity to showcase itself and its values to the world, hundreds of millions of television viewers saw what Budapest and Balaton could offer.
Guller said foreign tourists are returning to their home countries with very positive impressions of Hungary.
According to a survey, two thirds of those interviewed are planning to visit Hungary later on, 98 percent are open to returning, and four out of five people said they will recommend Hungary as a tourist destination to others.
Guller said the country did not only pass the test with flying colors as the organizer of the FINA event, but also as a host and tourist destination over the past couple of weeks. Billions will flow into tourism thanks to the tournament, he added.
Additionally, those coming to Hungary because of the event spent four times as much time in the country as visitors coming here at other times. The average stay was 9 days, in contrast to 2.4 days in general.
Guller said the image of Hungary has changed for the better in the case of one half of foreigners visiting the country, and their satisfaction stood at 8.73 points on a scale of one to ten.
Satisfaction with the infrastructure – transport, accommodation, general hygiene and cleanliness – was also very high, all criteria under examination scored higher than 8 on a scale of one to ten.
The greatest positive change was achieved in the perception of security, the opinions of 57 per cent of interviewees changed for the better, and on a scale of one to ten security scored 8.84 points.