In the interview given by the Minister of National Economy on the situation of the Hungarian economy and the government’s economic policy plans, he also touched on tourism issues.
The Index published in a major interview Great Martin among other things, he talked about the fact that the Hungarian economy could grow by 2 percent this year, because due to the epidemic, the war and, as a result, the energy crisis, inflation and high interest rates, the caution of the population is only gradually easing.
GDP is clearly driven by consumption, while investments and exports have a negative effect on growth, while retail trade, tourism and services have a positive effect on growth, he said.
In the interview, he touched on the field of tourism in connection with two topics, the regulation of short-term housing rentals and the increased travel and spending of Hungarians abroad.
About the regulation of Airbnb
The minister said that it is an important lesson for decision-makers that housing is more important to the population than restoring consumption, so they should treat this as a priority. According to him, proper regulation of Airbnb is clearly a housing issue.
“Currently, 26,000 apartments are being rented out in Budapest for the short term, which reduces the housing supply, causes higher housing inflation and makes access to housing more difficult,” explained Márton Nagy.
About Hungarians’ travels abroad
He called where Hungarians spend their money the most interesting part of the consumption puzzle: the amount spent both on foreign trips and in foreign webshops increased significantly this year.
A 40 percent increase in foreign trips of Hungarians was already observed in the first quarter, which is expected to continue in the second quarter as well. This does not increase domestic consumption or GDP. Its value reaches HUF 400 billion per quarter,” said the minister.
Trends in online Hungarian household spending towards foreigners and travel expenses spent abroad between 2019-2024 (Photo: MNB, NGM calculation)
We previously reported that Budapest VI. district, on September 2nd, a decisive vote will be held on the banning of Airbnb by polling the population.
(Opening image: 123rf.com)
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