Hungary fills more beds

Hungary has put itself firmly on the road to recovery after two years of poor business, latest figures show. Statistics for December showed an increase of 6.3% in foreign arrivals and nearly 16% in overnight stays, completing an excellent final quarter for 2003. Hungarian hoteliers have also reported a 9% growth in overnight stays for January, signalling a good start to 2004. The central European state, which joins the EU on 1 May, is vigorously promoting itself as a conference loca-tion this year thanks to new facilities opening in Budapest. Leading the advertising campaigns in 2004 are Miss Europe, Zsuzsa Laky, who is being featured on tourism posters across Europe, and US film star Tony Curtis, who was born Bernie Schwartz in the Puszta region of Hungary. He will be increasing the awareness of US consumers, especially senior citizens, of his native country. Hungary will also see the birth of its first low-cost carrier this year with the planned launch of Wizzair. The start-up carrier is due to take to the air in May but has yet to announce details of destinations. European no-frills airlines have already discovered the Hungarian market with the arrival of Easyjet, Germanwings, Air Berlin and Norway’s Snowflake. But the leading low-cost carrier in Hungary is Slovakia’s Sky Europe, which flies to ten destinations from Budapest.