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The Liget Budapest Project, 10 years old this year, was awarded the prize for the best leading tourism development in Europe at the World Travel Awards.
The regeneration of the city park Városliget was judged against the world’s most popular new tourist attractions, winning both the jury and public votes as best on the continent. The World Travel Awards are one of the most prestigious awards in the international travel, tourism, and hospitality industry, says Városliget Zrt.’s statement.
Benedek Gyorgyevics, CEO of Városliget Zrt., said that one of the primary goals of the Liget renewal project was to make the park a “must-see” tourist attraction for visitors to Budapest. The increasing numbers of foreign visitors to the House of Music Hungary, the Museum of Ethnography, and the hot air balloon (Balloon Lookout) show that the Liget has put itself on the international tourist map, he added.
Városliget, hot air balloon. Photo: Hungary Today
House of Music Hungary’s building, with the Vajdahunyad Castle and the Balloon Lookout in the background. Photo: Facebook/Magyar Zene Háza
In the first ten years of the Liget Budapest Project, centuries-old cultural institutions have been renovated, alongside some of the world’s most exciting contemporary buildings, the CEO said. In 2019, the House of Music Hungary won “Best International Public Building” at the International Property Awards (IPA), and in 2021, it was voted the world’s best music-themed real estate development at the Music Cities Awards. In the same year, the National Museum Conservation and Storage Center (OMRRK) won the “Europe’s Best Public Building Development” award at the International Property Awards, making the Liget Budapest Project the most awarded development in the history of the IPA, as it is the first cultural urban development to win three prestigious awards.
Museum of Fine Arts. Photo: Facebook/Szépművészeti Múzeum
In the summer of 2021, the largest-scale renovation in the history of the Museum of Fine Arts, carried out as part of the Liget Budapest Project, won the Europa Nostra Award, the European Union’s most prestigious heritage protection award. In 2023, the Liget Budapest Project also won its first tourism-themed award, voted the world’s best tourism development at the International Travel Awards.
One of the unique features of the Liget Budapest Project is that 150-year-old institutions can peacefully coexist with new ones, while nature and the park surround them with recreational features and opportunities, the statement concludes.
Via MTI, Featured image: Twitter/Néprajzi Múzeum