Moreover, in response to the great interest, the airline will operate another flight for fans to Cologne.Continue reading
Tens of thousands of Hungarians with tickets and many more without tickets will be heading to the European Football Championship to cheer on the Hungarian team in Stuttgart and Cologne. Germany’s annual visitor numbers are boosted by four percent by the European Championship, and the number of Hungarians traveling there this year could be seven to eight percent higher, writes Világgazdaság.
Wizz Air is already considering launching new flights for fans due to the increased Hungarian interest in the European Football Championship matches in Germany, as several of the tickets for the Hungarian team’s matches in Stuttgart and Cologne have already sold out, as revealed at a tourism conference held at the Travel Exhibition in Budapest.
Hungary has received 10,000 tickets for the European football championship matches, but there will be many more Hungarians traveling to Germany, travel agents say, and Wizz Air’s corporate communications manager Zsuzsa Trubek also reported a high level of fan interest. The airline does not fly to Stuttgart or Cologne by default, its scheduled flights only include Berlin and Dortmund as destinations, but
because of the July European Football Championship it is operating fan flights from Debrecen and Budapest.
“The big question about the two upcoming sporting events is how they will affect travel plans this year,” said József Boros, managing director of Tensi Holiday. “These trips take a considerable amount of money out of the house budget, and no one can yet see whether and how much of an impact this will have on holidays,” he noted.
Crowds are heading to German cities, and hotels are very well prepared to welcome guests, but they are only selling minimum two-night packages in most places. A serious problem is that Stuttgart airport closes at 11:00 p.m., meaning that fans who would not otherwise stay for the early evening matches cannot go back home, the managing director warned. This information was noted by the representing head of the German National Tourist Office, who promised to try to intervene to keep the airport open temporarily at night.
Meanwhile, it seems that Hungarian sports fans are more likely to follow the Paris Olympics from their couches at home.
The Paris Olympics will be linked to a minor tourist attraction for the industry, it was revealed at the event. József Boros, head of Tensi Holiday, said that it is the sixth time they are organizing trips to the Olympics, but now they see that more distant venues are more attractive, with fans keen to stay for a week’s visit. “Paris is too close it seems, and tickets are very expensive,” he explained. Buying tickets is also complicated, and in contrast to the football tournament in Germany, huge outbound traffic is not expected for the Olympics.
Via Világgazdaság, Featured image: Facebook/MLSZ Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség
