Author:

Emese Dobos – Máté Nyusztay

Regular guests immediately took possession of the terraces of rural cafes and restaurants, which reopened on Monday. Of course, not everyone was in a hurry to reopen, because more restaurants came home better than expected, and yet there were no crowds in the rural towns revived on the first day of easing the restrictions. The Balaton people, on the other hand, are confident that the Hungarian Sea will be chosen rather than abroad this summer.

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In the Kenese Frigate espresso café, time seemed to stand still. Only now are guests supported by the counter while discussing lottery results or simply keeping track of personnel:

– Empty afternoon?

– Vót.

– In the morning?

-ME.

We look around three popular resorts on Lake Balaton: we visit the beaches and restaurants in Balatonkenese, Balatonfűzfő and Almádi, most of which we still find in hibernation.

In Kenesen on Monday, restaurants and buffets were still closed, and the paid beach was also not open. The car parks are closed with a cord, the shore is almost completely empty. Although the terrace of the city’s popular café has been opened, we haven’t experienced any more traffic there either.

Some of the coastal spots start the season with limited hours, and two buffets are only open on weekends, including the barrier buffet on the dock. However, near the coast, in one of the oldest restaurants in the city, life begins to return.

“We have been here for over thirty years, so we have a permanent and established clientele. Of course, new customers come in from time to time, but not from the terrace,” says the restaurant owner. You are not afraid of falls, as they have been open for the past few weeks and have been able to handle significant traffic through takeaways and home delivery. He didn’t want to draw any conclusions based on Monday, and he already expects stronger traffic for the weekend, as do restaurants in neighboring settlements.

Although the beach doors were opened in Balatonfűzfő on Monday, it practically works like a free beach, nothing works, restaurants, cafes and buffets are only open on Fridays. “The buffets fell quite large because we missed two busy weekends, Easter and May Day. But in many places the season only starts on Pentecost, so the preseason started weaker,” says the beach keeper.

The caretaker is optimistic, “there will be a season here,” he says, the beach at Almád will only open in the middle of the month, the usual jobs, the lawn, and stock replenishment will be done everywhere. However, the other popular beach in the area, in the Tobruk district, is completely extinct, here we have not seen any traces of preparation.

On the way to Almádi, we entered one of the popular restaurants in the area, where the terrace is already open, and the daily offer has already been added: lung and marrow lounge. They haven’t had a recession in the past few weeks, they’ve also weathered restrictions with home delivery and take-out service. The guests also made themselves up: there were those who asked to have their lunch taken away, then they threw the camping table in the parking lot next door and had a snack.

The biggest problem, according to the owner, is that the difference between the two locations, the terrace and the parking lot, is 22% VAT: the restaurant service sales tax is 5%, and the food to take away and home delivery is 27%, and the government’s action plan did not change either. Apart from that, the owner is optimistic: “Traffic was strong in January-March, and although we have failed in the last two weekends, I think people will not go abroad, they will come to Lake Balaton. The SZÉP cards are full, so I’m not worried. “The experience is similar at the Füzfő station ice cream parlor. Here on Monday brought a change in the sense that arriving cyclists and families do not have to freeze in the street, they can finally sit down and take a breather.

The same buffet open on the same Almádi beach, closed and apparently deserted, it seems that everything is cordoned off, even the bicycle storage is fenced, so, although it could sit on the terrace, some prefer to consume hake in the car. Here they also expect more traffic on weekends, although the question is whether, if the beach does not open, it is worth the buffets to raise the blinds.

Reactivation of the field: slowly but surely

Of course, there are places where life started earlier: in Győr, according to the mayor’s order, on weekends you could open cafes and pubs. Most of them also lived with this as they couldn’t switch to home delivery instead of restaurants. Bence Pintér, the journalist from Ugytudjuk.hu, discovered that there were as many people on the street as on a normal weekday morning, and he saw fewer tables in all restaurants. Anyone who hasn’t even opened up is preparing.

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Life was also resumed in Pécs, in the pedestrian streets of the center, in addition, most of the restaurants follow one another, the commercial units moved. “If someone knows the previous design of a place, they could see that half of the tables have been removed. There were places where the waiters measured the space between the tables with a tape measure, ”Attila Babos, editor of Szabad Pécs, reports on her reopening experience on Monday. In the rural city, “street life” is more lively in Hungary: former regular guests also appeared immediately, and foreign students who stayed in Pécs also took possession of the terraces of the reopening places for “therapeutic purposes” “

There was a host who informed our colleague that he expected a major attack: “Perhaps people still do not dare to go out as much,” he says. He also said that based on experience, home delivery has started better for more restaurants than expected. Of course, there is also a place here that is not yet open and waiting for now. Although the staff adheres to wearing masks and gloves, most of the guests did not wear masks.

There is nowhere to come, as the restrictions due to the epidemic have been fatal in the sector. Previously, they had hoped for the best year of all time since 2020, compared to which “Hungarian tourism collapsed in 50 days,” said Zoltán Guller, CEO of the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTÜ) in mid-March. Domestic tourism has been found to be relaunchable since the summer, and this appears to have been proven: “We’ve been waiting for this for 50 days,” Guller said of the latest MTÜ podcast announcing the launch of the curfew on April 29. outside of Budapest and Pest County. effective Monday.

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At all times, Hungarian tour operators were optimistic, and Hungarians’ desire to travel did not decrease as much: while a representative survey conducted by the agency had previously reported that 22 percent of Hungarians planned to travel abroad in the six months after the epidemic. In the third week of April, that rate increased to 23 percent, and 54 percent of respondents would travel nationwide. As of April 29, there were already 12,900 domestic accommodation reservations abroad and 21,700 within Hungary, 46 percent more than 35 days earlier. The MTÜ also reported that as a result of the announcement, reservations had already started, accommodation establishments in Balatonfüred were already able to report an occupancy of 20-50 percent for the summer months.

As part of the relaxation, the terraces and gardens of restaurants, hotels and cafes in rural towns, as well as beaches, open-air baths, zoos and open-air museums, will be open from May 4. However, the CEO also emphasized the need for consideration and there is no doubt that everything would work again with the current restart: “Safety will be paramount rather than seeking expertise,” he said. He thinks it will be nice to be able to ensure that guests feel safe. Security is what will give you a competitive advantage. On Monday, a Covid manual with recommendations for domestic accommodation and catering establishments, compiled on the basis of recommendations from Western European samples and health organizations, was also distributed. Although we still do not know the recommendations, we already know what they mean:

  • In the Austrian model, the tables must be placed at 1.5 meters
  • a table can accommodate up to 4 people at a time
  • Personnel must wear a mask and rubber gloves.



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The coronavirus is the greatest crisis of our time, in which it is literally vital to discover it from an authentic source. At HVG, we are committed to this mission even in this situation: to provide accurate, objective and independent information to our readers.

Support our work to bring you up-to-date information even in difficult circumstances.

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