Supplier News
Hungary – Government wants EU funds for Hard Rock
By Lewis - 10 October 2014
In an effort to boost tourism, the Hungarian government is seeking to gain EU funding to kick-start a long dormant casino project with Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The  government wants to expand the important economic sector with the help of EU structural aid and top of its list is the outstanding Hard Rock Hotel & Casino with 350 rooms destined for a  border location between  Hungary, Austria and Slovakia.
The Las Vegas-style resort should arise in the small Hungarian town of Mosonmagyarovar on 160 acres near Vienna and Bratislava. With casino entertainment, restaurants, shopping center and a large conference center for up to 4,000 guests, this will be the second Hard Rock Casino-Resort in Europe. In May this year, a new Hard Rock Hotel was also opened on Ibiza.
Since Hungary joined the EU in 2004, the tourism sector of the country had access to some 330 billion forints (about 1.13 billion euros) in EU adjustment assistance. In these 10 years, 1,360 projects were funded. The number of hotels increased according to official figures from 824 to 1,031. In the first half of 2014, the proportion of four-star hotels was around 30 per cent. Substantial funds were also made available for  the modernisation of thermal and medicinal baths, as well as in the restoration of historic buildings.
10.7 million – is the number of foreign tourists who stayed at least one night in 2013- it’s just over a fifth higher than in 2008. Tourists from Poland now constitute the second largest group after German tourists.
