I read an article a few weeks before our trip around the world about the democracy in Hungary. I was very curious how their democracy will have an effect on the economy of the country. Because the new constitution is in conflict with the European legislation, Hungary can no longer rely on a new loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Fidesz government of Viktor Orban took numerous measures to reduce the budget deficit of his country. Soon we found that Hungarians are very hospitable people. We were welcomed into one of the many hotels that Hungary is rich of. Tourism is therefore a very important source of income for the country. We were lucky with the choice of the hotel because there are many hotels that need to be replaced or renovated. But because of the new measures for foreign investors, it is not all that attractive anymore for investors to invest in hotels or residences. The first day of our holiday in Hungary, we took a taxi to a nearby town. When we arrived and were about to pay, we realized that something went wrong. The numerator of the taxi was on a higher mileage than the distance we had really ridden. Apparently the taxi driver had “forgotten” to reset the meter. The rest of the week we took the bus and tram to move through the country. The Hungarians love to see tourists and I think that’s because of the huge price we paid for drinks. We as girls also paid a different price for the same drink than Thomas. Moreover, the waiter expected a tip by the payment of our drinks. On the other hand, the Hungarian currency the forint is lower in value than the euro. But this problem is solved by the Hungarian government to raise VAT from 25% to 27%. The conclusion is that the Government and local communities let tourists pay and the population in many ways for the bad economic situation.

Sarah Van Der Stock

Sources:

07-05-2012 om 18:03 geschreven door BusinessEnglish1B  

Week 4: Hungary

Hungary was the destination of the fourth week. It’s bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south. Being situated next to Slovakia, the country we visited the week before, it was the next logical country on the to do list. It also means we’re staying in the same climate, and the same kind of beautiful nature. We came across some information that most people don’t know. Only seven countries have won more Olympic medals than Hungary. The people of Hungary won 465 medals in total, which is a lot. One of the reasons why they won so many medals, is because of their success in swimming. Hungarians are good swimmers. To support that idea, we went swimming that week. Good for general health, but also good to see what different habits they have in swimming.  They’re also better in football than you would think. They won against Greece, Italy,… It’s why we went visiting (near the end of our week in Hungary) the Ferenc Puskas Stadium. It’s in Budapest, and during our visit to see some culture in Budapest, we decided to check out this stadium. It’s pretty big, capacity of 39 000 people, but what’s the most amazing thing is how old it is. It was opened in 1953. We went to see a football-game in the stadium, and had a really good time. The Hungarians are very enthusiastic people, so there was a lot of singing during the game. It was very warm during the game, so when it was finished, we went for a drink in the pub. The day after, we went to take a look to a more futuristic stadion. The Budapest Sports Arena. It was opened in 2003 and it’s really beautiful  and modern. We liked the architecture of the box office of the arena too, which was right beside the Sport arena, on the same square. Because of all the medals, Hungary has been put on the map a long time ago already.

http://www.soccerway.com/news/2008/May/26/mtk-budapest-crowned-hungarian-champions/

 Thomas Decleer

07-05-2012 om 01:13 geschreven door BusinessEnglish1B