The first Chinese tourist group bound for Hungary after the COVID-19 control was downgraded started their nine-day journey from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Saturday.

"Hungary pays particular attention and emphasis to Chinese tourists and strives to maintain the good relationship with China, as the China-Hungary relations are at historical height, which is also reflected in the number of the tourists," said Peter Varfi, consul general of Hungary in Guangzhou, in an interview.

In 2019, which was a record breaking year for Hungarian tourism, there were 280,000 Chinese visitors among 16.9 million tourists visiting Hungary, Varfi said.

"In Central Europe, there is fierce competition among countries today to attract Chinese tourists, who tend to be the biggest spenders and whose contribution to the host countries' economic growth is considered invaluable. The Hungarian tourism industry has very high expectations for this first tour to Hungary from Guangzhou," he said.

It took only three days to form the 26-member group and a week to receive all the visas, according to the GZL International Travel Service.

"We hope that through further tourism promotion in China, we can help more Chinese tourists to know more about Hungary's national conditions and cultivate richer interest in Hungary's history, culture and recreations. We hope that the level of Chinese tourists will resume to the level of 2019, and steadily increase as it did in pre-pandemic, setting new highs year on year," Varfi said.

Three new direct flights between China and Budapest were re-established last year, and the Hungarian tourism-industry is also promoting the country's lesser-known destinations.

"As for the consulate general, we will try to provide maximum support to facilitate the visa application process for Chinese visitors," Varfi said.