Economy of Hungary 2008. The most visited region is Budapest, the Hungarian capital attracted 3,61 million visitors in 2008. Hungary was the world's 24th most visited country in 2011. The Hungarian spa culture is world-famous, with thermal baths of all sorts and over 50 spa hotels located in many towns, each of which offer the opportunity of a pleasant, relaxing holiday and a wide range of quality medical and beauty treatments. The currency of Hungary is the Hungarian forint (HUF, Ft) since 1 August 1946. A forint consists of 100 fillérs; however, since these have not been in circulation since 1999, they are
Hungary and the euro the euro as its official currency in 2007 or 2008. Later 1 January 2010 became the target date, but that date was abandoned because of an excessively high budget deficit, inflation, and public debt. For years, Hungary could not meet any of the Maastricht criteria. After the 2006 election, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány introduced austerity measures, causing protests in late 2006 and an economic slowdown in 2007 and 2008. However, in 2007, the deficit had been reduced to less than 5% (from 9.2%) and approached the 3% threshold in 2008. In 2008 analysts claimed that Hungary could join ERM II