“The tallying of the numbers associated with the Own Expo is occurring continuously in view of the fact that the provincial events will be continuing until the end of the year. The series of programs of the World of Hunting Exhibition will come to a close with the international dog show to be held on 29-31 December, which was postponed from May of this year”, Mr. Kovács Zoltán highlighted.

“60 thousand schoolchildren saw the exhibits at the HUNGEXPO Conference and Exhibition Centre”, the Government Commissioner added.

He said the provincial events were extremely popular, citing as an example the fact that in Vásárosnamény for example, the event attracted 5-6 thousand people-a-day. “This all indicates that it is possible to reach out to people concerning topics relating to hunting, and particularly in the way that those topics were presented during the series of events of the OWN Expo, pointing beyond the primary professional target groups”, he added.

“Over a period of 20 days, we succeeded in bringing a never-before-seen number of people to the HUNGEXPO Conference and Exhibition Centre; never since the regime change has a series of events of such size and complexity been held”, Mr. Kovács told the press. “The latest tourist figures also indicate that the number of guest nights spent in Budapest was around three times the usual number at this time of year”, he added.

1.3 million guest nights were realised in Hungarian places of accommodation between 1-16 October, 27 percent of which were spent in the capital. The utilization of room capacities was 10 percent last year, but increased to 50 percent in late September and early October of this year. 74 percent of guests nights were spent by foreign visitors, with people mainly arriving for the OWN Expo from Central European destinations.

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén highlighted the fact that 1500 events were held nationwide, and a host of architectural projects have been realised, including the wooden pavilion of Archduke Frederick in Gemenc, and the Bodajk Hunting Lodge.

As he explained, the HUNGEXPO Conference and Exhibition Centre was completed in time for the International Eucharistic Congress, which was the first international event held there, followed by the “One with Nature” World of Hunting and Nature Exhibition, and from now on some 200 major events will be held there each year. He also mentioned the fact that the biodome of Budapest Zoo had also been an intended site of the Own Expo, according to the original plans.

“Several African countries and Russia were unable to attend the World of Hunting Exhibition because of the epidemic situation, but even so, some 50 countries had their own exhibitions, and over 100 countries were officially represented at the Expo’s 10 conferences, 6 of which were international conferences”, he emphasised, adding: “With relation to tourism, we built the autumn period around three major events, the 20 August national holiday, the International Eucharistic Congress, and the World of Hunting Exhibition, and tourism spiked significantly during these periods”.

“The thematic exhibition was organised in the spirit of sustainability, and accordingly every element will survive; for instance the Totem gate will find a new home in front of the Hunting Museum in Keszthely”, Mr. Semjén said, adding: “In addition several publications, such as amongst others the Nimrod series, over 30 professional films, including the works produced on the lives of Kálmán Kittenberger and István Fekete, and further events will continue to carry the message of the Exhibition”.