Budapest vs Prague

Prague leads Budapest by 2 points on the CIRA Index, 74 to 72. Budapest grades better on 5 measures, Prague on 8; the same 35 measures from public sources for both.

Scores by each organisation's criteria

• CIRA Index: Budapest 72, Prague 74
• OECD: Budapest 70, Prague 73
• UN Tourism: Budapest 75, Prague 78
• UNDRR: Budapest 70, Prague 77

Theme by theme

• Demand and seasonality: Budapest 63, Prague 54
• Economy and jobs: Budapest 92, Prague 100
• Climate and hazards: Budapest 70, Prague 80
• Water and environment: Budapest 75, Prague 88
• Community and housing: Budapest 67, Prague 58
• Access and continuity: Budapest 71, Prague 79

Where Budapest is stronger

• Largest foreign market: 10 % of international arrivals or nights (country figure) (OECD, OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026 (Hungary chapter), 2024). At or below 15: grade 4/4.
• Recovery against 2019: 103.8 % of 2019 visitor nights reached in the latest full year (Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) / Horwath HTL, 2025). Between 100 and 110: grade 3/4.
• Municipal waste per resident: 361.3 kg per resident per year (Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), Települések infrastrukturális ellátottsága, 2023, 2023). Between 350 and 450: grade 3/4.
• Tourism intensity: 8.7 visitor nights per resident per year (Budapest Brand nZrt. & Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), 2024). Between 5 and 10: grade 3/4.
• Access redundancy: 4 independent ways in: international airport, intercity rail, port, motorway (Budapest Airport / MÁV / MAHART PassNave, 2025–2026). At or above 4: grade 4/4.

Where Prague is stronger

• Income per head: 60,487 GDP per capita, USD PPP (country figure) (World Bank WDI, 2025). At or above 60,000: grade 4/4.
• Tropical nights: 3.2 nights a year with a minimum at or above 20°C (last 5 full years) (ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo, 2021–2025). At or below 10: grade 4/4.
• Country disaster risk: 1.9 INFORM Risk index, 0–10 (country figure) (INFORM Risk (European Commission JRC), INFORM Risk Mid 2026, 2026). At or below 2: grade 4/4.
• Water scarcity: very low (region figure) (World Bank GFDRR ThinkHazard, current (retrieved 2026)). Grade 4/4.
• Green space: 53 % of the urban area that is green or tree-covered (Husqvarna Urban Green Space Index (HUGSI), 2023). At or above 40: grade 4/4.
• Early warning and emergency plan: An updated, tested plan that names visitors and tourism operators, with warnings in several languages (Prague Daily / Prague City Council, 2025). Grade 4/4.
• Government effectiveness: 86.3 World Bank WGI percentile rank, 0–100 (country figure) (World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, 2025). At or above 80: grade 4/4.
• Dedicated tourism funding: A dedicated source partly ring-fenced for residents, infrastructure or sustainability (Prague City Tourism Corporate, 2023–2026). Grade 3/4.

Country context (World Economic Forum)

• Hungary: #42 of 110 in the WEF Travel & Tourism Development Index 2026
• Czech Republic: #37 of 110 in the WEF Travel & Tourism Development Index 2026

Budapest in full · Prague in full

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