Guests of honor
Guest of honour from abroad: Madagascar
Madagascar, home to one of the most valuable mega biodiversity in the world
Surrounded by the Indian Ocean and the Mozambique Channel, the island-continent combines breathtaking landscapes that have an infinite variety of wildlife. 5% of the planet’s fauna and flora are only found in Madagascar.
Whatever your aspirations, the island is popular for all preserved scenery and cultural authenticity lovers: ecotourism, birdwatching, whalewatching, hiking, kitesurf, golf, diving and sport activities.
If you search for a unique journey, Madagascar stays away from major tourism flows with a welcoming people.
Domestic guest of honour: BalatonBike365
BalatonBike365 provides comprehensive information and recommends a variety of services for cycling around Lake Balaton and in the surrounding area. The BalatonBike365 website and app will guide you through the touristic area of Lake Balaton by bike, 365 days a year. Beyond highlighting the touristic treasures of the destination, it also facilitates orientation and browsing through a wide range of services and attractions. In addition to 1000 kilometres of designated and signposted cycling routes as well as 60 thematic tours of various difficulty levels, it also recommends destinations, attractions and service providers and helps navigating the terrain. Beside the website and the app, the BalatonBike365 service package includes covered rest areas for cyclists along the signposted routes as well as helpful staff working in the 3 cycling service centres in Balatonfüred, Balatonföldvár and Keszthely. All three service centres provide a wide selection of equipment and a full range of services for cyclists.
BalatonBike365 aims to promote and develop cycling routes and other services at Lake Balaton, and thereby to integrate settlements and service providers located further away from the lakeshore into the bicycle tourism network.
Further information: https://www.balatonbike365.hu/en
Cultural guest of honour: Liget Budapest Projekt
A new, exciting and perhaps most complex cultural district in Europe is being built in Budapest, which every Hungarian can be proud of. The Liget Budapest Project, launched in 2011, today, is the continent’s largest-scale urban development programme with multiple award-winning cultural content Its goal is the comprehensive development of the 100-hectare City Park in Budapest, which includes the renewal and expansion of the park’s green space and recreational functions, as well as the centuries-old institutional system of the Liget The City Park is a unique urban park with a 200-year tradition, including museums and exhibition sites, a zoo, a spa complex, an ice rink, a circus, sports fields and playgrounds, which offers visitors numerous recreational opportunities. Thanks to the Liget Project, this part of the city will be renewed with traditions in mind, but in accordance with 21st century expectations, whether it is the reconstruction and modernization of the imposing building of the almost 120-year-old Museum of Fine Arts, or the realization of new buildings, such as the House of Hungarian Music, which opened at the beginning of 2022 and has already been recognized with many international awards, dreamed up by Japanese designer Sou Fujimoto, the new Ethnographic Museum opened last summer, its iconic building, or the upcoming New National Gallery, designed by Pritzker Prize winner SANAA. Meanwhile, the green space of the park will be significantly expanded and renewed in quality. We are halfway through the implementation of a project that is unique in the history of Hungary, but the results of the historic scale of the enterprise are already clearly visible: in the past two years, almost five million visitors have taken possession of new developments, renovated, modernized institutions, newly erected buildings, as well as renewed park areas. Thanks to the Liget Budapest Project, the City Park, this cultural area with a history of more than 150 years, but renewed and expanded in a 21st century way, will provide a prominent place and attraction for the Hungarian capital on the European cultural map.
Are you in the mood to visit the City Park? Here you will find all the information for it: www.ligetbudapest.hu/en