Bathers in Budapest received good news
To the portal Ildikó Szűts, the general manager of the BGYH, said: they have been very successful for almost a month, fortunately the recovery of guest traffic after the coronavirus was much faster than they expected. When the war in Ukraine started, there was some stagnation.
Based on the latest October data, Budapest baths, based on the number of guests compared to the year before the epidemic in 2019, it should be at 80-85 percent in the first ten months of the year. Due to foreign sales, it is at 110 percent, to which the price of spas has been raised twice.
Natural gas had to be purchased in the summer
The baths use district heating, electricity and natural gas are used. The public procurement for natural gas was announced in June, but in the end the only bidder was MVM Next, which adjusted its prices to the world market price at the time. In the end, they received a price level of HUF 1,336/cubic meter (without VAT). The price may seem high, but during that period, countless large spas did not even receive offers from service providers, said the CEO, according to MTI.
There are four spas that are decisive in terms of gas consumption: Széchenyi, Gellért, Rudas and Lukács, they account for more than 90 percent of gas consumption. If they do not sign a contract, the operation and services of these spas will be impossible. This would also have put Budapest tourism at risk, since Budapest The decision affects the spa capital and, of course, the business efficiency of BGYH, so they actually had no choice – Ildikó Szűts detailed the energy issue.
At the end of July, BGYH put together an energy crisis plan, the consumption in each spa was mapped in detail, for example, in the case of a sauna, even per heating element. In this way, it is also able to model how much energy can be saved if a sauna stove is turned off for two hours.
They would not close the bathhouse, but they are trying to save money
We don’t expect to close the spa, but we do expect a reduction in the service portfolio,” Ildikó Szűts told the newspaper. He mentioned the Lukács spa as an example, where he is trying to minimize consumption by expanding the heat exchanger to make water at 55 degrees Celsius available in the spa. for heating avail. They also discussed with the guests that they would start the steam later, or operate it for a shorter time, turn off the experience elements, and not all saunas are fully heated during operating hours – of course, these decisions also depend on the number of guests.
There are also similar cost-saving measures in Pesterzsébet, Rudas and Széchenyi, in the latter the steam cabins will be started later. According to their hopes, they will save at least 30 percent in gas consumption and 20-25 percent in district heating and electricity bills.
The BGYH previously calculated HUF 1.6 billion in energy costs by 2022, which may increase to HUF 4.7-4.8 billion at most. If there is no crisis plan, their energy costs could reach HUF 6 billion – added Ildikó Szűts.