As part of collective downsizing, 31 employees of the capital’s city marketing company, Budapest Brand, will be fired, which means almost all the employees who carried out activities that can be perceived by the citizens of the capital – the organization of events, festivals, events – wrote the 444adding that essentially only the tourism department and the back office, which are the company’s main source of income, will remain, with the exception of 1 manager in the essential areas, most of them will be “shoved”. They know that the downsizing was ordered by CEO Csaba Faix out of compulsion, because when the capital’s 2025 budget was adopted, the 475 million subsidy originally included for Budapest Brand was withdrawn.
– This was an amount that the company actually spent last year, in 2024, and they would have been paid this year. 444 knows that there is enough money in BBB’s profit reserve to pay the 475 million, but after that they would no longer be able to operate the company in the way they had been, so they had to fire people. The withdrawal of the 475 million was partially made at the request of Dávid Vitézy, the leader of the Podmaniczky faction, who made it a condition that 3 members of the Podmaniczky faction he led would vote on the capital budget. But there was also an amendment jointly submitted by mayor Gergely Karácsony and Vitézy, which withdrew 100 million from BB, meaning that the mayor was also involved in withdrawing the brand company’s support, the newspaper reports.
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Gergely Karácsony told 444 that Budapest Brand became a “victim of the budget deal”. According to the portal, Vitézy previously attacked Budapest Brand several times, and already at the first meeting of the general assembly, he advocated that his support be significantly cut back. At the time, Vitézy spoke about how he sees Budapest Brand as Gergely Karácsony’s personal image campaign company. The company rejects this, saying that their activity helped Karácsony to the maximum extent that any successful event in the capital naturally casts a good light on the current city manager. According to those involved, the value of their work is measured by the fact that they won 8 marketing awards last year with various campaigns and events in the capital. According to Vitézy and Karácsony, they finally agreed on the issue. Vitézy said he agreed with the withdrawal of money, but it was not his condition, but a joint decision. Although he believes that city marketing is necessary, Budapest “already spent less on road renovation than it did on Brand in recent years.”
CEO Csaba Faix discussed what happened in a long Facebook post on Thursday and stated: “I will stay until the ongoing projects and the financial closure of the year 2024 take place and the group downsizing is completed. Thank you to everyone for being a part of this journey with me!” This confirmed the dismissals. In the case, neither Gergely Karácsony nor Dávid Vitézy responded to the events until Thursday evening.
The experts see the future of tourism in the capital in hotel extensions, more effective digital marketing, and conference tourism.
Source: nepszava.hu
