Schumacher Title Win Hurts Hungary Hotels

Hotel bookings in and around the Hungarian capital took a hit after German Michael Schumacher secured his fifth Formula One Championship last weekend.

Schumacher's victory in France gave him the title with six races to spare, making the Hungarian Grand Prix in mid August much less attractive to foreigners.

"Last year around this time all hotels in Budapest were fully booked for the race weekend," Botond Usztoke, head of the Budapest chapter of the Hungarian Hotel Association told Reuters.

"First of all, Schumacher won the title (here), and Finnish drivers' performance this year is a far cry from (Mika) Hakkinen's one last season," he said. "Finns were always among the most willing to come here and see their drivers perform."

After former World Champion Hakkinen took a sabbatical - likely to be confirmed as a permanent retirement over the next couple of weeks - his replacement at McLaren Kimi Raikkonen is the best-performing Finn in the Championship this year in sixth place.

Hungary will host its 17th Formula One race on August 16-18, and race organisers said earlier that spectator numbers are unlikely to reach last year's 200,000.

The Formula One weekend is Budapest's main summer attraction for hotel guests as the almost 400,000 people who attend the Island Festival are mostly backpackers.

Room rates per day for the race weekend remained unchanged from last year at between 160 and 180 euros and Usztoke said hoteliers still hoped to reach full occupancy.