BUDAPEST, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The people to people exchange between China and Hungary is becoming more and more frequent and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Hungary exceeded 270,000 in 2019, a Chinese official told Xinhua on Monday.

"Last year, a total of 277,389 Chinese tourists visited Hungary, a 8.36 percent increase year-on-year," said Cui Ke, director of China National Tourist Office, in Budapest.

According to Cui, Chinese tourists spent a total of 455,232 nights in Hungary in the perod, up 4.75 percent year-on-year.

In 2019, Chinese airlines opened four new direct routes linking Chinese cities and Hungarian capital Budapest, bringing the total direct air routes between the two countries to five.

In June 2019, China Eastern Airlines began a direct flight service between Shanghai and Budapest. Then in December 2019, China Eastern Airlines opened the Xi'an-Budapest and the Chengdu-Budapest direct air routes, while China's Hainan Airlines opened a new direct air route, linking China's Chongqing Municipality with Budapest.