An area of tourism where we, Hungarians can overtake Western Europe

The pandemic has hit the tourism industry dramatically. It is commonly believed that the whole sector will change; the question is how this change will take place. What does the future hold for tourism?

A couple of years ago, when the Modern Enterprises Programme examined the digital maturity of Hungarian SMEs, it turned out that the tourism sector was the worst of all industries in Hungary. In spite of the fact that our capabilities are good, there is no shortage of specialists, and it is relatively easy to raise capital for IT developments, because of the upswing in recent years most tourism companies have felt that there is no need to deal with digitization. Even so, last year Hungarian tourism closed a record year: the number of guest nights was over 31 million.

Now, however, the pandemic has changed the rules of the game.

Many companies are going bankrupt, and those who want to survive have realized that if they want to stand out, they are forced to carry out comprehensive developments. So the future is clearly pointing to digitalization, and this transformation will be accelerated even further by 5G networks.

How exactly can 5G transform tourism?

Currently, our mobile phones and other digital devices only help us find information. For example, if we are standing at a bus stop, we can use our mobile phone to check when the next bus is coming or we can find out the best place nearby for a nice cup of coffee. In the future, this will be totally different.

At the bus stop, transparent digital displays will call out to us.They will ask where we are going and not only tell us when our bus is coming, but they will also recommend popular bars and restaurants nearby. And if we allow it, they will send the contact details of the selected restaurant to our phone and show us how to get there. That is, digital solutions will guide people. There are already examples of all this in the world. At Tokyo airport, for example, a robot recommends that tourists buy a city card.

What investments are businesses who contact Digitális Turizmus Zrt considering?

There is a broad palette of ideas. We try to facilitate and accelerate the digitization processes of tourism companies and organizations. Some companies want to renew their website, others want to redesign the company image, and there are businesses who want to introduce virtual wallet solutions or digital admission systems. We can even advise a rural spa town on how they can become completely cash-free, and we can also help them understand how the equipment needed to do this can be operated.

In addition, we can show how legally collected information can help companies develop long-term strategies.

How exactly did this company start?

When I told my friends four years ago that I wanted to deal with the digitization of tourism, most of them were still sceptical. They didn’t think it had a future. At that time this was a completely new thing, of course: there was nobody in Hungary dealing with such a thing yet.

Before establishing the company in 2017, I conducted an international market research in a total of 21 countries.

After looking into the foreign trends, I started to deal with digital tourism in Hungary. In the meantime, the Ministry of National Development also joined us as a strategic partner. We were the first in Europe to launch an aggregator website where you can buy tickets for several Hungarian spas and swimming pools on one single surface. Our partners here cover almost 50 percent of the market. We want to expand in the surrounding countries in the coming years. Our goal is to become regional market leaders in digital tourism by 2024.

What are the prospects for the region? Can we compete with the more developed EU countries?

At the moment, we are still lagging behind Western Europe. Just to give an example: in more developed regions, tourist destinations such as zoos or spas usually have their own mobile applications. With these apps they can offer gamelike experiences to visitors. This is what we call gamification in English. At the same time, many of their services are also contactless. There are many other useful ideas that have not taken root in Hungary yet.

However, as our capabilities are good, and the regional markets are still developing markets where wages are not exorbitant, we can easily bridge the gap. As Western systems are larger and take more time to change, I believe that in a few years the V4 countries may not only catch up with Western Europe, but also overtake it in digital tourism.