Thanks to the The National Tourism Data Supply Centre (NTDSC) platform developed by the Hungarian Tourism Agency, up-to-date and publicly available information can help hoteliers and service providers to plan, assess and forecast more accurately their business activities, and react faster to current challenges such as the upcoming energy crisis. Nevertheless, the Agency can also modify the execution of their marketing campaigns more cost-effectively thanks to the real-time data. Alongside these innovations, Hungary has implemented an extensive infrastructure and attraction improvement programme to enhance the quality of tourism.
Digitalisation is an important pillar of the Hungarian Tourism Agency’s strategy, including data-driven operations for more efficient decision-making and planning. NTDSC launched in 2019, gives a real-time overview of the anonymous turnover statistics of all accommodation establishments in the country. Recently, the important database has been extended with further sources such as cellular mobile data, information of credit card usage and search engine analytics. The innovative platform makes it possible to target marketing campaigns more accurately, redesign them during execution, if needed, differentiate by territory, and evaluate more effectively the turnover results.
Moreover, the aggregated data can be used also to analyse the past period and make forecasts based on the pre-booking information. To help the competitiveness of the whole tourism sector, partners of the Agency, such as service providers and municipalities, can access certain features of the platform and benefit from the up-to-date information for business improvement. Their accessibility of this digital tool also serves important educational purposes. As a next step, the Agency is currently working on expanding the range of data providers, including restaurants and tourist attractions, for further analytical features.
‘In a fast-changing and challenging environment like the one in which the tourism sector is currently operating, any tool that allows us to plan more effectively and react quickly to new circumstances is of paramount importance. Therefore, we are putting a strong emphasis on the development of innovative digital tools to support the competitiveness of the whole sector. Meanwhile, we will continue our comprehensive infrastructure and attraction development programme, which has already delivered 17,000 development projects for the benefit of our visitors from the UK and other foreign countries’ said Zsófia Jakab Deputy CEO of Hungarian Tourism Agency at the World Travel Market London 2022.
In the pre-Covid era we saw the number of tourists grow from all over the world with Budapest getting particularly popular among travellers. Countryside destinations were also visited by more and more people each year. In 2022 after the coronavirus outbreak and a drop in British tourist arrivals, the UK, the host of WTM London, is the most important source market of Budapest again. This summer more than five times more British guests arrived to the capital city of Hungary than in the last summer, so the recovery is very dynamic. The United Kingdom was one of the top three markets for Sziget Festival visitors.
Based on our analytics, the most visited attractions in Budapest are the Parliament and its surroundings, the Széchenyi Spa, the Fisherman’s Bastion, the Gozsdu Courtyard and Party District/Kazinczy Street, the Dohány Street Synagogue and St Stephen’s Basilica. British visitors spend more on accommodation than the foreign average.
Hungary’s participation at the World Travel Market 2022
At this year’s leading trade fair for leisure tourism, the Hungarian offers will be presented on a 105 square metre central stand, number EU1810. Following the practice of previous years, the Hungarian Tourism Agency will again provide the opportunity for some of its co-exhibiting partners to present their products at the event and explore new partnerships to develop their business. In addition, a special partner programme has been launched this year aiming to create innovative product packages in the market.