Towards full reopening – Slow recovery process in Hungary

Restart measures against Covid-19

 

The Government of Hungary is gradually relaunching the tourism sector according to a structured plan linked to the number of vaccinations against the coronavirus. This relaunch process started on 24^th of April 2021, the day after the first 3.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine was administered. After the 4 millionth dose was administered-a new phase of opening has taken place. The Hungarian Tourism Agency has summarized the provisions to enable tourism service providers to comply with the legislation in the course of re-opening and to provide answers to questions raised in preparation for the opening of accommodation, catering and leisure facilities.

 

The Legal Interpretation for Restarting Tourism is available here.

 

An opportunity to improve the labor market situation

 

The Hungarian Tourism Association Foundation has launched CheckINN, a tourism job search portal that provides a fast and user-friendly service for employers and job seekers in the tourism sector. The association is trying to support the relaunch of the sector, so the job portal will be free to use in 2021. VIMOSZ is also involved in promoting the portal, as our main objective is to reduce the labor shortage in the sector, which is now a major problem following gradual reopening. According to our association, the tourism sector is facing a very high number of career drop-outs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the CheckINN portal and similar initiatives, there is a chance to match supply and demand before the high season starts.

 

In addition, The Hungarian Tourism Agency has launched a campaign to promote the tourism industry with short films, image videos and a new website. The main aim is to raise the prestige of the sector and to encourage students who are facing a career choice or retraining – to choose tourism and hospitality.

 

In the films of the seven professions (barista, pastry chef, waiter, chef, receptionist, sommelier, concierge) well-known and renowned professionals such as sommelier Mátyás Szik or chef István Veres talk about their work. The films are informative, giving tips on how to become successful, how to get ahead in your profession. As part of the campaign, viewers will also be able to watch an image video highlighting the values that make working in this industry worthwhile. To help you choose a career, the karrieraturizmusban.hu website is now available, which provides fresh, professional content, up-to-date tools and useful information for those interested. The publication which can also be downloaded from the website- outlines possible career paths in tourism and hospitality, and serves as a guide to choose the perfect profession.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on the tourism and catering industries. The campaign will help rebuild workers’ confidence, at the same time it also serves to support students about to continue in further education and employees  providing perspective and showing a career path. The programme enhances the prestige and social acceptance of the professions, and recognises professionals who are outstanding performers, thus helping to develop the culture of the sector in Hungary.

National Tourism Development Strategy 2030 under preparation with COVID-19 extension

 

A version 2.0 of the National Tourism Development Strategy 2030 is being prepared under the guidance of the Hungarian Tourism Agency, which includes minor improvements and adaptations to the previous version. VIMOSZ has been invited, together with several other stakeholders, to comment and improve the current version. The strategy plans the development of Hungarian tourism until 2030, while paying attention to the necessary and appropriate social, green and digital skills. The NTG project and the skills developed by the consortium participants are also included in the pages of the strategy, which has not yet been published. Among other things, NTG is mentioned as a good example of a project aimed at carrying out the necessary sectoral survey and data collection. Its aim to map the current expectations of the tourism profession towards its employees and to outline the trends in tourism demand and supply, considering future requirements, is also praised. The plan also highlights the Hungarian involvement, specifically the questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews conducted in the sub-sector in Hungary in 2018-2019.

Here is the executive summary of the first version.