The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Hungary’s shopping tourism
Mihály TÖMÖRI, Institute of Tourism and Geography, University of Nyíregyhzáza, Hungary, Hungary
In order to stop or slow the spread of COVID-19, the majority of countries introduced measures that resulted in an unprecedented decline in the global tourism sector in 2020. Restrictions, which especially hit services targeting primarily foreign tourists, had a serious impact on Hungary’s tourism too. The study of the decline and restructuring of Hungary’s tourism sector due to the COVID-19 crises is important from the perspective of the whole national economy, since according to statistics the direct contribution of tourism related sectors to Hungary’s GDP in 2018 was 6.8% and 11% with spillover effects, moreover, approximately 12% of the workforce was occupied in tourism related industries. The aim of the presentation is to introduce the changes that took place in Hungary’s shopping tourism, being one of the most significant tourism products of the country, due to the COVID-19 crisis. The importance and relevance of the topic lies in the fact that previous studies revealed that millions of foreigners visited Hungary before the COVID-19 crisis with the primary motivation of shopping who spent several hundred million euros on buying products and services. Regarding all these facts, it is highly important to examine how the crisis affected one of Hungary’s most prominent tourism products. The presentation introduces the concept of shopping tourism, its basic forms, and its infra- and superstructure, moreover, it analyses the changes that took place in the number and share of shopping trips to Hungary in 2020 compared to the previous years, as well as the changes in the amount and structure of visitors’ spending. The research is based on the review of the relevant literature and on the analysis of the database of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office on international travels. Results show that the COVID-19 crisis caused a serious decline in all segments of Hungary’s tourism, however shopping tourism belongs to the less severely affected tourism products.
Mots clés : shopping tourism|COVID-19|pandemic|Hungary
A102762MT