Debrecen needs to be put - in domestic tourism - at its deserved place

After Ferenc Miklóssy the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hajdú-Bihar County and Zoltán Pajna the President of Hajdú-Bihar County Assembly welcomed the guests at the House of Non-Profit Economic Development Organisations, Gábor Gődény described the goals of Debrecen in terms of tourism. Debrecen needs to be put at its deserved place in terms of domestic tourism – said Gábor Gődény Division Manager of “Visit Debrecen” at the Főnix Rendezvényszervező Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft. As a positive point, the city ranked the top 9th in the list of TOP 25 settlements in the country based on the number of guest nights spent. Now the aim is to get it into the TOP 5. It is very important to build Debrecen as a brand, because it is a concept that can be interpreted by foreigners as opposed to the Northern Great Plain, i.e. the entire region must be identified with the Debrecen brand – said the expert, who defined the promotion of tourism from abroad as one of Debrecen’s long-term goals.

Zoltán Pajna believes that in addition to the natural features and cultural heritage of the county, health tourism are of particular importance. It was a positive finding that in 2016 the number of guests staying in our county was over 484,500, and the number of guest nights exceeded 1,416,800, it is an increasing tendency compared to previous years. After Budapest, the most visited rural town is Hajdúszoboszló. Tourists spent about 65% of the overnight stays here, thanks to the outstanding service in health and medical tourism. Zoltán Pajna added that among the foreign guests, the Slovaks, the Poles, the Romanians, the Russians, the Ukrainians and the Germans still in majority to choose our region. However, the continuous development and expansion of Debrecen International Airport means that visitors can also be seduced from Great Britain, Italy, France, Sweden, Germany and the Benelux States.

Ferenc Miklóssy said that they are counting on the significant revenue coming from the important events held in Debrecen, because the main goal is to get as many guests as possible to spend more time in the city and in our county. In 2016, around 4% of the GDP of the country was directly provided by tourism, and 350 thousand people are currently employed in tourism by 46,000 enterprises in Hungary, which is a significant number.

Dr. Gábor Morvai, County Conciliatory Board member of the Consumer Protection Association of Hungary also provided useful advice to those involved in tourism. As he said: if a tourist has been complaining about something, the host has practically lost him or her, so the issue must not evolve to this point. Typical service faults described during the presentation served as an illustrative example of bad hospitality behaviour. Several invited people representing different segments of the county's tourism expressed his or her position about Hajdú-Bihar County’s tourism in the framework of a platform discussion at the end of the Season Opener. According to László Bulcsu, Vice President of the County Assembly, it is important to combine the actors who plan and implement the actions connected to tourism.

Edit Bódor, Director of Főnix Rendezvényszervező Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft. said that this year, together with the county government, it is possible to show the values of the county to visitors who are coming to Debrecen. The well-known and highly popular Értéksziget event, featuring the values of the county, is organized in August this year in the Kölcsey Center.

Péter Miklósvölgyi, Manager of Campus Nonprofit Közhasznú Kft. is confident that the Campus Festival, which has been in existence for some years now, will have about 15% increase this year. The festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with the main performer: The Prodigy band.

László Tamás, Director of flight development at Debrecen Airport, commented on the easy and quick alternative tourist attractions. Today more than a thousand destinations can be reached from Debrecen by plane.