Minister of State for Economic Regulation Béla Glattfelder said that the Hungarian tourism sector must strive for quality in order to maintain the record-breaking performance of the division. The Minister of State delivered his speech at the 10th presentation ceremony of the Hungarian Tourism Quality Award in Budapest.

At the event, a five-year contract for the renewal of the quality scheme’s accreditation was also signed.

As the Minister of State pointed out, the Hungarian tourism sector – like other economic sectors -- must increasingly focus on improving quality, as international competition has been posing ever tougher challenges.

Béla Glattfelder said that the tourism sector has been a top performer and it closed the year 2014 with excellent results: the country has never had a tourism sector which would have added so much to Hungarian GDP.

In order to further strengthen the sector, he added, the quality of services must be maintained or improved and the Hungarian Tourism Quality Award has been an instrument to achieve this goal: this acknowledgement has honoured 31 service providers in 2014, among them 21 accommodation establishments and 10 catering establishments. The Minister of State stressed that the quality programme had been prepared for several years, also across parliamentary terms, to finally become over the past ten years a quality award accredited by the EU.

Hungarian Tourism Ltd (MT Ltd) CEO Péter Faragó emphasised that the funding scheme of the company aims to facilitate the quality work of SMEs and service providers and to improve export opportunities. As he pointed out, the sector has been an economic growth engine. The main objective of this year is to deliver the same, or even better, results compared to the previous year. The awardees are of the scheme are the very best of their profession and they were the most successful promoters of tourism and hospitality in 2014, he stated.

At the ceremony, HOTREC (Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafés in Europe) CEO Christian de Barrin said he is glad that the number of participants in the quality programme of the Hungarian Tourism Ltd has been rising from year to year and this improves Hungary’s reputation as quality destination. He also announced that HOTREC has approved the application of MT Ltd to renew its accreditation. As a result, award-wining restaurants and hotels are entitled to utilize the quality label Q that marks the recognition of the European Hospitality Quality (EHQ) scheme.

Hungarian Tourism Ltd opens a competition for the Hungarian Tourism Quality Award once every year and the award authorizes awardees to utilize the Q logo and the label for three years. The plaque can currently be found at the entrance of 84 hotels and 19 restaurants.

(Ministry for National Economy)