(In)Visible Tourism According to Online Cash Registers in Hungary, 2018–2020

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to share innovations and some key lessons learned in the use of non-traditional data sources to improve data quality and enable more accurate and efficient data use in the field of tourism. Research on visitor traffic is based on classical statistical measures, but it may be worth expanding it with alternative data sources, such as databases based on online cash register (OCR) data. These data can be particularly useful for analysing tourism-related consumption habits in a given area. The study introduces the “invisible”, tourism-related, non-accommodation spending characteristics of transit traffic in Hungary, the possibilities of its analysis and spatial aspects, using online cash register data (includes all retail sales in Hungary, except for motorcycle purchases), and additionally, we identify the most affected municipalities which are invisible for traditional data sources. The results show that invisible tourism, linked to transit traffic, has significant economic potential. The analysis of this new type of database will provide a more accurate and faster picture of consumption associated with hidden tourism, which can be an important input for economic and marketing development.