Do they know everything about the guests of Hungarian hotels: is it a matter of national security and counter-terrorism measures?



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Although there is currently an almost complete stoppage in domestic tourism and accommodation providers are either closed or only “showing up” as a result of the measures imposed due to the coronavirus epidemic, the government still does not appear to be abandoning the introduction of a document reader. online. The regulation in this regard mentions as accommodation management software a device that has an established connection with the help of an online document reader. This system must transmit data about the tourist who enters the National Tourist Information Center and its repository.

The name, place and time of birth, sex, mother’s surname at birth, identification data of the appropriate personal identification document of the user or travel document must be provided. In addition, the address of the accommodation service, the planned start and end date of the accommodation must be recorded. In Hungary, the guest must now fill in this information on paper, but accommodation providers rarely verify the authenticity of personal data and supporting documents. They really are not prepared for this. By the way, the new data registration was initiated by the Ministry of the Interior, citing reasons of national security and the fight against terrorism.

The tourism sector, which is already bleeding from thousands of injuries, is not very happy with the compulsion to buy new equipment. Such a digital document reader will cost 250 thousand guilders, but it is not even clear from whom it is necessary to obtain it, whether it is possible to apply for a discount on payment in installments and whether state aid can be applied for, for example, for smaller accommodation providers. The website for the National Tourist Information Center also says that there are 30 accommodation management software to choose from, but there is no information yet on which document reader to connect to. We contacted the Hungarian Tourism Agency on several occasions, but so far they have not responded to questions from the portfolio.

Balázs Schumicky, the president of the Hungarian Apartment Publishers Association, said there were no detailed technical rules related to the introduction. According to him, the long-lasting nature of the coronavirus epidemic would also justify that the host and the accommodation operator would run as few times as possible if the guests could be greeted again. For smaller entrepreneurs, therefore, you would consider an application acceptable, as you know is the case in Slovenia.

Csaba Baldauf, representative of the family hotels section of the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said that

As of January 1, it says they probably won’t be able to introduce it.

According to him, this will be more relevant with the expected spring reactivation of tourism towards the end of the first half of the year. To the best of his knowledge, they wanted to make the use of the online document reader mandatory earlier this year, but it was presumably not due to the coronavirus epidemic, but other factors.

Csaba Baldauf mentioned that in relation to the introduction, it is not yet clear, for example, how the European Union data protection law, the GDPR, should be complied with. “Hotels in Western and Southern Europe have long had a system to accurately record guests’ personal information.

There, no one is surprised if they ask for a passport or ID when registering before occupying the room.

– the representative of the family hotels section of the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association described the international situation. According to him, it should also be specified what data should be recorded, because each travel or personal document has a different data content from one country to another.

By the way, the legislation establishes that the data will be treated confidentially, so the government will designate MPF Felügyeleti Szolgáltató Kft. As a key service provider to guarantee the provision of the fixed data encryption procedure. It is a company founded with a registered capital of HUF 371 million, founded in November last year. It is owned by Magyar Posta. MPF currently has 22 employees, according to publicly available data, it has had a turnover of HUF 0 so far. The main activities of the company include data processing and web hosting services. According to information on the Magyar Posta website, the company also supervises food and beverage vending machines.

Cover image: Getty Images



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