This Research Centre of Corvinus has become a key player in tourism research and specialist postgraduate education

Artificial intelligence will also be an important topic in tourism research in the coming period. This was one of the topics discussed at the Research Week held in early February, where Melinda Jászberényi, Head of the Mobility and Tourism Centre (MTC), and her colleagues presented the scientific results and activities of the Research Centre. In the second part of the programme, Jácint Farkas (BGE) and Zoltán Raffay (PTE) spoke about their recently published book “Utazástudomány: akadálymentességi dimenziók (Travel Science: dimensions of accessibility)“, co-authored with Tibor Gonda (PTE).  

Tourism Bulletin, automation research and specialist postgraduate programmes in focus 

At the Research Week, theTourism and Mobility Research Centre presented the main pillars of its activities, alongside several other research centres. Since 2017, the Research Centre has been responsible for editing the professional-scientific journal Tourism Bulletin, founded in 1997. Melinda Jászberényi is the editor-in-chief of the academically qualified scientific journal. The important role of the journal in the field of tourism is demonstrated by the fact that the Section of Economics and Law of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences currently ranks the Tourism Bulletin tenth in the number of independent citations of domestic journals. Recently updated in both appearance and content, issue 2024/1 now accepts English-language papers.  

Márk Miskolczi, Associate Professor at the Department of Tourism, as a member of the Research Centre, summarized the results of their research on the social and economic impacts of highly automated vehicles, carried out in the framework of the Thematic Excellence Programme. The project has analysed the issue from several aspects, such as how the spread of highly automated vehicles and shared mobility services affects tourist mobility and tourist activity. Among other things, they also looked at how automation is reflected in the urban development strategies of European cities. They have published papers on the topic in several national and international journals, and have had 1 D1 and 5 Q1 journal articles published. Although the Thematic Excellence Programme has ended, a new OTKA Programme is now being launched to further explore the adoption of technology and the role of AI solutions in travel planning and tourist attraction development. 

In relation to the Centre’s educational activities, László Kökény, Assistant Professor, highlighted the two tourism-related specialist postgraduate programmes that have been continuously offered since 2017, which, based on national feedback, have become the inevitable adult education courses of the tourism profession. Year after year, the Cultural Tourism Manager and Economist programme provides professionals working in the cultural tourism, visitor management and arts sectors with state-of-the-art knowledge. The Tourism Development Manager and Economist programme is offered to people working in the hotel industry, event management, hospitality, public administration and financial institutions, mostly to improve and update their skills. Over the past years, more than 120 students have graduated from the two programmes and have become today’s leading tourism professionals.  

The Tourism and Mobility book series is now publishing its 27th volume 

At the event, Melinda Jászberényi presented the Tourism and Mobility book series, the fourth pillar of the Research Centre’s activities, as the editor of the book series. She said that the online coursebooks published by Akadémiai Kiadó have brought a new dimension to tourism education, as online books are now available for all the important topics and subjects taught at bachelor, master and postgraduate levels.  According to Akadémiai Kiadó, 32 books with a tourism profile have been published in the last five years, 27 of which are related to the Tourism and Mobility series, so the thematic series also provides a significant publication platform for colleagues doing research and teaching in the field of tourism.  

Jácint Farkas, one of the authors of the book series, presented the latest book in the series, entitled Travel Science: dimensions of accessibility, at the Research Week. The researcher used his own example to illustrate that the dimensions of accessibility go far beyond physical barriers and become problems that require a philosophical approach in everyday life. In their book, the authors argue that travel and the discovery of new worlds is an essential part of human nature, and that this is no different for people with reduced mobility. However, to enable them to travel in a truly barrier-free world, we need to create the technical conditions and change the mindset of society.  

The current events and research achievemets of the Centre are available on their official Facebook page, as well as the Corvinus University website.