Green Purchase and Logistics in the Hungarian Tourism and Hospitality

Abstract

Green logistics has its origin in the mid-1980s and characterizes logistics systems and approaches that use advanced technology and equipment to minimize environmental damage during operations. The relationship between green logistics and tourism is a less researched topic. In our opinion, Hungary lags in green procurement in the tourism industry. The development plans of the Hungarian Tourism Agency include that by 2030 country will receive 50 million foreign guests, and the number of participants in domestic tourism will double. The tourism industry will account for 16% of GDP by the end of the decade, and 16% of the employed will also work in tourism hospitality. Hungary has also undertaken to make our economy carbon-neutral by 2030, but in the field of tourism and hospitality, only the larger hotel chains have started in this direction; the lag among small and medium-sized enterprises is still very large. Europe’s largest hotel chain, the Accor Group, is leading by example in the field of green transformation, but procurement logistics still seems unresolved. However, the 4.0 revolution in industry and logistics is also increasingly circulating in tourism, as evidenced by this study results. The authors tried to analyze the situation of green logistics in Hungary with the phasing questions. Data for analysis were collected through a questionnaire survey. The participants in this survey belong to the young age group, and their education is higher than average. It was found that the young age group has already grown up knowing the importance of environmental protection. More than 90% of young people are interested in environmental protection or are doing it in some form. Overall, thinking about carbon neutral operation is positive, but this doesn’t seem to impact the buying decision process.