Dr. Petra Gyurácz-Németh is an Associate Professor at the University of Pannonia, Veszprém, Hungary. She holds a bachelor’s degree in tourism and hospitality and a master’s degree in economics (specializing in marketing management) from the University of Pannonia. She has experience in several areas of tourism. Petra Gyurácz-Németh worked in the tourist information office of one of the most visited towns in Hungary. She also has experience in tour operations, working in Budapest (capital of Hungary) for a Hungarian tour operator specializing in sports tours, especially Olympic Games.

She started her relationship with the hotel industry as a hotel employee, working in various positions such as housekeeping supervisor, reservation agent, and receptionist. She gained experience in hotel standardization and customization, which became her PhD research topic. In addition to her doctoral research, she started teaching and modernizing hotel-related subjects at the Department of Tourism, University of Pannonia. Her research on hotel standardization and customization was defended and received an excellent rating (summa cum laude). The topic is continued by her PhD student, EATSA member Kitti Hiezl, who focuses more on personalization.

Initially, her research interest included hotel quality, mostly from a process management point of view, then innovation became the focus, which included topics on types of innovation and innovation culture in the hotel sector. After innovation, sustainability came into focus, highlighting sustainability policies and strategies. This topic became particularly important through multidisciplinary research when the Hungarian National Laboratory for Climate Change was established under the leadership of the Rector of the University of Pannonia. Then she started developing the social footprint and focusing on responsibility.

She is currently leading a research group called Career break and career change in tourism under the shadow of Covid-19 – Analyzing the career paths of senior and former tourism students, which focuses on tourism employment, one of the most important issues in the tourism sector. In addition to her research, she has been Program Leader for the MSc in Tourism Management, President of the Student Scientific Committee at the Faculty of Economics, led national projects and established and managed the Quality Centre at the University of Pannonia for 4 years. She is currently head of the Institute of Business Studies at the Faculty of Business and Economics.