Highlight of the Month – When a City Speaks in Local Voices

Highlight of the Month – When a City Speaks in Local Voices

What would you show someone who wanted to see and experience Szeged as a local?

In Szeged, this question has travelled far beyond a tourism workshop. It appeared on the website and Facebook page of Szeged Tourinform, and on posters placed at public transport stops and cultural venues across the city. QR codes offered a direct route to the Szerintem Szeged campaign, turning even the few minutes spent waiting into an invitation to participate.

The request was simple: tell us what you would recommend to someone who wants to experience Szeged as a local.

Residents responded with places they love, experiences they treasure and everyday moments that rarely appear in conventional city guides. Through their answers, the people of Szeged began to shape how their city is introduced to visitors.

A city guide written in many voices

More than 150 resident recommendations have already been collected and transformed into a colourful, publicly accessible guide on the Welcome to Szeged webpage.

Check it out here! - https://szegedtourism.hu/en/welcome-to-szeged-2/

The suggestions are organised according to different interests and rhythms of travel: beauty, active experiences, places to relax, hidden gems, family activities and seasonal recommendations. Each card preserves the personal character of the original answer. Instead of presenting Szeged through a single institutional voice, the page allows the city to speak through the memories, habits and affections of its residents.

One recommendation captures the spirit of the campaign particularly well:

“Dragon boating on the Tisza is also well worth trying. A guide leads the team, so you do not have to manage on your own, and paddling together has a special atmosphere. I think seeing Szeged from the water is a completely different experience from looking at the river from the riverbank.”

Levente, 30 | Szerintem Szeged participant

A courtyard café, a riverside path, a neighbourhood market or a quiet place known mainly to regular visitors may seem like small details. Yet together, they reveal the lived character of Szeged – the city that exists between its famous landmarks.

When recommendations find a face and a voice

The conversation continued through a series of short films featuring Szeged residents. Built around the same themes as the online guide, the videos ask personal and inviting questions: Where do you look for beauty in Szeged? Which hidden place would you show a visitor? What would you recommend to a family, to someone looking for an active experience, or to a guest who simply wants to slow down?

These are not conventional promotional films with a polished institutional narrator. Local people appear in front of the camera and speak in their own words. Their enthusiasm, memories and personal connections make each recommendation feel like advice shared between two people rather than a message delivered by a destination.

The videos also keep the campaign open. Every question invites another answer, allowing communication to become an ongoing public conversation about what Szeged is and what it could offer.

From local advice to shared experiences

The Programmes by locals section takes the process one step further. At the igloo-shaped Nappali information point on Klauzál Square – one visible meeting place within Szeged’s wider New Tourism pilot – local organisations bring their knowledge and creativity directly to residents and visitors. Here, local knowledge is no longer only something to read or watch. It becomes something people can make, discuss and experience together.

Visitor economy in practice

This is where the campaign reaches beyond communication and becomes a practical example of the visitor economy.

Every resident recommendation can direct attention towards a small business, cultural organisation, creative workshop, neighbourhood or local service. That attention can lead to more time spent in the city, a personal encounter, participation in a programme or a purchase that benefits a local provider.

Visitors receive something valuable: trusted, personal guidance that helps them connect with Szeged beyond its best-known sights. At the same time, local places and communities gain visibility and the opportunity to become part of the city’s visitor offer.

Residents are therefore not merely an audience for tourism communication. Their knowledge influences which places receive attention, which stories are shared and how visitors are invited to experience the city.

Why this communication stands out

The strength of Szerintem Szeged lies not in any single poster, webpage or video, but in the way these elements work together.

The online and Facebook campaign gathers ideas. Public transport posters bring the invitation into everyday urban life. QR codes make participation immediate. Short films give the recommendations a human face. The Welcome to Szeged page returns the collected knowledge to the public in an accessible form, while the Nappali creates opportunities for some of these local stories and skills to become shared experiences.

Communication is not added after the pilot to report what happened. It is one of the instruments through which participation happens.

This approach also offers a transferable lesson for the wider People Powered Tourism partnership: invite residents to contribute, meet them through both digital and physical channels, make their knowledge visible, and create pathways through which local recommendations can become real visitor experiences.

For transforming communication into participation – and participation into new value for visitors and the local community – we are delighted to present the Highlight of the Month Award to Szeged and Surroundings Tourism Nonprofit Ltd. and the Szeged Tourinform team.

Their campaign demonstrates that when a city speaks in local voices, visitors discover more than a destination. They are invited into a living conversation – one that residents themselves continue to shape.