ETURISTA: INNOVATION OR PRIVACY THREAT?
The eTurist system is a proposal by the Czech government to simplify the registration of accommodation facilities, such as hotels, pensions and private apartments, by creating a centralised electronic platform. This system aims to reduce red tape, promote digitisation and help municipalities regulate short-term rentals more effectively, such as those through Airbnb, which often escape traditional controls. In practice, eTurista allows all guest information to be centralized in a single electronic registry, thus simplifying procedures for facility owners and authorities.
How does it work?
Currently, the owner of a hotel in the Czech Republic must register guests in two separate registers: one called registration book (where they are annotated the data of all guests, both local and foreign) and another house book (domovní kniha) for foreign guests, which is sent to the police for security reasons.
With eTurista, these informations would be consolidated into a single national electronic system. All guest data, both local and foreign, would be collected in a central register managed by the Ministry of Regional Development. In practice, owners would have to enter data only once, and all competent authorities could access it as needed.
What are the advantages?
The benefits of this system, according to the government, are clear: on the one hand, eTurista would make it easier to manage data, reducing the risk of errors or double registrations, and on the other hand it would help local authorities better monitor short-term rents. The system should also help to combat the tax grey area in which many short-term rents operate, increasing tax revenues and creating a more equitable business environment.
What are the concerns?
This system has raised many privacy concerns. Right now, guest data is scattered in several local registers, accessible only by specific competent authorities. With eTurista, all data would be centralized on a single platform, which carries the risk of more traveller profiling. Some critics, including Senator Hana Kordová Marvanová, fear that the system could be used to monitor people’s movements, collecting more information than necessary and thus violating users’ privacy. These concerns focus mainly on the fact that data could be used for wider and more invasive tracking, compared to the current situation where data are separated and limited to specific authorities.
Some opposition MPs also raised concerns about the costs of running the system and the possibility that supervision does not effectively solve short-term rent problems, but only increases bureaucracy and oversight.
How does the government respond?
The government, however, responded to these criticisms by stating that only a limited group of people and institutions will have access to data and that all access will be tracked to ensure transparency. In addition, the data collected will be treated anonymously for statistical purposes, so as not to violate users’ privacy. In any case, before the system is implemented, an impact analysis on the protection of personal data is planned to ensure that all privacy regulations are respected.
In conclusion, eTurista’s proposal represents an attempt to modernise and simplify the management of accommodation facilities in the Czech Republic, but raises legitimate concerns about privacy and the use of personal data.
The government will have to demonstrate that the system will strike a fair balance between administrative efficiency and protection of citizens’ privacy, without centralising information as an instrument for indiscriminate state surveillance. If the system succeeds in solving these problems, it could represent an important step forward for the management of tourist facilities in the country.
It remains to be seen how the debate will evolve and how measures to protect users will be implemented as the country seeks to modernise its tourism management.
Sources: https://www.irozhlas.cz/
