Nature meets tourism: Föhr relies on sustainable concepts!

On December 28, 2024, the specialist conference "Nature and Tourism" took place on Föhr, in which around 80 participating participants took part. The event was organized by a team consisting of Dr. Sabrina Seeler from the FH West coast, Frank Ketter from North Sea Tourismus-Service GmbH, Anja Szczesinski from WWF Germany, Martin Rimmler from the National Park Administration and Sabine Graetke from Dithmarschen Tourismus.

The focus of the conference was on the connection between nature and tourism in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea, which is protected both as a national park and as a world natural heritage. During the discussions, various approaches were discussed to better reconcile nature conservation and tourism. Jochen Gemeinhardt presented the "Föhr Green" award for sustainable companies. In addition, the Interreg project Vabene was presented, the initiatives such as the anti-waste campaign "Take three, be there!" as well as training offers for sustainability guides included.

sustainability in tourism

A new sustainability guideline was presented by Dithmarschen Tourismus, while a report on the “Haedi” sustainability festival in St. Peter-Ording was presented. The topic of tourism acceptance was also dealt with, with contributions by Dr. Sabrina Seeler and students of the West Coast University of Applied Sciences. Matthias Pens, from the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Tourism Association, presented the "Idea Machti Mach Tourism" dialog campaign. In addition, the new online bookability of the Wadden Sea protection station was presented by Björn Marten-Philipps.

A review of Dr. Hans-Ulrich Rösner has shown the approaches between nature conservation and tourism in recent decades. Another lecture by Madita Brenker dealt with the normalization of sustainability in tourism. The organizers drew a positive balance and emphasized the imaginative exchange and the promising perspectives that resulted from the conference. Presentations of the individual contributions are available on the National Park website.

In Schleswig-Holstein, around one million guests take advantage of the offers for natural experience, as of the WWF . In the entire Wadden Sea, there are at least 2.5 million guests who are interested in an intact ecosystem. Nature conservation associations, national park administrations and committed people are actively committed to promoting nature experiences and nature -friendly behavior.

the WWF carries out various measures to address the problems of overlooking and disturbing leisure activities. Since 2014 there has been a common tourism strategy of the three Wadden Sea states, which is committed to sustainable development in the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site. The WWF has worked significantly on this strategy and is committed to nature conservation issues in the action plan. In addition, the WWF supports sustainable tourism through publications, including a feasibility study on climate -friendly tourism.

As part of the Interreg VB project "ProWad Link", the WWF has developed the Wadden Sea tourism radar, which serves as a navigation aid for sustainable and natural destinations.