German Tourism Research Articles

Spatial patterns of tourism development in Germany

Tourism is one of the most important and dynamic sectors of the world's economy. However, the coronavirus pandemic in 2020–2021 caused significant losses in the tourism industry. The pandemic has also significantly affected the tourism development in Germany, which is one of the world's leading tourist destinations. The article analyzes the dynamics of tourism development in Germany in 2012–2022 and calculates the indicator of the integral index of tourism development in the federal states of Germany. The average values of the initial partial indicators for 2018–2022 are taken, to determine the integral index of tourism development level in the federal lands of Germany, which reflect both absolute and relative parameters of tourism growth. Based on the calculated average integrated index of the tourism development level in the federal lands of Germany, the features of spatial differentiation in the tourism development in the country are clarified. The analysis shows that before the coronavirus pandemic, tourism in Germany was significantly developing. The total number of tourist arrivals by 2020 increased annually by more than 20 %. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, their number and tourism revenues halved in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, this indicator and other indicators of the development of the German tourism industry tended to improve. Domestic tourists dominate the total number of tourist arrivals. The calculated average integral index of tourism development in the federal lands showed a significant spatial asymmetry in the levels of development of the German tourism industry. According to this index, the federal lands of Germany are divided into five groups: high, high than average, medium, lower than average, and low tourism development levels. The lands of Berlin and Bavaria have a high level of tourism development. These regions are well-known tourist destinations in Germany. They have a rich cultural heritage, abundant natural resources and attractive landscapes, and a large number of tourist accommodation facilities. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Baden-Württemberg have a higher level of tourism development than the national average. These lands are characterised by a large number of tourist overnight stays, accommodation facilities, territorial concentrations, and a high intensity of tourism. The western German lands of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia have an average level of tourism development. These lands are characterised by high tourist arrivals and the number and capacity of accommodation facilities. However, due to the large area of these territories, they have low indicators of the territorial concentration of tourism activity. Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bremen, Saxony and Brandenburg have a lower level of tourism development than the German average. These regions are characterised by moderate tourism development indicators. The federal lands of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saarland have the lowest level of tourism development due to low volumes of tourist flows and low concentration of accommodation facilities. The German government has introduced several measures to support the tourism industry during the pandemic, including emergency financial assistance, grant support, a special loan program, tax measures, and short-term leave for businesses. It is known that higher tourism development indicators are typical for the lands with the highest level of social and economic development. Tourism is a factor that influences the economic development of both the country and individual federal states. Keywords: integral index of tourism development, Germany, tourism, tourist arrivals, federal state.

Hotel and business in modern France and Germany

This article discusses the historical prerequisites for the emergence of tourism in Europe and analyzes its historically determined features. The authors show the characteristic national aspects of the tourism industry in France and Germany. The historical and cultural background and prospects of European tourism are also studied against the backdrop of political, economic and cultural processes in modern Europe. The article also shows the main elements of the tourism business in the countries under consideration, including their hotel component. Travel promotes cultural exchange and education, enhances the quality of life, strengthens health and supports the cohesion of people. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed people’s desire to travel. Before the pandemic, the German tourism industry planned to raise the profile of this sector of the economy, since 4 % of the value added in Germany is directly related to tourism. The economics of the tourism industry also has an impact on other sectors of the economy such as the mobility sector. Tourism is a key driver of regional development in many regions of the world, including Germany and France. The overall goal may be to use this influence wisely and create additional value for tourists and for the local population.

Examining the adventure traveller behaviour - Personality, motives and socio-demographic factors as determinants for German adventure travel

Adventure tourism has established itself as a concept and a field of research within tourism. While the German tourism market is one of the biggest in the world, no evidence exists on the German adventure traveller. In adventure tourism research in general, there is little evidence on how personality, motives, and socio-demographic factors distinguish the choice for soft and hard adventure activities. Therefore, this quota-based survey among 1,500 German travellers does investigate demographics, motives and personality aspects. A logistic regression analysis is performed to categorize tourists into soft and hard adventure travellers. Gender and age are descriptive characteristics, as well as extraversion and going on adventures to get to know oneself better. This research helps to better understand German hard adventure travellers and enables operators to cater specifically to the needs of the target group.

A Knowledge Graph Perspective on Knowledge Engineering

For over 50 years researchers and practitioners have searched for ways to elicit and formalize expert knowledge to support AI applications. Expert systems and knowledge bases were all results of these efforts. The initial efforts on knowledge bases were focused on defining a domain and task intensionally with rather complex ontologies. The increasing complexity of knowledge and knowledge-based systems eventually led to the development of knowledge engineering methodologies. Knowledge graphs, in contrast to the traditional knowledge bases, represent knowledge more extensionally with a very large set of explicit statements and rather simpler and smaller ontologies. This paradigm change calls for a new take on knowledge engineering that focuses on the curation of ABox statements. In this paper, we introduce various aspects of the knowledge graphs lifecycle namely creation, hosting, curation and deployment. We define each task, give example approaches from the literature and explain our approach with a running example. Additionally, we present the German Tourism Knowledge Graph that is being implemented with our methodology.

Управление современной туристской индустрией Германии на основе концепции устойчивого туризма

The management of German tourism industry successfully implemented within the concept of sustainable tourism for a long time. The study of positive experience of this management is relevant in modern world economy. And it is the purpose of this article.The object of the study is sustainable tourism, the subject of the study is the management features of the modern German tourism industry based on the concept of sustainable tourism.The authors applied general scientific methods such as analysis and synthesis, logical method, historical method, quantitative and qualitative analysis, comparative analysis and generalization method. German official documents, analytical materials, tourism forecasts, programmes and open Internet resources were used in the course of the work on the article.First of all, the authors revealed the content of the concept of sustainable tourism in general, as presented in academic studies and official UNWTO documents. The authors further examined the specifics of management of the German tourism industry within the framework of the concept of sustainable tourism was presented by the developers of the German National Tourism Strategy. The right balance must be found between economy, environment and social responsibility in sustainable tourism, according to this Strategy.The authors' perception of management system of German tourism industry until 2019 was formed on an analysis of German official documents. Firstly, the management Germany's tourism industry is top-down - from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (federal level) through regional organizations: the German National Tourism Board and the Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry (regional level) to 16 federal states (municipal level). Secondly, self-governance of destinations was carried out as part of each of 16 federal states' local sustainable tourism program. Thirdly, this entire management system includes elements of sustainable tourism in its three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. The article presents the accumulated positive experience of management destinations and the promotion of types and directions of tourism in 16 federal states of Germany until 2019. It is noted that sustainable tourism covers these types and directions.The authors conclude that the implementation of the concept of sustainable tourism in the national tourism strategy of the country as a balance (measure) of the three dimensions: economic, social and environmental, is an expression of the national, cultural and unique natural identity of each destination (country).

Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Development of the German Tourism Industry

The years preceding the outbreak of the pandemic were the heyday of the German tourism industry. However, the end of 2019 marked a milestone in its successful development. The crisis caused by the COVID-19 virus has hurt all sectors of the world economy, including tourism. The year 2020 has become the most difficult for the German tourism and hospitality industry in many years and has forced a new assessment of the path traveled and the prospects for further development of this industry. People stopped traveling, visiting relatives, going to theaters and restaurants for a long time. Distance learning and the transfer of some employees to remote work are also controversial. However, in modern conditions, the acceleration of digitalization and the introduction of new technologies is an inevitable process.At the same time, the crisis allows the earth's ecosystem to recover, as production is partially stopped and carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere have significantly decreased. The pandemic forces people to think about the future and take the necessary measures for survival, realizing that they are part of a single ecosystem of our planet.

Shaping digitalization among German tourism service providers: Processes and implications

Purpose: This study addresses the digital transformation in tourism, accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By linking the front- and backstage activities, a model of the tourism value system is sketched with the aim to assist the shift toward digital value creation in the case of the German tourism sector by asking, What are the challenges for the digital transformation of tourism service providers, and how can it be promoted along with the tourism value system? Methods: Recognizing the processual challenges of digitalization, this contribution builds upon a mixed-methods approach. First, a quantitative online survey (n = 372) was conducted by the German Competence Center for Tourism at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results were discussed in a workshop with 40 experts from the tourism industry in September 2020, where the COVID-19 pandemic was referred to. Results: The focus of tourism service providers is predominantly the digitalization of guest communication, whereas corporate strategies on digitalization are widely not available. Key findings of the survey indicate that competitiveness in digitalization will depend on the appropriate infrastructure, clear strategies, and organizational integration. Implications: The study affirms the increased speed of digital transformation against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and reveals the need for greater focus on internal processes. In addition, an orchestrated linking of the service providers in a digital ecosystem that is supported by national efforts is proposed.

Economic security of tourism in Germany: models for overcoming the crisis

Purpose – to analyze the models of overcoming the crisis of the tourism business in Germany.
 Design/Method/Approach of the research. The research method is an expert opinion analysis on possible scenarios for the Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic crisis development, the consequences for German tourism, and possible models of overcoming the crisis.
 Findings. The paper analyzes the models of overcoming the crisis in Germany's tourism business during the gradual attenuation of the Covid-19/ Coronavirus pandemic and the beginning of the national borders lento opening. That allowed us to formulate an assumption of possible scenarios while crisis overcoming in the tourism business in Germany.
 Theoretical and practical implications. The analysis of possible scenarios while overcoming the crisis in the tourism business in Germany phenomena in Germany's tourism industry can be very interesting both for practitioners and for theorists studying the problems of tourism development worldwide.
 Originality/Value. The article investigates the regional differences of the tourism crisis developed during the Covid-19/ Coronavirus pandemic. Based on a logical analysis of the models for overcoming the tourism business crisis in Germany, the paper analyzed factors that can affect changes in consumer habits and include vital economic aspects of the tourism business restoration. This paper expands researchers’ capabilities in the crisis phenomena analysis in the tourism business and assists in the most accurate and reasonable forecasting for the long-term sustainable development and competitive advantages of tourism enterprises.
 Paper type – theoretical.
 Keywords: tourism business; model; crisis; Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic.

An Inter-Linguistic Analysis on Multimodal Coupling of German and Chinese Tourism Video Commercials – A comparative Study based on ELAN

AbstractWith the development and renovation of digital information technology, images, sounds, animations, colors and other models are integrated into one system to convey information. Multimodality is also applied in language research. One example of multimodal discourse are tourism video commercials, which combine written, visual and auditory signals to construct the metaphorical meaning of advertisements. Therefore, this paper selects six pieces of German and Chinese tourism video commercials as objects, which are parsed, transcribed and annotated by ELAN 5.1. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are adopted to analyze the selected corpus. The theoretical framework for this study is Systemic-Functional Grammar and Visual Grammar, and it aims to explore the similarities and differences in the fusion of multimodal features between German and Chinese tourism video advertisements by comparative analysis.

In ideological transit: German tourism to Denmark in the 1930s

ABSTRACTThis article investigates the relationships that resulted from large-scale travelling between different ideological systems, the experiences of everyday consumption in which they were part, and the development of German tourism to Denmark in the 1930s. To do so, it first outlines the international context for the transformation of European tourism and its organisations in the 1930s before placing the influx of German visitors to Denmark into this context. The article then investigates the scale of German travel to Denmark during that decade before considering the nature of the institutions that made it possible. Moreover, it reflects upon the social make-up of travellers, who made their way to Denmark and discusses the ways the Danish press as well as state-related institutions saw German tourists in ideological as well as non-ideological terms, reflecting how ideology and economics were intertwined as actors in the 1930s sought to make sense of the emerging mass consumerist society. Neither, the article argues, were ideological concerns central for most of the actors facilitating trips to Denmark nor were their visits overwhelmingly framed ideologically in the Danish press.

ZASTUPLJENOST ANGLIZAMA U NJEMAČKIM TURISTIČKIM BROŠURAMA KAO PREDUVJET NJIHOVE STILSKE OBILJEŽENOSTI

The subject of this paper is the frequency analysis of anglicisms in German tourism brochures. In line with the fact that tourism as a global activity is mainly communicated in English, and that the language of tourism as a LSP is exposed to a very strong English language influence, the aim of this paper is to perform a frequency analysis of the anglicisms in terms of their number, frequency, type of word, the type – token ratio as well as the frequency of anglicisms related to the representative text types. Based on the frequency analysis, the identification and analysis of the stylistic features of anglicisms in German tourism brochures in terms of representative text types was performed.

Privacy-invading mechanisms in e-commerce - a case study on German tourism websites

Against the importance of online privacy, this paper investigates German tourism websites previously shown as actively adopting mail tracking technology. For a sample of 50 highly visited websites, we analyse the quantity and type of data both mandatory and optional for registration. We further examine the extent to which personal data is collected in the background. Finally, we explore whether this practice can be associated with visibility of a privacy policy and other website design elements. Our results show an average of 24 contacted third-party websites, 42 generated cookies and 15 active trackers. Websites with visible general terms and conditions and privacy policies are connected with a significantly higher number of third-party services. Websites inviting users to follow them on Twitter contact significantly more third-party services and store significantly more cookies. There are high correlations of over 0.7 between the numbers of contacted third-party services, generated cookies and activated trackers.

Privacy-invading mechanisms in e-commerce - a case study on German tourism websites

Privacy-invading mechanisms in e-commerce - a case study on German tourism websites

Effect of Tourism Pressure on the Mediterranean Diet Pattern.

Despite proposed conceptual frameworks of eating behaviors, little is known about environmental factors contributing to changes in food habits. Few studies have reported the external influence of tourism on the inhabitants’ eating patterns. The present study aimed to investigate whether tourism pressure affects Canary Islands inhabitants’ adherence to the Mediterranean diet pattern. Data were obtained from a health and lifestyle population-based survey conducted in 2009 and 2015. From the reported intake frequency, a Mediterranean diet score was defined (0 to 11 points). Tourist overnight stays, which were stratified by nationality and area of destination, were used as a proxy variable to measure tourism pressure. A multilevel linear regression analysis by restricted maximum likelihood estimation was performed to examine the relationship between tourism pressure and the Mediterranean diet score. A significant negative association between the Mediterranean diet score and British tourism pressure was observed (β = −0.0064, p = 0.010), whereas German tourism pressure increased inhabitants’ adherence (β = 0.0092, p = 0.042). The socioeconomic level of tourists seems to play a role in differences in the tourism pressure effect by nationality. Further investigation of other highly touristic destinations is needed to confirm these findings that could contribute to a shift in tourism and public health nutrition policies.

Employees as a second audience: the effect of external communication on internal brand management outcomes

Although external communication affects both customers as external target groups and employees as internal target groups, internal brand management research regarding the effect of external communication on employee-related internal brand management outcomes remains limited. Therefore, this study seeks to shed light on the effects of external communication on internal brand management outcomes such as employees’ brand understanding, brand commitment, and brand citizenship behaviour. An empirical study with 790 respondents of a German tourism company suggests that external communication congruence, or the degree to which external communication is in line with actual products and services, actual values, and internal communication, positively affects all internal brand management outcomes with the strongest effect on brand understanding. These findings indicate how organizations can address important internal and external stakeholders with a single organizational practice, thus enhancing both the effectiveness and the efficiency of external communication. Managers must avoid exaggerating the externally communicated brand promises, ensure that the externally communicated values portray the firm’s actual values, and align the external communication with internal communication. In addition to several managerial implications, this study offers directions for further research.

Sustainable mode of transport choices at the destination – public transport at German destinations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to learn more about the determinants that influence the tourists’ choice of mode of transport at the destination, and it is intended to contribute to the sustainable mobility of tourists. In line with this approach, the main emphasis is placed on public transport (PT) within the destination.Design/methodology/approachIn addition to illustrating frequency, users and non-users of public transport were analysed. Differences in the selected influencing factors on the choice of the modes of transport are determined using the chi-square test for nominal variables, and statistical significance was determined using Kruskal–Wallis H-test for the ordinal variables.FindingsThe analysis illustrates that the most important socio-demographic determinants in public transport use are: age, household size, net household income, car availability and current professional activity. In terms of travel-orientated variables, the arrival transport means, as well as the travel duration, travel expenses and travel organisation stand out.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the Reiseanalyse (RA) has been established in German tourism research for many years, the present study is not without limitations. First, the questionnaire of the RA is made up of standard questions that are (nearly) identical year after year and topic-specific questions from one or more customers. The questions used in the present analysis were, therefore, not developed specifically for this contribution. Second, the authors cannot evaluate the existing data in more detail because the data structure does not provide this. Only two variables can be related at a time. Due to financial limitations, the authors could not use the raw data. For this reason, it is not possible to perform mediator analyses or multiple predictions to check relationships between independent variables (such as income, number of cars, profession or age). In this context, it should be noted that the observed differences to the other studies cited can also be because of different methodological approaches of the individual studies. While most of the studies used for comparison include tourists from one overnight stay, this paper focuses on main holiday trips with a duration of five days and more. There are also differences in the survey itself. Most of the face-to-face surveys were conducted on site. The RA, on the other hand, takes place at home with respondents with a time delay after the holiday trip. In this context, it is particularly important to note that these results are representative for the whole of the Federal Republic of Germany, i.e. the domestic holidays of the German-speaking population living in Germany, and that they are not representative for any single city or a similar spatial unit.Originality/valueTourism-related mobility negatively effects all (German) destinations. Greater focus on sustainable mobility of tourists, specifically sustainable transportation, is playing an increasingly important role in science and practice. To ensure a successful reorientation, it is crucial to know which factors influence the choice of modes of transport for local tourists. Therefore, this paper analyses selected determinants influencing the choice of modes of transport for tourists. This research is based upon representative data for holiday mobility at destinations during Germans’ domestic holidays. The objective was to learn more about the determinants that influence the tourists’ choice of mode of transport at the destination, and it is intended to contribute to the sustainable mobility of tourists. In line with this approach, the main emphasis is placed on public transport (PT) within the destination.

Employees’ brand understanding, brand commitment, and brand citizenship behaviour: a closer look at the relationships among construct dimensions

Employees ultimately are responsible for fulfilling the brand promise. Hence, internal brand management (IBM)—or the implementation of the brand, cognitively, affectively, and behaviourally, at the employee level—is critical to brand management success. Unfortunately, detailed insights about the relationships of important IBM outcomes, such as brand understanding, brand commitment, and brand citizenship behaviour, are missing. In existing multidimensional conceptualizations, these relationships tend to be investigated at higher-order levels, but managers need a clearer understanding across the specific dimensions of different IBM outcomes. By investigating a sample of 790 employees from a German tourism company, this study reveals the importance of the brand understanding dimension of behaviour relevance, which leads to various, desirable, brand-related employee behaviours; employees must comprehend their responsibility for the brand’s perception and subsequent success. The brand understanding dimensions of brand confidence and brand knowledge also are particularly important for brand endorsement and brand compliance behaviours, respectively. In contrast, the brand understanding dimension of brand relevance has a minor role. Finally, brand commitment is particularly important for the brand citizenship behaviour dimension of brand endorsement.

Tourism research in the German Democratic Republic

So far, East German tourism research has been studied little by the history of science. Tourism science saw the light of day around 1930 in Berlin. During the Cold War, in the GDR it gained a notable quantitative extent that finally equalled the research in the ‘capitalist’ part of Germany. Initially, theoretical questions played a prominent role, but then – like in the West – tourism science became a strictly applied discipline. Part and parcel of the planned economy, its focus was on the parastatal social tourism: holiday making was seen as a means to improve the health of the ‘workers and farmers’ through ‘recreation’ and – unspoken – as a means to stabilize the political system. Thus, it became a centrepiece of consumer policy (like in Nazi times). Research successfully helped to steer and expand the ‘recreational system’. However, demand grew faster than supply and, even worse, people remained cut off from the glittering West. Despite vast subsidies and very high travel intensity, discontentment with travel opportunities reached a level that essentially contributed to the collapse of the GDR in 1989. Tourism researchers warned from that growing tide of discontentment and left no stone unturned – in vain.

Monitoring tourism flows and destination management: Empirical evidence for Portugal

We propose the use of a tool recently introduced by Gayer (2010), known as the “economic climate tracer”, to analyze and monitor the cyclical evolution of tourism source markets to Portugal. Considering the period 1987–2015, we evaluate how tourism to Portugal has been affected by economic cycles. This tool is useful as it clearly illustrates the evolutionary patterns of different markets, and allows us to identify close relationships with economic fluctuations. We found that German tourism plays a leading role, since its movements are followed with delays by tourism flows from other countries, and exhibits higher resilience to shocks. Also, domestic and Spanish tourism have both displayed less irregular behaviors than tourism from other source markets. On the contrary, tourism from the Netherlands and the UK, have displayed irregular patterns, which demonstrates the urgency to diversify tourism source markets to reduce the country's vulnerability to external shocks and economic cycles.

Modelling international tourism demand using seasonal ARIMA models

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to establish a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model able to capture and explain the patterns and the determinants of German tourism demand in Croatia. Design – The present study is based on the Box-Jenkins approach in building a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model intend to describe the behaviour of the German tourists’ flows to Croatia. Approach – The proposed model is a seasonal ARIMA(0,0,0)(1,1,3)4 model. Findings – The diagnostic checking and the performed tests showed that the estimated seasonal ARIMA(0,0,0)(1,1,3)4 model is adequate in modelling and analysing the number of German tourists ‘arrivals to Croatia. Originality of the paper – This study provides a seasonal ARIMA model helpful to analyse, understand and forecast German tourists’ flows to Croatia. Such, more detailed and systematic studies should be considered as starting points of future macroeconomic development strategies, pricing strategies and tourism sector routing strategies in Croatia, as a predominantly tourism oriented country.