DI Tourismusforschung and Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit, Verkehr, Technologie und Tourismus des Landes Schleswig-Holstein present the “Acceptance Guide”

In close cooperation with DI Tourismusforschung, the Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit, Verkehr, Technologie und Tourismus des Landes Schleswig-Holstein, headed by Claus Ruhe Madsen, published an “Acceptance Guide”. This emphasizes that positive and sustainable tourism development for destinations can only take place in harmony with their own resident population.

In order to first analyze the mood of the population, DI Tourismusforschung examined the acceptance of tourism in the following regions of Schleswig-Holstein in summer 2022:

Baltic Sea SH + Holstein Switzerland
North Sea SH
Stormarn + Duchy of Lauenburg
Urban area SH (Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg)
Other inland SH

It became clear that the regions have different tasks to perform. If the number of guests is perceived as too high or too low, this can result in conflicts of use on the one hand and a false understanding and prejudices against tourism on the other. Based on the attitudes and perceptions of locals, DI Tourismusforschung carried out a segmentation of respondents as part of the project. As a result, five acceptance clusters were identified, which differ in their basic attitudes towards the perceived impact of tourism on the place of residence and on themselves personally:

Commitment / approval
Conditional acceptance
Neutrality
Personal dilemma
Rejection / active opposition

The “Acceptance Guidelines” now presented provide recommendations for the use of measures for (political) decision-makers and tourism stakeholders. The differentiated view of the locals enables targeted planning of measures to ensure tourism development in harmony with the locals.

You can find the “Acceptance Guide” on the website of the Ministry of Tourism here.

Further information on tourism acceptance among the resident population (TAS) can be found here.