Market research meeting of the state tourism organizations in Heide

For twelve years now, the market research managers of the state tourism organizations of the federal states, together with the Deutscher Tourismusverband and the German National Tourist Board, have regularly exchanged views on issues relating to tourism market research under the moderation of DI Tourismusforschung. For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, the group has now met again in person – at FH Westküste University of Applied Sciences in Heide.
The agenda of the event, which was moderated by Prof. Dr. Julian Reif and Manon Krüger, initially focused on the topic of the influence of tourism on the quality of life of the inhabitants of destinations, which is currently the focus of many discussions. Dr. Sabrina Seeler presented a measurement approach developed by DI Tourismusforschung, which was used in a recent study for a total of twelve federal states. Prof. Dr. Eric Horster and Leonie Jasper presented the maturity model developed and tested in NRW Smart Destination, which destinations can use to assess and further develop their smartness in the areas of digital equipment, digital applications and data infrastructure. With regard to tourism marketing, Dr. Sabrina Seeler explained the intersection of the BeSt target group segmentation based on German holidaymakers with the well-known Sinus-Milieus, which are defined independently of travel. Prof. Dr. Anne Köchling presented selected results of a study with seven state tourism organizations on the perception of their destination websites. In contributions by Fabian Wolf on the PerformanceHub Hessen and Matthias Hickl on the new GNTB dashboard SustainableTravel Trends to Germany, a look was taken at exemplary approaches for the diffusion of tourism market research data. Finally, Ulf Sonntag presented the Business Travel Analysis tool, which examines the business travel segment in Germany from the perspective of business travelers.
The DI Tourismusforschung would like to thank all participants for the intensive exchange and looks forward to the next meeting!