The Wadden Sea – a silver medal amongst German World Heritage sites.
With its 38 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, one of the greatest numbers in Europe, Germany has a lot to offer to the nature and culture lovers.
The Institute for Management and Tourism (Institut für Management und Tourismus - IMT) conducted a research that had a goal to provide insights into the attractiveness potential of the World Heritage sites in Germany for international tourists. In total over 28,000 respondents took part in the research.
With its 38 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, one of the greatest numbers in Europe, Germany has a lot to offer to the nature and culture lovers.
When the respondents were asked to spontaneously name one of the World Heritage sites, 17% mentioned the Cologne Cathedral and about 9 % named the Wadden Sea – at the second place. All other sites were mentioned by fewer respondents. The researchers also found out that over 40% of respondents would be “very interested” or “interested” in visiting one of the World Heritage sites during their vacation. Such a discrepancy between the awareness and interest level suggests that there is a great potential for promotion of the German World Heritage sites as a tourism destination.
This good ranking confirms the successful work of the Wadden Sea World Heritage stakeholders: inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009, the Dutch-German Wadden Sea within only four years managed to become second most known World Heritage property in Germany. “This research is yet another confirmation of the fact that we and our partners have chosen the right strategy to promote the Wadden Sea World Heritage in a joint and coordinated approach” – says Harald Marencic of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat and coordinator of the PROWAD Project. The PROWAD Project, co-financed by the Interreg IV-B North Sea Region Programme, is developing a strategy for sustainable tourism in the entire Wadden Sea (The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, www.prowad.org). Thus, the Wadden Sea is well prepared for the growing demand of tourists wishing to experience the Wadden Sea World Heritage.
Further information (in German) can be found here
