Domestic tourism in FRG: Trends and problems

DOMESTIC TOURISM IN FRG Trends and Problems

Christoph Becker Universitaet Trier, FRG

Abstract: Participation on tourism of the population of the Federal Re- public of Germany (FRG) has enormously increased. Domestic tourism, however, stagnates. The German tourist regions have to expect a signifi- cant decrease in visitors, since an increasing segment of the German holiday-makers (now two thirds) travels abroad. The German domestic tourism providers and vacation travel organizers have not yet fully realized the new trends in the travel behavior. The unfavorable trend can only be met through a continually increasing supply with vracation homes and apartments. Moreover, the various resort towns need to join regional tourism associations which are able to achieve a more effective regional marketing for smaller tourist regions. Preparations for the establishment of regional tourism associations and programs for a subsidization of regional marketing plans are imminent. Keywords: domestic tourism, travel behavior, tourist development, regional tourism associations, Federal Republic of Germany.

R&urn& Le tourisme national en RFA: tendances et problemes. La pop-

lation de la Rtpublique Fed&ale d’Allemagne a connu une participation aux voyages touristiques jusqu’ici sans precedent et qui augmente tou- jours. Toutefois, le tourisme national est stagnant. Les regions touristiques en Allemagne doivent s’attendre a une diminution sensible de voy- ageurs allemands car une partie essentielle - deux tiers actuellement - des touristes de nationalite allemande voyagent a l’ttranger. Les nouvelles tendances dans le comportement touristique n’ont pas encore et.5 remar- qutes dans toute leur dimension par les associations de voyages et les entreprises touristiques. Ce processus peu favorable pour le tourisme national en RFA ne peut &tre gueri que par la mise B la disposition dun nombre croissant de bungalows et d’appartements de vacances. En plus les lieux touristiques devraient s’affilier aux associations touristiques de leur region car elles seules sont capables d’organiser un marketing effectif et cela meme pour les regions touristiques moins importantes. On prtvoit d’ttablir des associations touristiques regionales et d’organiser des pro- grammes de subventions pour le marketing regional. Mots clef tourisme national, comportement touristique, associations touristiques regionales, Ripublique Fed&ale d’Allemagne.

Cbristopb Becker is Professor of Applied Geography and Director of the Geography of Tourism Program at the University of Trier (Trier, FRG). He received his Ph.D. at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, West Berlin. His interests lie in the field of tourist development and planning in Central Europe.

516

CHRISTOPH BbCKER 517

INTRODUCTION

After decades of rapid growth, domestic tourism in the Federal Re- public of Germany (FRG) will most likely follow a downward trend. It has entered a stagnation phase and serious setbacks have to be expected in the years ahead. This may come as a surprise, since West Germans have often been called “Weltmeister im Reisen,” world champions in travel. It is an attribute which particularly refers to a 25 billion Mark annual negative currency balance (from 1980 on) as well as to the fact that the FRG makes up almost one fifth of all international tourism with origin in the OECD (0 g r anization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. On the other hand, other European countries have a considerably higher travel intensity rate (such as the Scandinavian countries with a rate of 70%-80%) versus 57 % in the FRG in 1985 (percentage of West Germans of 14 years and older who took one or several vacation trips in 1984, according to the annual survey of the Studienkreis fuer Tourismus 1985 and 1986).

The travel intensity rate of the West German population, similar to other industrialized countries, has enormously increased since the fifties. The sixties and early seventies saw particularly high growth rates. Since then, growth rates have slowed (Table 1). This general trend has been temporarily interrupted by economic crises and recessions.

Domestic vacation travel, however, profited from the strong growth rates in travel intensity only to a limited degree. Whereas in 1960 more than two-thirds of all vacation travelers spent their holidays within Germany, the year 1967 marked a balance between domestic and foreign travel. In the following years the percentage of domestic travel in all vacation trips continued to decrease and reached 33.5 % in 1985. Due to the strong increase of the travel intensity rate, the number of domestic vacation trips (of 5 days and longer) rose from 7.9 million

Table 1. Percentage of the FRG Population of 14 Years and Older Who Took One or Several Vacation Trips (5 Days and Longer)

- Number of, Percentage of Domestic Percentage of

Year Travelers Travelers (= travel Travelers Domestic Travelers (in million) intensity rate) (in million) in all Travelers

1954 9.3 24 7.9 85

1960 11.8 28 8.1 69

1966 18.7 42 9.7 52

1972 21.8 49.0 9.4 43

1978 25.8 56.2 10.1 39

1984 26.7 55.3 9.1 34

1985 27.6 57.1 9.3 34

Source: Studienkreis fuer Tourismus (1985, 1986).

518 DOMESTIC TOLJRISM IN FRG

(1954) to 10.2 million (1982), dropping, however, to 9.3 million in 1985 (Table 1). By contrast, foreign vacation trips continually increased at a high rate, an overall trend which was only briefly interrupted in times of economic crises. This changed behavior in vacation travel is also mirrored in the German travel and tourism data over the last five years, in particular, the number of overnight stays reported by the various types of accommodation (Figure 1; unfortunately, data collection was modified in 1981). Whereas in the sixties and seventies, annual growth rates of 4% on the average could be achieved, first losses in the overnight stays were recorded in the years 1981 to 1983. In 1984 and 1985, overnight stays of domestic travelers recovered; this could be considered the result of a general economic recovery with a delay of one or two years as observed previously (Bleile 1976). Without doubt, domestic vacation travel has entered a phase of stagnation; some trends support the assumption that there will be even major setbacks.

The Relevance of Domestic Vacation

Before following up such trends in detail, it is important to show briefly to what extent vacation travel contributes to tourism in the FRG in general. Here only a rough estimate can be given since the official data do not provide information about domestic travel motives. On the other hand, the annual travel survey of the Studienkreis fuer Tourismus

0 i~~llllll1llillil,11,1,1,~-

1960 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 66 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 76 79 60 61 62 63 64 65

Figure 1. Overnight stays in the Federal Republic of Germany 1960-1985

CHRISTOPH BECKER 519

pertains to the West German population’s vacation trips only. It can be assumed that 50% to 60% of all overnight stays in the FRG are generated by vacation trips. The rest is related to business trips, conference participation, health spa stays, and visiting friends and relatives, In some of the highly industrialized metropolitan areas, tourism partially drops under the 10 % margin (Akademie 1982); whereas less industrialized peripheral regions often receive almost exclusively vacation travelers. In consequence, changes in the West German population’s travel behavior pertain most of all to tourist destination areas on the coast, in mountain areas of middle altitude, and in the Alps.

Tourism Trends in Other Industrialized Countries

One may question whether stagnation in tourism is a specific Ger- man phenomenon or a development characteristic for the industrialized countries in general. Unfortunately, comparative tourism analyses on an international level rarely come about, and with the exception of few studies (Airey 1983; Travis 1982) do not pertain to tourism trends in Western Europe. In fact, there are a number of restrictions which apply to a comparative analysis here. First, the data collection for the German tourism survey was modified in 1981 so that long-term time series were interrupted right at this interesting stage (Figure 1). Sec- ond, there are not too many industrialized countries which deal with long-term time series and the available data is often not published right away. Third, the tourism development in neighboring countries differs markedly from the FRG in terms of their travel intensity rates, periods of rapid development of their tourist sectors, attitudes toward domestic vacation travel, trade cycles, and the like.

In accordance with these restrictions, a comparison of the overnight stays in five European neighboring countries between 1976 and 1984 appears in Table 2. It is evident that in these countries neither rapid growth rates in domestic tourism nor in tourism in general have been achieved. Only in Italy an average annual growth rate of 1.6% has been recorded. Moreover, the development of the overnight stays in all five countries was marked by decreases in single years. In summary, a stagnation in overnight stays could be observed in the neighboring countries of the FRG as well.

The slow growth in Austria was due to the decreasing number of German summer holiday travelers. Particularly, the younger travelers from Germany seem to prefer tourist destinations in southern Europe which is a more sunny region and offers more contrasts than Austria, whose image as tracation country is hardly distinguishable from that of the FRG.

In the Netherlands, whose tourism data are always published with a delay of two years, high unemployment (14%) in 1983 led to a decrease of travel abroad and to an increase of domestic vacation travel. This trend could not be observed in the FRG; travel plans were abandoned rather than replacing a foreign tourist destination with a domestic one.

5'20 DOLLIESTIC TOURISM IS FRG

Table 2. Development of Overnight Stays in Selected European Countries (19761984)

Overnight Stays Austria Belgique Denmark Italy Switzerland

Domestic Tourism +9,1%

In Total +9,1%

Source: OECD (1978, 1986).

-2,3% +7,0% l 9,7% l 9,6%

+1,79s +6,4% +13,0% +10,5%

RECENT TRENDS IN THE FRG TRAVEL BEHAVIOR

It is maintained here that the decrease in domestic vacation travel after 1982 has not only been caused by trade cycles. In order to support this hypothesis, it will be shown that the decrease in domestic vacation travel is due. to several different developments. According to the follow-. ing five trends, a further decline in domestic vacation travel is to be expected.

Trend One: Increase in Foreign Travel Experience

Since the seventies, West German youth have taken it for granted that they are able to make vacation trips to foreign countries. Domestic tourist regions seem not to be attractive enough and the costs for travel abroad must not necessarily be higher. In particular, the Mediterrane- an countries with lots of sun and a specific lifestyle appeal to them, as does the high country in the Alps in wintertime. In previous decades, there were few opportunities to get to know foreign countries.

In the thirties, financial constraints and beginning political restrictions allowed only a small part of German holiday-makers to travel abroad. War and the early post-war years prevented Germans from taking part in foreign travel at all. It was not until the fifties that foreign travel gradually gained a greater significance (Table 1). Then, Italy became the dream destination for many vacation travelers.

A whole generation had little chance to take domestic or foreign trips at an age when important features of the travel behavior are developed. Schulze-Goebel (1972) describes in vivid terms what it often took for this generation to carry out a first vacation trip at a later life stage. In numerous cases, a lasting relationship with their first tourism host developed. It was typical of the fifties and sixties that a greater part of the German travelers came back over and over again to the same place and accommodation in the destination area. This group of loyal domestic tourists has gradually diminished because of old age or death. Out of the younger age groups, only a small portion prefers domestic destination areas. This low rate will not rise significantly at a later stage in the life cycle, since traveling abroad has become a habit for them and they may not be attracted to domestic destination areas. Thus, domestic travelers are already markedly older than foreign holiday travelers, and this development is most likely to continue.


Fend Two: Increase in Second and Third Eips

Trend 1, which most of all pertains to the major vacation trip, has been softened in its negative impact for domestic travel through second and third vacation trips as well as through recreational trips of shorter length. Between 1974 and 1984 the number of West Germans who took a trip of 2 to 4 days increased from 12.7 to 15.5 million; that is, 32 % of the West German population carried out vacation trips of shorter lengths (Studienkreis fuer Tourismus 1985).

The increase of multiple and short vacation trips, which was also recorded in Denmark, has considerable importance for domestic tourism since chances are higher that domestic tourist regions will be visit- ed as well. In particular, in the case of shorter vacation trips, there is good reason to assume (although no statistical evidence is given) that most trips lead to domestic destination areas in view of time and money requirements. In consequence, increasing multiple and short vacation trips result in a compensation for the declining number of domestic vacation trips carried out during the major vacation period. At the same time, multiple and short vacation travelers who tend to be of younger age counterbalance the higher age of the domestic travelers (Jurczek 1980).

Trend Three: Increase in Visiting Different Areas

More and more participation in vacation travel leads to more fre- quent changes in the selection of the tourist destination area. The rate of those loyal holiday-makers who prefer a steady host-guest relationship diminishes. Such steady relationships rarely come about during trips to the Mediterranean countries since travel agencies book travelers predominantly for large scale hotel and condominium complexes. This loss in emotional ties between vacation traveler and vacation place and its population increases the importance of advertising and strengthens the position of the travel agencies. On the one hand travelers appreciate information about alternative tourist destinations. On the other, the local and regional hospitality industry has to attract new guests over and over again.

There are two limitations regarding advertising for domestic vacations in the FRG. First, advertising is largely uncoordinated on a regional and local level. Centralized advertising campaigns for a better image of domestic vacation travel were carried out with limited financial means by the Deutsche Fremdenverkehrsverband (DFV), a national association of the state and big city tourism boards. These promotional efforts were not subsidized by the Federal Government, since politicians in an export-oriented country hesitate to support national campaigns. After internal fights within the DFV, the advertising campaigns were terminated in 1981. Secondly, travel agencies can profit more from selling a trip abroad than a domestic trip so that services and brochures at the travel agencies favor foreign destination areas. In both respects a negative impact is felt on domestic tourism.

522 DOMESTIC TOURIShI IN FRG

Tend Four: Increase in Level of dctiui$

For the most part, West German travelers still lodge at one specific place during their vacations. However, the annual motivation analyses of the Studienkreis fuer Tourismus indicate a more active behavior of the holiday-makers. Ultimately, selection of the destination area is made with regard to the planned recreational activities of all members of the travel group. However, German holiday-makers with their strong preference for hiking and walking- the most popular recreational activities during the holidays, even surpassing swimming in pools and the outdoors (Becker 1982) - seem to carry out fewer recreational activities in total than, for instance, the American holiday-makers (Hartmann 1984).

German holiday-makers have become more active most of all due to their preference for the car as the major means of transportation (60%), so that they are able to carry out excursions and to be more mobile at the destination. In 1960, 42% of the West German holiday- makers still traveled by railway, a figure that dropped to 11% in 1985 (Studienkreis fuer Tourismus 1985).

Here again, domestic tourist destinations have a handicap since information about the full range of recreational activities is insufficiently coordinated on a local or regional level; and travel agencies tend to prefer the presentation of the more profitable foreign tourist destinations.

Eend Five: Irurease in Popularity of Vacation Homes

The demand for different types of accommodation has seen a considerable change over the past decades. There is a most noticeable trend towards vacation homes, condominiums, and apartments. Whereas in 1968 only 6 $% of West German travelers chose to lodge in vacation homes and apartments, in 1984 already 18% selected this type of accommodation. By contrast, staying with relatives and friends, in private rooms and “bed and breakfast” inns (Pensionen), diminished considerably (Studienkreis fuer Tourismus 1985). Vacation homes and apartments have become popular since they allow the vacation travelers to be on their own and to arrange their own activities at will. Moreover, holiday-makers have the option to shop for themselves and thus to be self-sufficient (Becker 1981; Wolf et al 1978).

Vacation homes, condominiums, and apartments, however, make up only about 10% of all accommodations available in the FRG. Supply does not correspond with the demand of German holiday-makers in qualitative as well as quantitative terms. Here again, domestic tourism proves to be in a handicapped position with regard to the foreign competition. It is in the neighboring Netherlands that already 25% of the population stays in vacation homes and apartments. For this reason, eight larger vacation villages in German tourist regions near the border to the Netherlands were established by Dutch firms.

These five trends show that the owners of small bed and breakfast places will soon wait in vain for guests. Word of mouth cannot compen- sate here for what has been lost through the decline of their old loyal


guests who are gradually diminishing. German resort towns will also have to adjust their program to more active and more mobile holiday- makers. The resorts’ prevailing practice of individual advertising for each resort community is unlikely to win them new groups of vacation travelers.

There is also little hope that foreign visitors can be attracted to a greater extent to the FRG. On the one hand, foreigners make up only 10% of all overnight stays in the FRG, half of them in big cities. In only a few resort areas easily accessible from the Netherlands, 27% of the overnight stays are generated by foreign visitors (Becker 1984a; Roth 1984). On the other hand, the above-mentioned deficit in the supply of adequate accommodation prevents groups of younger foreign visitors from staying longer in the FRG. In view of the deficiencies in the supply structure, it is less probable that the FRG will receive additional visitors. Moreover, there is some evidence that vacation travel in the neighboring countries will be influenced by similar negative trends as discussed previously.

STRATEGIES TO COPE WITH CHANGE

Changes in travel behavior have already led to certain modifications in the tourism supply in the FRG. In particular, the accommodations available in the FRG have seen a certain degree of structural change. What is still missing in general, however, is purposeful regional market policy for smaller tourist regions as well as the public subsidization of such cooperative efforts on a regional level. Federal and state subsidies for the tourist industry focus on subsidizing investments: the private sector receives subsidies up to 15 % for investments in the tourist business, and resort communities up to 60% for investments in the tourist infrastructure. Investments for institutions in social tourism such as recreational facilities for low-income families with many children, stressed mothers, and the elderly are entirely financed by public funds on a limited budget. Advertising campaigns for Germany as a tourist destination as carried out by the DZT (German Tourism Board) in foreign countries, are largely financed by federal funds which are not available for promotional campaigns for domestic tourism.

Structural Changes in the Accommodation Supply

Until 1968, the supply of accommodation for the tourist was essen- tially provided by hotels, bed and breakfast inns, private rooms, and campsites. Both vacation homes and apartments for rent were hardly offered, although these types of accommodations enjoyed an increasing demand in the Mediterranean countries, and also among German tourists. In consequence, more and more vacation villages and particularly apartment complexes have been established there (Studienkreis fuer Tourismus 1973).

Moreover, until 1968 the supply of vacation homes and apartments in the FRG was almost exclusively provided for family tourism programs, particularly for low-income families with many children who occupied the homes and apartments during the school vacations. There

524 DOMESTIC TOC‘RISll IS FRG

were about 175 family-oriented vacation resorts which had been established by public funds and have been fully operated by charitable organizations. Out of these vacation resorts with special family tourism programs (gemeinnuetzige Familienferienstaetten), 17 offered 200 or more beds. At the same time, only five commercial Lracation villages and two apartment complexes of 200 or more beds were in existence in the FRG. An unknown number of smaller groups of vacation homes and apartments may have offered commercial accommodation as well.

In 1969, the picture changed rapidly because of several trends which happened to occur at the same time. First, large scale vacation centers in foreign countries found a greater public attention and the interest of investors from the FRG. Second, the end of the sixties saw a run on real estate, a trend which culminated at the early seventies. Finally, the guidelines for subsidization of those investments were changed and were implemented by firms in the manufacturing and service industries in economically depressed areas of the FRG. Whereas subsidies for interest payments used to be distributed over a 12-year period, now up to 15 % could be cashed in immediately after the investment was made. Moreover, particularly high amounts for depreciation were offered within the Zonenrandgebiet, a 50 km wide strip along the East German border which faced specific economic problems. Because of a boom, however, the possibilities for the depreciation were limited until 1973. For the investors the chances of high depreciation amounts were very appealing and often more important than the rentability of the objects. This perspective turned out to be a fatal miscalculation in many cases; after a bankruptcy the taxes that the investor believed to have saved had to be paid anyway.

These above-mentioned trends and developments in particular led to a sudden boom in the construction of large scale vacation centers. A number of larger hotels, 9 vacation centers, and 12 apartment complexes were completed in the Zonenrandgebiet-strip along the East German border between 1969 and 1973. The largest vacation center (Damp 2000 on the Baltic Sea) housed 7000 beds. In the remaining FRG (all areas outside the Zonenrandgebiet-strip) large-scale vacation centers were also increasingly ,built- however, to a far minor degree than in the Zonenrandgebiet-strip (Figure 2). Accommodation capacity in the Zonenrandgebiet-strip was increased to such an enormous degree within these five years that demand did not correspondingly increase, particularly on the Baltic Sea. Almost all the vacation centers ran into financial difficulties because of the low rate of occupancy. After a five-year period of mandatory rent, some of the vacation centers changed into health clinics and spas; others were sold as condominiums to individual owners. In consequence, only 49 % of the original accommodation capacity of apartments was available on the Baltic Sea by 1984 (59% in the Zonenrandgebiet-strip).

After the boom stage in this innovation-diffusion cycle, investment activities expanded from the Zonenrandgebiet-strip along the East German border to the rest of the FRG. There the vacation centers remained smaller in size and, in general, did not create over-capacities. While they contained 284 housing units on the average during the boom stage, their size decreased to 115 in the following period up to

CHRISTOPH BECKER

Map 1

Figure 2. Large Scale Vacation Centers in FRG in 1984

526 DOMESTIC TOURISXI IN FRG

1984. Moreover, there was a change in the architectural design of vacation centers. Those completed in the Zonenrandgebiet-strip during the boom stage were high-rise building complexes laid out with little consideration of or respect for the existing landscape. The vacation villages predominantly built in the following years in the rest of the FRG proved to be in greater harmony with the natural environment and cultural landscape.

The 137 large-scale vacation centers created more than 30,000 housing units with about 120,000 beds by 1984. Thus, accommodation capacity in the FRG was increased by 5.4% (Becker 1984b). According to public tourism data, the percentage of vacation homes and apartments in the FRG rose from 6.6 % in 1972 (the year this type of accommodation was included in the survey for the first time) to 13.4% in 1980.

Vacation homes and apartments for rent are most frequently located in the 50 km wide Zonenrandgebiet-strip along the East German border, but are also to be found in greater number in some mountain areas of middle altitude. In the Alps, and to a minor degree on the North Sea and in some other mountain areas of middle altitude, this type of accommodation is still below average.

The prevailing distribution pattern and the most recent developments of large scale vacation centers have led to two sets of on-going problems. First, particularly in the last few years investments in the tourism sector have decreased in total, and this trend also applies to the construction of vacation homes and apartments. This development is not exclusively of economic nature, but has to be seen also in the light of the efforts of ecologically-oriented pressure groups. The latter com- plain about the waste of the natural resources through large scale vacation centers and advocate the renewal of old farm houses to be used as vacation homes and apartments. However, successful marketing for such vacation apartments often isolated in second-rate tourist destination areas can hardly be achieved. In any case, several vacation villages have not been built because of their initiatives. Since investors seek security in their planned activities, the efforts of these groups ultimately prevented several projects. There are greater reservations about privately owned second homes in the FRG: only 3 % -4 % of all house- holds own a second home. Rigid zoning laws are an effective tool against the further expansion of existing weekend housing areas. One of the major objectives in landscape planning in the densely populated FRG is to protect open space from being overbuilt and to make such areas accessible to the public.

Second, in tourist regions with few existing vacation homes and apartments for rent, more accommodations of this type are necessary. This need is also felt in the Zonenrandgebiet-strip since it might fall behind the general trend towards smaller vacation villages which are more popular than the vacation centers built in the boom stage there. AI1 other tourist regions will lose part of their potential market to foreign tourist destination areas. Thus, vacation homes and apartments can be considered as the only dynamic type of accommodation in the FRG. Since there is no need for additional capacity in the number of beds in the German tourist regions, structural change-in


form of conversion or substitution of older enterprises-could help to improve the present situation, even though hotels and pensions contribute in a considerably higher degree to the regional income than vacation homes and apartments (Becker 1984b). Structural change is inevitable in order to slow down the decrease in domestic tourism. However, regional overcapacities in vacation homes and apartments as well as environmental strains on the landscape should be avoided (Becker 1981).

Regional Madding

German resort communities have had to accept substantial decreases in tourist overnight stays. The fact that the loyal guests have been gradually diminishing, and that the more numerous short-term vacation travelers could form a promising alternative has been neither realized nor acted upon accordingly. Visitors more frequently change their tourist destination areas; they carry out a wider range of activities and are more mobile at their destination area. These trends have been rarely taken into account by the local tourist promotion organizations when designing thei; marketing policy. Presently tourist towns and resorts carry out their marketing themselves; only a part of tourist promotion is integrated into the cooperative efforts of regional advertis: ing agencies. For the small and medium size tourist business, the in- volvement of the town or city in the organization of tourism plays a greater role. The resort communities not only establish and keep up the tourist infrastructure, but also most often run a tourist information office which organizes local advertising campaigns and provides the incoming visitors with information and the distribution of accommodation.

Aversion and resistance against more intensive cooperation between several neighboring resort towns are deeply rooted in the German communities. There have been endless fights about the sharing of the costs and the appropriate publicity of each resort. There are also tradi- tional rivalries between resort towns. Nevertheless, regional cooperation in marketing is an absolute necessity. The ideal basis for such regional cooperation is the smaller tourist regions consisting of 15 to 30 more or less prominent resort towns. The size ensures a good working relationship between the resorts and corresponds with the holiday- makers’ action space, with the exception of their sightseeing activities which often lead to more distant places (outside the region). Larger tourist destination areas should be better split up into several units.

Such regional tourism associations should be centralized and assume the following responsibilities: (a) development, completion, and revision of a marketing plan for the regional tourism associations; (b) promotion of the various local tourist attractions for selected groups of visitors; (c) development and implementation of a central reservation system; (d) development and distribution of sales packages which com- bme the offers of the various resort towns; (e) development, completion, and revision of a central visitors information system including a regional events calendar, a regional tourist map of higher standards,

528 DOXIESTIC TOCRIS\l IS FRG

and an informative regional tourist guide; and (f) development. completion, and revision of a regional tourism development plan.

These suggestions are by no means new, but are yet to be realized in a systematic and integrative way. In the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, for instance, regional tourism associations were introduced in 1973. Tourist towns and resorts were supposed to join regional tourism associations and to develop regional tourism plans in order to be entitled to state subsidies regarding their tourist infrastructure. In consequence, certain facilities such as outdoor and indoor swimming pools have been jointly planned and operated by several resort towns. These regional tourism associations comprised only parts of tourist regions and were fairly small in size and in number of resort communities. Moreover, an administrative reform carried out shortly after resulted in the incorpo- ration of hitherto independent towns into larger communities. Thus, the concept of regional tourism associations was not long enough introduced to prove its soundness. What has been left of the concept is several different advertising agencies which work on a cooperative basis.

Cooperation in advertising is widespread in the FRG anyway. There are cooperative advertising agencies for larger and smaller tourist destination areas, and for specific types of resorts and accommodations. It is, however, disputable whether such cooperative efforts are effective or not.

For some years resort towns have increasingly developed packages which include, besides accommodations, educational programs, events, and other services. These packages do not only mean good public relations for the respective resort towns, but also enable travel agencies to expand their scarce domestic vacation programs.

Models for central reservation systems have been tested on a regional level. In the case of the Frankenwald tourist region, such a system has been successfully introduced. Further models are being developed.

CONCLUSIONS

Domestic tourism in the FRG, as in other neighboring countries, stagnates. This is due to several recent trends in travel behavior. The tourist industry has not yet adequately reacted to these developments except that provision of more vacation homes, condominiums, and apartments has been realized.

Marketing in tourism in the FRG is still lacking effective cooperative efforts on a regional basis, and this is increasingly apparent. On the one hand, the behavior of the incoming visitors has been changing. Mobility in the tourist destination areas has risen, visitors more frequently change their tourist destination areas (because of shorter stays), and the need for more information and brochures has risen (e.g., through accommodation in vacation apartments). On the other hand, computers can provide better information about the German tourist areas and facilitate reservations for accommodation. If resort communities cooperate in regional tourism associations, the changed demand can be best satisfied and the possibilities of computerized information can be most effectively used.


In some states, the establishment of tourism associations for several tourist regions is imminent. Preparations should be made on a state level to subsidize investments of the tourist industry and to establish special programs with a stronger emphasis on the subsidization of regional marketing plans. It is important that both developments reach the federal level and gain acceptance so that marketing of domestic tourism will profit from these policies. Finally, promotional campaigns for a better image of domestic tourism in the FRG should be reintro- duced and be financed on a broader basis. All this could eventually contribute to a more healthy tourist sector in the FRG. 0 0

Acknowledpments-The author is grateful to the four anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this article. Also. thanks are due to Rudi Hartmann who translated the text from German into English.

REFERENCES

Airey David 1983 European Government Approaches to Tourism. International Journal of

Tourism Management 4(4):234-244. Akademie fuer Raumforschung und Landesplanung

1982 Staedtetourismus: Analysen und Fallstudien aus Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz und Saarland. Forschungs- und Sitzungsberichte 142. Akademie fuer Raumforschung und Landesplanung, Hannover: Curt R. Vincent2 Verlag.

Becker, Christoph 1981 Feriendoerfer in der Region Trier: Ausbaumoeglichkeiten und Standortgrund-

saetze. Trier: Planungsgemeinschaft Region Trier. 1982 Aktionsraeumliches Verhalten van Urlaubern im Mittelgebirge. Materialien

zur Fremdenverkehrsgeographie 9. Trier: Geographische Gecellschaft Trier. 1984a Der Auslaendertourismus und seine raeumliche Verteilungin der Bundesre-

publik Deutschland. Zeitschrift fuer Wirtschaftsgeographie 28(l): l-10. 1984b Neue Entwicklungen bei den FerieneroBnroiekten in der Bundesrenublik

Deutschland - Diffusio: und Probleme e&e; ‘no;h wachsenden Betriebsform. Zeitschrift fuer Wirtschaftsgeographie 28(3/4): 164-185.

Bleile, Georg 19i6 Der Einfluss der Konjunktur auf den Tourismus in der Bundesrepublik

Deutschland. Revue de Tourisme 31(1):2-j. Hartmann. Rudi

1984 Freizeit-Reisen und Tourismus in Deutschland und in den Vereinigten Staaten van Amerika- Eine interkulturelle Untersuchung. Materialien zur Fremdenverkehrsgeographie 12. Trier: Geographische Gesellschaft Trier.

Jurczek. Peter 1980 Chancen und Probleme der touristischen Entwicklung westdeutscher Mittelge-

birgsregionen. In Inno\Tationen und kuenftige Entwicklung des Fremdenverkehrs. pp. 167-187. Materialien zur Fremdenverkehrsgeographie 6. Trier: Geographis- the Gesellschaft Trier.

Krippendorf. Jost 1984 Die Ferienmenschen- Fuer ein neues Verstaendnis van Freizeit und Reisen.

Zuerich/Schwaebisch Hall: Ore11 Fuessli Verlag. OECD

1978 and 1986 Tourism Policy and International Tourism in OECD Member Countries. Paris: OECD.

Roth. Peter 1984 Der Auslaenderreiseverkehr in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Zeitschrift

fuer \Yirtschaftsgeoeraohie 28(3/41: 157-163. Schulze-Goebel. Han;jo&g’ ’ ’

1972 Fremdenverkehr in laendlichen Gebieten Nordhessens. Marburger Geo- graphische Schriften 52. Marburg: Selbstverlag des Geographischen Instytutes der Universitaet Alarburg.

,530 DOMESTIC TOURISM IN FRG

Studienkreis fuer Tourismus 1973 Ferienzentren: Architektonische-psychologische-touristische Probleme.

Starnberg: Studienkreis fuer Tourismus. 1985 Urlaubsreisen 1954-1984: 30 Jahre Erfassung des tourisrischen Verhaltens der

Deutschen durch soziologische Stichprobenerhebungen. Starnberg: Studienkreis fuer Tourismus.

1986 Uriaubsreisen 1985: Einige Ergebnisse der Reiseanalyse 1985. Starnberg: Studienkreis fuer Tourismus.

Travis. A. S. 1982 Leisure, Recreation and Tourism in Western Europe. International Journal of

Tourism Management 3(1):3-15. Lt’olf, Klaus, Peter Jurczek, and Franz Schymik

1978 Errichtung, Struktur und Nutzung van Feriendoerfern in blittelgebirgen. Materialien 6. Frankfurt am hlain: Geographisches Instirur der Universitaet Frankfurt.

Submitted 30 May 1986 Revised version submitted 11 May 1987 Accepted 2 June 1987 . Refereed anonymously

Domestic tourism in FRG: Trends and problems

Documents

Transcript of Domestic tourism in FRG: Trends and problems