Members' Meeting 2024: Tourism remains an important economic factor in the region

Sauerland Tourism takes stock for 2024 at its general meeting

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Tourism remains an important economic factor in the region
Sauerland Tourism takes stock at its general meeting

Sauerland Tourism was able to look back on a successful year at its members' meeting on Wednesday, October 9, at the Südwestfalen Music Education Center in Bad Fredeburg. In addition to a number of promotional projects, the topics of digitalization and sustainability were also the focus of the regional umbrella association's tourism work and will continue to be of particular importance in the future.

Philipp Scharfenbaum, Chairman of the tourism association, opened the meeting, which was well attended with around 70 participants, with a summary of the board activities of the past financial year. There will be one change to the Sauerland Tourism Board in the future. Jens Hoheisel, Managing Director of the Arnsberg Forest Nature Park, was unanimously elected as the successor to Dr. Jürgen Wutschka, who has retired.

A positive review and an ambitious outlook
"Tourism in the Sauerland has once again shown in the past year that it is an important pillar of the local economy," summarized Dr. Jürgen Fischbach, Managing Director of Sauerland Tourism, in his report and gave an insight into the current activities and marketing measures of the tourism association. "However, we can only achieve our ambitious goals if we work together, which is why it is all the more important to pull together and tackle our daily work with meticulousness and passion." Among other things, a large number of promotional projects will contribute to this in order to set new accents for local tourism.

While "The Sauerland - an outdoor region for all" aims to expand barrier-free offers in the region, for example, the "Smart Tourism Lab" is developing the Rothaarsteig into Europe's first climate-resilient long-distance hiking trail. Other projects include "Nachhaltigkeitswerkstatt.NRW", "Tourismus Data Intelligence Initiative NRW" and the overarching "GRENZENLOS" project together with the Sauerland Rothaargebirge Nature Park, the Sauerland Mountain Association and the Bergisches Land Nature Park.

Sustainability remains a cross-cutting issue
Anna Galon, Sustainability Officer at Sauerland Tourism, gave a further insight into the current activities in the area of sustainability. Last year, the Sauerland, together with its tourism neighbors from Siegen-Wittgenstein, was certified as a "sustainable destination" by the renowned TourCert institute. Together with the certified partners from the tourism industry, so-called "TourCert Qualified Businesses", the aim is now to work continuously on improvements in the areas of customer information, working conditions, environmental protection, public welfare, human rights and fair business relationships.

Guest numbers remain at a high level in 2024
Looking at guest arrivals and overnight stays in the first seven months of 2024, the Sauerland also remains at a high level, only just behind the previous year's figures. 1,454,356 guest arrivals (an increase of 0.9 percent compared to 2023) and 4,417,271 overnight stays (a decrease of 1.6 percent compared to 2023) have been recorded by "Germany's inspiring outdoor region" so far. The average length of stay is 3.0 days, which is 0.1% below the previous year's figure. "The sometimes changeable weather conditions in spring and large parts of the summer, as well as the early timing of the Easter vacations, were rather suboptimal for us as an outdoor region this year," explains Rouven Soyka, press spokesman for Sauerland Tourism. "This was particularly noticeable in the otherwise very spontaneous bookings shortly before the start of the vacation or the long weekends." The underlying figures relate to the entire tourist region, including the Sauerland tourist resorts located in Hessen.

Contact for the press:
Rouven Soyka, Sauerland-Tourismus e. V.
Johannes-Hummel-Weg 1, 57392 Schmallenberg
Tel.: 02974-969830, e-mail: presse@sauerland.com

Bildinformation

Philipp Scharfenbaum, Vorsitzender des Sauerland-Tourismus, begrüßt die Teilnehmer der diesjährigen Mitgliederversammlung.


Foto: Sauerland-Tourismus e.V. / Rouven Soyka

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