BTE-Tourismusmanagement und Regionalentwicklung :
BTE-Tourism Management and Regional Development

Tourism and regional development are cross-sectional tasks. In order to achieve a successful tourism development, the relations to regional area development, agriculture and forestry, nature protection, urban design or transport planning are just as important as specific questions such as marketing, visitor service and information, or the quality of accommodation or menu.

A future-orientated, sustainable development strategy of tourism suppliers as for example tourist enterprises, cities, municipalities, regional planning associations or counties should take all these cross-sectional relations into account. In view of limited natural resources and growing tourist demand for a high quality of the natural environment in tourist areas, an ecologically sound orientation of tourism development is gaining importance.

In many cases, environmental and scenic qualities have even become key factors in the tourism market. Therefore, these natural resources should be marketed appropriately, but, at the same time, they have to be used in an "intelligent", sustainable way which allows adequate use in the future. From this point of view, ecological and economic goals are no longer understood as antagonistic, but as partners with a considerable potential for creative solutions.

The work profile of the BTE-Tourism Management and Regional Development covers a wide range of assignments in the fields of tourism, leisure and recreation. Most projects include a variety of topics, such as economic effects of tourism, landscape planning, agriculture, forest management and transportation planning.

Depending on the project, these are covered either directly by the BTE staff or in close co-operation with other experts which enables the bureau to work on and co-ordinate multidisciplinary projects. In any case the close contacts to various co-operation-partners make it possible to engage a single contractor with experience in the management of planning and in the successful moderation of processes. BTE works close to realisation in co-operation with the local institutions and actors, which are important for the success of a project.

The BTE focuses its work on the following types of projects:

• tourism research projects on behalf of the federal or state governments,
• tourism development concepts for municipalities, countries or larger regions,
• outdoor recreation planning in urban and rural settings,
• environmental impact studies for large-scale tourism projects, such as golf courses, holiday parks, etc.,
• regional economic impact studies,
• visitor surveys,
• marketing analyses and consulting for private businesses as well as municipalities,
• training and teaching (e.g. of tour guides).

• landscape plans and landscape framework plans,
• evaluation of landscape or urban scenery,
• landscape-planning-expertise to physical planning,
• regional planning at regional level,
• environmental impact assessments,
• landscape-planning research projects.

• "Wissenschaftlicher Beirat fur Tourismus" (Scientific council for tourism) of the Bundesswirtschaftsministerium (federal ministry of economics),
• "Wissenschaftlicher Beirat fur Fremdenverkehr" (scientific council for tourism) of the Niedersachisches Wirtschaftsministerium (ministry of economics of Lower Saxony),
• "Wissenschaftlicher Fachbeirat des Umweltministeriums Brandenburg" (scientific council of the ministry of environment of Brandenburg),
• scientific council and committee of organisation of the international conference of tourism Envirotour Vienna 1993,
• collaboration in the federal competition of ecologically beneficial tourism centres

• international conference "Umweltschutzaktivitiaten in Fremdenverkehrsgemeinden (environmental beneficial activities in tourism centres) of the OTE in Seville, Spain 1993,
• Envirotour Vienna 1992 "Strategien zur Minderung tourismusbedingter Umwelt-belastungen" (strategies for the diminution of environmental nuisances caused by tourism) and Envirotour Vienna 1993 "Innovative Losungen und Modelle fur einen umwelvertraglichen Tourismus" (innovative solutions and models to an environmental compatible tourism),
• meetings of the "Deutsches Seminar fur Fremdenverkehr" (German association for tourism), 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998
• presentations at the "Internationale Tourismusborse Berlin" (International Tourism Exchange in Berlin) 1993,1994,1995,1996, 1997, 1998
• conference "Tourismus und Umwelt" (tourism and environment) of the Landesfremdenverkehrsverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e.V. (tourism association of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) in Rostock, 26th/27th October 1994,
• membership in the German delegation at the World Conference on Sustainable Tourism, Lanzarote, Spain, 1995.
• International Conference of Environmental Ministers on Biodiversity and Tourism, 6 - 8 March 1997, Berlin
• Coastlines 97, 6th EUCC International Conference, Naples, 2 - 6 June 1997, 'Connecting European and Mediterranean Coasts'
• International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) - a focus on Europe, 4 - 6 March 1998, Berlin