This summer's devastating floods in western Germany hit some of the country's most-popular holiday spots. Experts say the sector must change quickly or pay the price.
Flooding severely damaged Germany's Eifel region in JulyImage: Christoph Hardt/picture alliance
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Before devastating floods swept across western Germany in mid-July, killing 184 people, Germany’s Ahr valley was a popular destination for wine lovers and hikers. But now, there is little left for tourists to explore: Vineyards have been destroyed, trails and roads have been washed away. It will take years for tourism in the region to recover. The flooding could be a wakeup call for other touristic regions in Germany to adapt to climate change — or suffer the consequences.
Climate change is real and can be illustrated by facts and figures, according to Peter Hoffmann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). "Droughts that last for years or devastating floods are already happening much more frequently today than predicted twenty or thirty years ago," he says.
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Climate change is picking up pace
Even Germany, which until recently has been largely spared of such extreme weather, will in the future be affected more often by heavy rains, heat waves or storms. Yet it's impossible to predict exactly where natural disasters will take place.
Climate change is gaining momentum, as illustrated by rising average annual temperatures, explains Hoffmann. Globally, the average annual temperature has already increased more than 1 degree Celsius (around 3 degrees Fahrenheit) relative to pre-industrial times. In Germany, this is 1.6 C higher.
"In recent years, the development has accelerated, so we can assume that 1 degree Celsius will be added every 30 years," says Hoffmann. That's why, he adds, it is important to act now. "The measures we take today will have an effect in 30 years' time."
Extreme flooding in western Germany devastated the tourism industry in the regionImage: Florian Schuh/picture alliance
The German Tourism Association (DTV) has long been committed to helping tourism destinations adapt to climate change, emphasizes DTV deputy managing director Dirk Dunkelberg. "The DTV has been promoting sustainability for 30 years — back then, it was called 'soft tourism.'
"Ten years ago, we worked with the German Environment Agency to organize an event about how low mountainous regions will have to adapt their winter tourism season to a future where there is less snow due to climate change."
Since then, mountainous regions such as the Black Forest and the Harz have expanded their tourism offerings to include more indoor activities, spas, cycling and hiking trails, says Dunkelberg.
10 reasons to visit the Black Forest
Yes, the Black Forest is as lovely as it's said to be: gentle hills and meadows, delicious food, friendly towns and sustainable tourism. Being Green means more than just a color here.
Image: Muriel Brunswig
Panorama
At 1493 meters (4898 ft), the Feldberg is the highest peak in the Black Forest. On its south side, the view stretches from the third-highest peak, the 1414-meter Belchen, over the foothills to the jagged Swiss Alps. At any time of the year, there are moments when the landscape seems magically transformed into a painting.
Image: Muriel Brunswig
Nature
The Romans called the region in southwestern Germany the Black Forest because they considered it dark and impenetrable. Over the centuries the forest was thinned out. Now cows graze on the flanks of mountains like those in the Münstertal valley. In the southern and northern Black Forest, large natural areas have been left to themselves again.
Image: Erich Spiegelhalter/Schwarzwald Tourismus
Mobility
The people of the Black Forest care about sustainability, so they offer tourists a range of environmentally-friendly mobility options: buses and trains are free of charge or you can test an electric car. The ascent to the observation point over the Schluchsee reservoir is easy with an e-bike. And traditional hiking is as popular as ever.
Image: HTG
Snacks
Black Forest ham is a dry-cured smoked boneless ham with a visible fatty rind. Its distinctive blackish-brown rind develops when it's smoked over wood from local conifers. Cut into wafer-thin slices, it tastes especially good on freshly baked coarse rye bread. "Black Forest Ham" is now a protected designation of origin in the EU.
Image: Tannenhof GmbH/Niederschach
Farmhouses
Black Forest farmsteads have shaped the face of the region for centuries. The Vogtsbauernhof dates from 1612 and is a historically listed building in the open-air museum of the same name near Gutach. Its pitched wooden-shingled and thatched roof with its long overhang is typical. In summer it supplies shade, and in winter it can withstand the wind and accumulated masses of snow.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Seeger
Cuckoo Clocks
Whoever invented the cuckoo clock is disputable, though tradition has it that the cuckoo was originally supposed to be a cockerel - but its "cock-a-doodle-do" was too complicated. The biggest specimens, up to 15 meters in height, one with a 150-kilo cuckoo, are in Schonach and Triberg, the Black Forest's two centers of cuckoo clock production.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Seeger
Baden-Baden
The traditional spa town of Baden-Baden is considered the gateway to the Black Forest. New buildings like the Museum Frieder Burda provide a modern contrast to its genteel center, with its Kurhaus assembly rooms, casino and parks. Outstanding artworks by painters such as Gerhard Richter are shown here, and opera divas such as Anna Netrebko give concerts in the Festspielhaus.
Image: Schwarzwald-Tourismus/ Museum Frieder Burda
The Source of the Danube
The residential city of Donaueschingen lies at the point where Europe's second-largest river begins its journey. Discovered by the Roman general Tiberius, the source, between St. John's Church and the palace, is again open to the public after extensive restoration.
Image: Tobias Raphael Ackermann
Freiburg
The city gets more than 1700 hours of sunshine annually, the most in Germany. The world’s first “solar university” offers an international degree in renewable energy management, and the "Solarsiedlung," a housing estate with 50 energy-autonomous houses, has set standards as a model environmental project. Not only in Germany is Freiburg considered one of the world's greenest cities.
Image: FWTM/Karl-Heinz Raach
Haute Cuisine
To enjoy such delicacies as a starter of pumpkin garnished with apple blossoms, gourmets come from far and wide to Baiersbronn in the northern Black Forest. It has two chefs with three Michelin stars each and one with two stars. The Hotel Traube-Tonbach has a special reputation with its Schwarzwaldstube restaurant, which star chef Harald Wohlfahrt shaped over many years.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Kienzle
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Are good intentions enough?
In view of the extent of natural disasters — including fires, droughts and floods, among others — it is clear that the tourism industry must change its course to adapt to climate change. Yet some say this is happening far too slowly.
Wolfgang Günther from the Institute for Tourism Research in Northern Europe (NIT) in Kiel calls for adaptations to be made at a faster pace. He says it is important to have "more flexibility" to be better prepared for changing weather conditions and to be able to modify or develop completely new offerings in a respective region.
Expanding tourism offerings, including making new hiking trails, is one way to diversifyImage: Angelika Warmuth/dpa/picture alliance
Positive examples
Sometimes it helps to look beyond an area's geographical characteristics to find solutions, says Hans-Joachim Hermann. He heads the department for international sustainability strategies, policy and knowledge transfer at the German Environment Agency.
Hermann cites an example from Switzerland, where in 2003, the Stockhornbahn AG — a travel company in the Bernese Oberland — decided to stop operating ski slopes and instead focus on a different kind of winter tourism. "The ski operation was running at a loss ... so they developed a new business model that focused on excursions, expanding gastronomy, as well as a wide range of nature-oriented summer and winter activities, while reducing winter operations from Wednesday to Sunday."
In order to create similar success stories in Germany, the German Environment Agency, together with the German Tourism Association, PIK and other associations, created a guide called Adapting to Climate Change: Shaping the Future in Tourism. It offers tourism managers well-founded factual knowledge and ideas about how to make the respective holiday regions successful in the future by using new tourism strategies.
Some tourism regions have promoted cycling to expand offeringsImage: Swen Pförtner/dpa/picture alliance
The earlier the better
All experts seem to agree that the basic rule when implementing new strategies is: the earlier, the better. This includes an economic dimension, emphasizes Günther of the NIT. "Reacting early is definitely cheaper than having to make repairs afterwards."
This could mean, for example, creating new routes for hikers before the existing paths are destroyed by floods. Winter sports resorts, for example, could expand hiking and cycling tourism offers when snow is no longer guaranteed.
Once a natural disaster occurs, only a functional early warning system and evacuation plans can help bring people to safety. The example of the Ahr Valley made such deficits in existing disaster management all too clear.
Since then, there has been a debate about how to improve the warning and alert system in Germany. In the future, this could mean sending SMS messages to warn people, which already happens in many countries, including the US and Japan. Sirens could also be installed in case power is cut and mobile phone networks fail in affected regions.
A sign indicating flooding in Germany is a reminder of the impacts of climate changeImage: picture alliance / Zoonar
Extreme weather will become the norm
Shortly after the major storms in the Ahr valley, a spring flood occurred in the Höllentalklamm gorge near the Zugspitze mountain in Bavaria, killing a tourist and forcing more than 100 people to be brought to safety in a dramatic rescue operation.
Such events, says Hoffmann of PIK, will soon become the norm rather than the exception. According to his examination of German Meteorological Service records over the past 20 years, "flash floods and flooding can occur anywhere." He adds, "the effect of the damage then depends on how built-up the area is, and how well-sealed the landscape and infrastructure is."
Furthermore, extreme weather will only become more extreme, Hoffmann goes on. Heat will linger for longer, heavy rains will become more intense, and storms more violent. "The diagnosis has been made, now it's time for therapy — also for the tourism industry," he says. How creative the approaches are is entirely up to those responsible for the sector.
Rising temperatures will make a lack of snow on the slopes more frequent, including here in Fischen im Allgäu, GermanyImage: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Warmuth
Changing expectations
Günther adds that tourists have also changed their expectations. As they expect more commitment to environmental protection, the offerings are being adapted. For many, it is no longer attractive or acceptable for snow-starved ski slopes to simply buy more snow machines to make snow in an otherwise green environment.
Yet Günther also observes that many destinations have not yet accepted this reality. "Some will succeed, others will be caught up in their failures," he says. "The faster we turn the trend around, the better things will be."
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No snow on Kilimanjaro
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Maldives: disappearing into the ocean
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The death of the Dead Sea
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