Deutsch Intern
Geography and Regional Science

Dr. Manuel Woltering

Chair of Geography and Regional Science

Phone: +49 931 31-88290
E-Mail: manuel.woltering@uni-wuerzburg.de 

Institute of Geography and Geology
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg

Campus Southern Hubland
Geography building
Room 318

  • Wednesday, 10am – 12am
  • In semester break: upon request

  • Economic geography, focused on leisure and tourism research
  • Protected area management
  • Regional economics and regional development
  • Regional focus: Central Europe, Alps

Regional economic effects of sustainable tourism in nature parks and 'total economic valuation' of the National Natural Landscapes

In recent years, almost all German national parks and biosphere reserves have now been analyzed with regard to their regional economic effects on the surrounding regions. The resulting data, such as the number of visitors per year or the proportion of guests coming because of the status as a protected area, are part of the Integrative Monitoring Program of the Federal Government and the Federal/State Working Group on Nature Conservation, Landscape Management and Recreation (LANA). For the category of nature parks, such an assessment of their importance for the tourism economy in Germany is still pending. Due to the large number of nature parks with more than 100 representatives, however, it is not possible to carry out a comprehensive case-by-case analysis. Instead, a nationwide statement is made on the basis of detailed knowledge of selected case studies by means of extrapolation. Furthermore, it is the aim of the project to carry out a 'total economic valuation' for the first time on the basis of the results on the economic importance of tourism as well as further analyses for all three categories of National Natural Landscapes.

Analysis of the regional economic effects of nature tourism in the nature park Lüneburger Heide

Regional economic effects of tourism in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park as a contribution to improved communication of natural values

Regional economic effects of tourism in the Berchtesgadener Land Biosphere Reserve

Regional economic effects of tourism in the Hamburg and Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Parks

Determining the socio-economic effects of tourism in German UNESCO biosphere reserves

07/2011
Promotion at Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg (Dr. rer. nat.)

Dissertation: "Tourism and Regional Development in German National Parks: Regional Economic Impact Analysis of Tourism as Focus of a Socio-Economic Monitoring System"

since 05/2008
Research assistant at the Chair of Geography and Regional Science, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

07/2007 – 04/2008
Research assistant at the Chair of Economic Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

10/2001 – 05/2007
Studies of economic geography, economics and political science at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Diplom-Geograph)

Diploma thesis: "Identifying Indicators for Predicting Tourism Expenditure"

Arnegger, J., Eisenstein, B., Job, H. und Woltering, M. (2025): Research Note: Protected Area labels as Brands in Tourism. In: Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 49: 100851.

Mayer, M. und Woltering, M. (2024): Ländliche Tourismus- und Erholungsräume. In: Grabski-Kieron, U., Kordel, S., Krajewski, C., Mose, I. und Steinführer A. (Hrsg.): Geographie ländlicher Räume. Paderborn, 195-210.

Majewski, L., Frieser, A., Lang-Novikov, K. und Woltering, M. (2024): Mapping the Distance: An Analysis of Visitor Travel Distance to German National Parks and Biosphere Reserves. In: Raumforschung und Raumordnung 82 (5): 1-21.

Job, H., Bittlingmaier, S. und Woltering, M. (2024): Regionalökonomische Effekte des Tourismus im Nationalpark Hamburgisches Wattenmeer (= Schriftenreihe Nationalpark Hamburgisches Wattenmeer 2). Hamburg.

Job, H., Majewski, L., Woltering, M. und Engels, B. (2024): Economic Analysis of Visitation in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: International Standards of Economic Analysis and Their Implementation in the Case of Germany (= BfN-Schriften 696). Bonn-Bad  Godesberg.

Job, H., Bittlingmaier, S. und Woltering, M. (2023): Regionalökonomische Effekte des Tourismus im Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer (= Schriftenreihe Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer 18). Wilhelmshaven.

Job, H., Majewski, L., Bittlingmaier, S., Engelbauer, M. und Woltering, M. (2023): Regionalökonomische Effekte des Tourismus in Biosphärenreservaten Deutschlands: Ein wissenschaftlicher Beitrag zum Integrativen Monitoring- Programm für Großschutzgebiete  aus sozioökonomischer Perspektive (= BfN-Schriften 667). Bonn-Bad Godesberg.

Job, H., Majewski, L., Engelbauer, M., Bittlingmaier, S. und Woltering, M. (2021): Establishing a standard for park visitation analyses: Insights from Germany. In: Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 35: 1-19.

Job, H., Bittlingmaier, S., Mayer, M., von Ruschkowski, E. und Woltering, M. (2021): Park–People Relationships: The Socioeconomic Monitoring of National Parks in Bavaria, Germany. In: Sustainability 13 (16): 8984.

Spenceley, A., Schägner, J. P., Engels, B., Cullinane Thomas, C., Engelbauer, M., Erkkonen, J., Job, H., Kajala, L., Majewski, L., Mayer, M., Metzler, D., Rylance, A., Scheder, N., Smith-Christensen, C., Souza, T. B. und Woltering, M. (2021): Visitors count! Guidance for protected areas on the economic analysis of visitation. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Paris/Bonn.

Sinclair, M., Mayer, M., Woltering, M. und Ghermandi, A. (2020): Using Social Media to Estimate Visitor Provenance and Patterns of Recreation in Germany’s National Parks. In: Journal of Environmental Management 263: 110418.

Sinclair, M., Mayer, M., Woltering, M. und Ghermandi, A. (2020): Valuing Nature-Based Recreation Using a Crowdsourced Travel Cost Method: A Comparison to Onsite Survex Data and Value Transfer. In: Ecosystem Services 45: 101165.

Mayer, M. und Woltering, M. (2020): Tourismus in ländlichen Räumen. In: Krajewski, C. und Wiegandt, C.-C. (Hrsg.): Land in Sicht: Ländliche Räume in Deutschland zwischen Prosperität und Peripherisierung. Bonn, 200-213.