A lecture on the background and opportunities of sustainable tourism as part of the Studium Generale programme at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences on 21 February 2017 at the Kleve campus
Sustainability is a topical issue that is of concern to many people in Germany. A study on Germans’ environmental awareness, published last year by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), shows that, for the majority of the German population (63 per cent), adequate environmental and climate protection is a fundamental prerequisite for successfully shaping the future.
Sustainable consumption is particularly important in this context and is becoming increasingly significant. Germans are buying more organic food and green electricity; energy-efficient products are in demand; and eco-labels are having a growing influence.
So Germans are well on the way to sustainability, aren’t they? But what about when we travel? Until a few years ago, Germans were world champions when it came to international tourism, and even today, Germany remains one of the nations whose citizens travel most frequently. But travel, in particular, is closely linked to mobility and, consequently, to climate change and waste.
Do we want to give up travelling, or are we prepared to pay more to travel more sustainably? If we do travel, what could we do to be more sustainable? These are all questions we need to answer if sustainability is to be more than just lip service – something that ends before the next holiday and only begins again afterwards. Prof. Reiser’s lecture will address these issues.
The lecture forms part of the Studium Generale programme. The lecture series is aimed at the general public, as well as students, academics and staff at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, and presents current topics in a way that is relevant to everyday life and informative. The series also offers the opportunity to engage with current issues. “We invite everyone, regardless of age, to attend these fascinating lectures,” says the university’s President, Dr Heide Naderer.
Attendance at the Studium Generale lectures at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences is free of charge for the general public. Further information on the Studium Generale is available online at www.hochschule-rhein-waal.de.
