Stralsund and Jasmund National Park Heritage Tourism Strategy

Here you will find a summary of the Stralsund and Jasmund National Park heritage tourism strategy. You will find the document as a whole by clicking on the link below.

It is critically important how the local stakeholders perceive the Outstanding Universal Value of a World Heritage site.

As a HORECA manager from Stralsund said in an interview:

"I feel like being a part of this heritage. When I walk to my workplace across the historic centre of the city in the morning, it seems as if these ancient Hanseatic houses speak to me. They tell me their story. I don't care what these old buildings tell tourists."

It is one approach when heritage site managers ignore tourists and consider the Outstanding Universal Value from a conservationist's point of view. Or, conversely, they are nevertheless thinking about how they could appeal to visitors with the heritage values better, but then they need to take visitors' opinion into account as well.

Therefore, for visitors to understand the value and distinctiveness of the site, the communication strategy needs to be appropriate for the site, the community, and the local tourism sector.

First, it is necessary to find out, how the site is seen by various target groups and how it relates to the Outstanding Universal Value. Then the message addressing the main tourist target groups must be developed and agreed with tourism service providers. As a private tourist guide from Stralsund emphasised in her interview:

"The number of tourists in Stralsund has increased in the last decade because of the UNESCO-listing and large-scale restoration efforts. And it is important to convey a key message to them that Stralsund is a unique place as a World Heritage site because it has a very well-preserved Medieval Hanseatic townscape with impressive Gothic churches, rich merchant houses, and a Town Hall."

Sustainable Heritage Tourism Strategy for the Historic Centre of Stralsund and Jasmund National Park