From 4 to 8 November 2019 the Chair of Tourism / Center for Entrepreneurship proudly welcomed Professor Yoel Mansfeld in part of the KU visiting professors program. He is one of the most cited researchers on tourism and Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Haifa, Israel. He is also founder and the Head of the University of Haifa´s Centre for Tourism, Pilgrimage & Recreation Research (CCTRR).
In the master´s lecture of “Entrepreneurial Management and Tourism” he provided insights to his “Value Stretch Model” as a tourism planning process to avoid overtourism and showed how this model could be implemented as an integrated research tool. Based on selected case studies (e.g. the Dead Sea in Israel) he explained the term of overtourism and stated that this phenomenon occurs when there are “too many visitors” to a particular destination. To many visitors in this context is a relative and subjective term based on actual and perceived number of tourists by local stakeholders such as residents, tour operators, tourist businesses and tourists. He also showed that overtourism is not only a big city issue and may occur as an outcome of e.g. 20 more tourists visiting a remote countryside village.
Within the bachelor´s lecture of “Tourism Management” there where discussions towards the interplay between Tourism and UNESCO´s World Heritage Sites. One point of consideration was the net contribution of World Heritage Sites to local tourism and communities. Another discussion was to think about, if a global strategy is always applicable on the local level.
In a common workshop with students of the master´s seminar of “Tourism and Society” we worked together on the use of the Value Stretch Model in comparative analysis of limits for acceptable change among rural vs. small urban communities. Furthermore, the students were studying the prospect of implementing Service Networks as an option to enhance tourism profitability and reduce socio-cultural carrying capacity thresholds.
Another part of the agenda during Professor Mansfeld's visit was an excursion to Nuremberg, which also included an appointment with Yvonne Coulin, Managing Director of the Nuremberg Convention and Tourist Office. First, the status quo of Nuremberg Tourism was presented before the possibilities of a future target group analysis were discussed. In addition, the joint exchange on the increased distribution of guests, especially in the regional environment, in order to be able to actively meet high visitor flows in the urban center, was compatible with Prof. Mansfeld's research on "Carrying Capacity".
The visiting program was financed by the Bavarian State Government and it was part of the visiting Professors program at the KU. International and intercultural exchange offers valuable potential for experiences and changes – both in personal development but also in teaching, research and transfer.
