Quality of Life in the Wilder Kaiser Region

There are certainly no simple answers to all of these questions. Nor can any of these areas of tension be resolved immediately. Nevertheless, as a region that lives from tourism, we are seeking answers bit by bit. We’re starting today rather than tomorrow, because we’re all aware of one thing: if we want to lead our environment, our nature and our society into a sustainable and liveable future for everyone, then we cannot just sit back and continue with the status quo. It is time to actively shape our world and where better to start than right here at home?

Which is why in 2017 the Wilder Kaiser tourist board initiated the "Quality of Life in the Wilder Kaiser region” campaign, a community participation process here in the region where we live and work. In workshops, forums and discussion groups, tourism experts, community representatives and community members discussed together the question of what tourism should look like going forward and how it can meet the needs of all people who holiday, live and work here while still assuming responsibility for nature and society.

This resulted not only in our collective vision “Excellent quality of life for all," but also in the "Strategy 2024" programme from the Wilder Kaiser tourist board. Broken down into various fields of action, it identifies the main challenges and defines goals. Topics such as industry attractiveness and job quality, a focus on quality instead of quantity, the tourism mindset of the locals, sustainable transportation concepts, and much more became the focal points of the region’s tourism aspirations and strategy, thus heralding a paradigm shift.

Although our roadmap for sustainable tourism in the Wilder Kaiser region was set long before the coronavirus, we have nevertheless made use of the pandemic with all its effects as an opportunity to once again more sharply focus our "Strategy 2024" goals. The aim is to take current developments into account and to continue on our chosen path towards ecologically, socially and economically sustainable tourism.

In autumn of 2020, a full-day forum entitled “Spiegel Corona (The Mirror of Corona)” took place. Once again, community members, tourism experts, and community representatives exchanged views on the present and future of tourism and the topic of Quality of Life in the Wilder Kaiser region. The tourist board also dealt more intensively with the topic of "sustainability" in relation to tourism in a series of workshops entitled "Change as an opportunity”"Wandel als Chance" while also giving the "Strategy 2024" an update.