yet, please feel free to wander. Here’s some orientation how you – and I – make best use of this site. It is a portfolio of my journeys through life, both professionally and in private – who can tell the difference when tourism is both your profession and passion. In the travel section, I curated…
Nice to meet you
In 1974 my parents chose to name me Marcus Bauer, the C was important to them and my family name Bauer – in English farmer – blends the image of a common man with skills to work the world and live in harmony with nature. That’s enough not to ask a royal title. Modern times…
Digitale Ökologie – SR Fernsehen
On Sept. 1st, 2021, Saarländischer Rundfunk visited us to talk about digital ecology. Background: in cooperation with MedienKompetenzZentrum of Landesmedienanstalt Saar, we hosted a workshop to talk about the ecological effects of digitalisation.
Choosing the winners – Jury Member “International Travel Awards 2021”
Just got this nice mail: “Dear Marcus Gotthold Bauer/ respontour,How are you doing ? It gives us immense pleasure to inform you that your jury account with International Travel Awards 2021 has been created successfully.We have scheduled our Jury Review from 16-August to 30-August.We are pleased to inform you have we have received over 2,000+ Nominees during year…
Souvenirs
“For me, home is …” That was the challenge of a local photo contest. And I thought:Home is probably where the type case hangs in which I keep the souvenirs from all over the world with which I associate stories: the vulture feather from the rewildering station in Bosnia, the silver spoon from the citadel…
Hands
This is a photo spread about one of our most intriguing tools: Hands. It always fascinated me to take a close up look at their transformative power and the interplay of softness and strength, of miscroscopic fineness and brute power. The pictures have been taken during various trips around India, they origin in West-Bengal, the…
Screening tourism issues
Everybody does it, but few reflect it. Tourism is omnipresent, but mostly the glossy side. We thought that film is a good way of showing the complexity, the harm and all the good tourism can do. So we started a cooperation with a local cinema showing background documentaries and opening the floor for discussion amongst…
Conserving local stories
All places are rich, particularly when it comes to the stories local people can share. But how to preserve this valuable heritage? In the Eurodistrict Sarre-Moselle – covering parts of Saarland in Germany and of Lorraine in France – many landmarks are visible from far, forming a network of view points. What do they mean…
Excursions
There is no better way to learn than visiting the places where the action is. Global tourism development is rapid and dynamic. Let’s go discuss with the shapers, visit innovative new concepts and projects and get a first hand feeling and understanding of the site. Our input is the dough to create management concepts that…
Russia
Apiculture, the science of bees. That was the tour motto that led me to Russia in 2019 to develop a thematic trip about one of the most important animals on the planet. It was the second encounter with that fascinating country, after a visit to Kaliningrad Oblast in 2005, where I coached an international student…
The Baltics
“In search of Eden”, I came to Estonia in 2014 for a press trip, visiting the country’s Nationalparks and EDEN-Destinations. It was my first encounter with the Habjaas, the local variety of the dugout-canoes, that in 2020 became part of the UNESCO World Heritage of living traditions. The slow floating through the wide and rich…
India
The journey started in 2005. My first bed-tea being served, a Durga-Puja in Delhi, the mindblowing buzz of Calcutta and the peaceful starry nights on the bench next to the mud huts in the world’s largest mangrove forest. That was the first week. What a land of contrasts. One year before, I vouched never to…
Tourism Master Plan
“We are a nice place, beautiful landscape, friendly people and we now want to have (more) tourism.” It’s the mixture of not missing out and economic expectations, that ask for a share of the global leading industry. So that’s where we start: We analyze status quo, check potential markets, bring stakeholders together and moderate workshops,…
Hungary
In 2013, the Europarc Federation celebrated 40 years Working for Nature: Integrated Management of Protected Areas, hosted by the Hortobágy National Park. “Communication comes naturally – or does it?” was the headline for a workshop session that I was co-moderating. It took place from 9 – 13 October 2013 in Debrecen, Hungary.
Georgia
The Georgian Ecotourism Association in 2018 invited the world to Tbilisi where they hosted the 5th European Ecotourism Conference in an excellent way. Great content, superb hospitality, perfect organizing and the fascinating blend of a buzzing ancient yet modern metropolis with amazing landscapes proudly inhabited by locals that cherish their tradition and skills. I was…
Uzbekistan
In June 2019, I received a call by a friend, asking me to join the First International Geotourism Forum as a guest speaker. “August 1-3, 2019, the First International Geotourism forum will be held in Kashkadarya region. The forum is organized by the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for tourism development and the…
Know your markets
There is a difference between “Me-Search” and research. The latter demands proper surveys of proper samples of the relevant people and the right questions to carve out what they really think and feel. From first project mindmap to scrutinizing the questionnaire draft to perfection, the planning of face-to-face as well online surveys and the data…
Sustainability for professionals
Avoid the term sustainability, wherever you can. This is not about sporting a “we care for the environment” sticker on your website or frontdoor, nor about your tree planting offsetting effort, this is about the blatant future of your business and our all existence on this planet. So, hell, put your words into real actions…
Monitoring and controlling visitor flows
Not only since we are told and for our own safety are clever to keep distance to the crowd, it is a major challenge for tourism professionals to know when and where people are clustering. This is the background of our research on tracking and tracing the flow of visitors in destinations. If we know…
The power of hospitality
What more can a person offer than an open door. Reflecting about the most precious – and sometimes exotic – moments of my life, it was always connected to invitations. That became my motto: “Visiting faces, not places!” Couchsurfing was a brilliant idea when I joined it in 2006. I met wonderful people in various…
Digitalising a destination
Some places are hard to find in the virtual world. They are simply not on the map. A short video, few pictures, a 360 degree panorama, some basic information about public transport access, opening hours and contact details make access to a point-of-interest much easier for visitors. The nodal points are a blog infrastructure and…
Urban tourism 2040
OK, the world is getting faster and faster. We know where we come from, but the crystal ball is blurry. Disruptive innovations, AI, changing mindsets, population pressure, urbanisation, new politics and the omnipresent threat of climate change … all factors influencing the global travel trade. A visit to a tourism hotspot and stakeholder discussions are…
The ministry of tourism
How good is knowledge if not applied or at least applicable? Congratulations, your team has just been designated as a ministry of tourism for a state that … yes, it has hills and beaches, two world heritage sites, a river, one railway line, three airports and 20 million people. All the input from the sustainable…
FSTM Magazine
The challenge: create a magazine about your study subject. Popular science style, with speaking stock photos, a self-made infographic and an interview with an expert. Legal issues from imprint to credits, text edits from orthography to gender style, picture selection in right quality and unique names, layout pre-settings and style discussions. Smooth workflow, tight deadlines…