Biosphere reserves and their contribution to regional economic development: Measuring the economic impact of nature tourism

Abstract

Within the UNESCO Man and Biosphere program, biosphere reserves are model regions for ecological, economic, and socio-cultural development. They follow an integrative approach, understanding human activities as a central element of a national and global network of unique and representative natural and cultural landscapes. With the help of a zoning model, nature and landscape conservation in core and buffer zones should be ensured besides strengthening a sustainable regional economy in large development areas. Nature tourism can be seen as one important vehicle to achieve sustainable conservation and development outcomes in biosphere reserves (Job et al., 2017).

Nature tourism has direct and indirect regional economic effects, and thus contributes to the regional economic cycle of value-added and intermediate consumption. In terms of sustainability, one goals is to strengthen this by offering regional products and consumption options (Kraus et al., 2014). But to what extent do biosphere reserves contribute to regional economic development? In Germany, research has investigated the economic impact of visitation. Therefore, empirical data on visitation and its nature tourism structures and characteristics was collected during on-site observation counting and surveys using a standardised procedure (Job et al., 2021). As a result, primary data are available for all 18 biosphere reserves in Germany. With this, an evidence-based calculation of the regional economic effects of visitation in biosphere reserve throughout Germany was possible (Job et al., 2023).

The German biosphere reserves count a total of 71.6 million visitor days. The average day visitor share is 59.3 %, with mainly domestic visitors. Most of the visitors (80.3 %) arrive by car. On average, 11.0% of visitors have a high affinity for the biosphere reserve, as they indicated the existence of the biosphere reserve playing a large or a very large role in their travel decision. On average, day visitors spend € 21.60 and overnight visitors € 70.00 per person and day. Visitation in German biosphere reserves generates a gross turnover of € 3.84 billion, a direct value-added of € 1.32 billion and an indirect value-added of € 646.87 million. In total, the 71.6 million visitor days generate a nature tourism value-added of € 1.97 billion, enabling 77,419 people to earn a direct or indirect tourism-related income.

What implications can be learned from the figures? For the management, a higher proportion of over-night guests generates higher value-added and reduces traffic for a better ecological balance, flora, and fauna as well as for visitors’ and locals’ well-being. Overnight guests should be attracted by high-quality and biosphere reserve-specific offers to strengthen regional economic cycles. For the monitoring, visitor structures and economic effects need to be evaluated systematically and in a long-term perspective to record situational developments (Majewski, 2023; Spenceley et al., 2021).