Arno Brok, chairman of the Wadden Region Council (OBW), received both studies from Harald Marencic and Katja Philippart.
Two studies examined visitor experience and landscape appreciation of the Wadden via social media
Katja Philippart, director of the Wadden Academy, and Harald Marencic, project leader of the Interreg project PROWAD Link on behalf of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, presented the two studies to Arno Brok, chairman of the Wadden Region Council (OBW) during the working visit of the OBW to the North German Wadden region. Both studies, released as quick scan and report respectively, were carried out by Wolfs Company.
Quick scan Terschelling
The quick scan describes the results of a pilot carried out on Terschelling in the second half of 2020, in which the use of the social media platforms Flickr and Twitter was investigated to determine the preferences of visitors and local residents with regard to landscape appreciation and recreational use of natural landscapes on the island.
Based on the Flickr data, visitors from the four largest municipalities posted relatively fewer nature photos in the Netherlands than visitors from other parts of the Netherlands. The most attractive to photograph was typical Wadden nature such as dunes, grasslands and mudflats. Twitter showed that in the summer tourists were more involved in nature activities than during the other periods.
Report Trilateral Wadden Region
In a more general sense, the report examines the question of what attracts the local population and visitors from further afield to the trilateral Wadden area. By using open source data obtained from the social media platform Flickr, it was investigated which factors determine landscape appreciation and visitor experience. This region-wide study also examines the differences between the islands in the three countries with regard to landscape valuation.
In conjunction with this report, interactive online application (Storymap) has been developed. With the storpymap the trilateral Wadden area can be digitally explored for landscape aspects that are important for tourism and recreation.
The quick scan for Terschelling is financed by the Wadden Academy. The trilateral study is funded by the Wadden Academy and PROWAD Link. PROWAD Link is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union) and is implemented under the Interreg North Sea Region Program under Program Priority 1 “Thinking Growth”.
Both reports can be downloaded via the publication list.