Foremost Promoters of Cultural Heritage and Values

Usually we try to extrapolate past experiences to projections of the future. The results are determined by lag indicators. These are outcomes of actions previously taken – or not taken. However, in order to reach a healthy growth, we also need new performance drivers – new ideas, options, links, which may turn out complementary to one another.

Great economic changes have occurred when new communication regimes converge with new energy regimes. We witness today the quick advance of e-communication, cybernetics, Artificial Intelligence and robotics, successful attempts of autonomous traffic and the accelerated introduction of Renewable Energy.

There is an urgency to act: Natural disasters and the dramatic consequences of questionable human behaviour are a constant challenge to our modern civilization. Fossil energy calamities have become rampant, and nuclear energy, although often reclaimed as an indispensable interim solution to fuel energy-intensive industries, has lost its ambiguous innocence since Chernobyl and Fukushima, at the latest.

We somehow might have gotten used to politicians' lip services all over the past decades: We got used to shaking social foundations, and our alarm clock has stood still for long, showing past twelve. Are we impressed? It seems that in our world of ailing democracies, consumerism and enlightened humanism, the energy necessary to change things is just enough to slow down entropy. What a pity! – Why are there still all those hair-raising scandals about polluted air, land and sea, spoiled cities and landscapes, plastic waste scattered along mountain ranges, river sides and sea grounds? Why so much corruption and trickery at all levels of society? Why that disturbing indifference toward our common responsibility?  

From the cramped conditions of every-day itineraries, we switch to more of the same on our holidays, yet with different programs, different people at different places. We flee the masses and land in the masses. The ‘seasonal trap’ drags thousands at the same time to the same place, just to be elsewhere. “Loneliness, how overpopulated you are”, noted Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, a Polish writer.

The pivot is the irresistible logic of individual assets: profit, glamour, glory, victory: Their logic is driven by the prospects of instant or imminent gratification, as a reward for a strong commitment, accomplished efforts and sometimes everything from good luck to trickery.

In the 18th century, the German neologism 'Bildung' (formation) was ascribed to people "as cultivated, learned and, most importantly, self-directing" (italics original in Peter Watson/The German Genius). Formation is understood as investments in people: It is now high time to prioritize education and 'formation', from back to the roots up to linking Artificial Intelligence with Europe's spirit, expressed in traditions of personality development in humanities,  natural sciences and engineering, yet also the insight that our past glory is exhausted, and we can no longer afford "to live from the perfume of an empty vessel" (Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, Le défi américain/The American Challenge, 1968!).

Kwame Anthony Appiah, a British philosopher, specialized on cosmopolitism and intercultural questions, puts education to the top of people's and nations' evolutionary agenda. He says: "... there is no democratic society that does not take education – the French term formation is the argument in a word – with utmost seriousness, and none that does not contend with the prospect of educative soul making" (Kwame Anthony Appiah, The Ethics of Identity, Educated Souls, 2005). Appiah's reference to John Locke, one of the philosophical protagonists of the Enlightenment, is telling to our times: "I think I may say that of all the men we meet with, nine parts out of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education."

Getting familiar with the world and knowing ourselves opens up options to check our dogmas and change our behaviour – in reminiscence of Faust’s personal flashback: “I’ve desired, achieved my course, desired again, and so, with force, stormed through life …”, yet now he concludes with the words: “…first powerfully, but wisely now: and thoughtfully”.

'Meaningful Tourism' – Toward the Vanguard Vision?

In 2020, while the pandemic ravaged the world, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, a German hands-on academic, started developing „Meaningful Tourism (MT)“ – a concept whose 'holistic' approach and explicitly strong focus on stakeholders and measurability (Key Performance Indicators – KPIs) wants to reach out beyond well-known sustainable, responsible, regenerative Tourism essentials. Overtourism and climate change were just two reasons that prompted Prof. Arlt to step forward.

In 2021 Prof. Arlt established the Meaningful Tourism Centre Ltd. (UK), seated in London but since  2024 headquartered in Kathmandu/Nepal, where he had chosen to live and work. Based on earlier public media activities and Tourism project experiences, Prof. Arlt designed his MT Transformational Game Workshop, which has become the main tool to train Trainers and address both Tourism trade and educational institutions alike. A holistic emphasis is placed  on the stakeholders.

The holistic emphasis of Meaningful Tourism includes stakeholders' alignment, intertwined public and private organizational structures and cross-sectoral communication channels. The issue is to align the government and private business framework and to readjust our view of Travel & Tourism.

A game is to help understanding: Capturing the entire scope of the world of Travel & Tourism, the MT Transformational Game Workshop differentiates six stakeholders: visitors or guests, the host community, employees (including Tourism, hospitality, transport, retail, attractions), service providing companies, government on different levels, local and global environment. Prof. Arlt: „Through role-playing and problem-solving exercises, participants focus on alignment rather than compromise ...“ Alignment – a key word used as an antipode to a mere compromise -- has a bookmark in  Meaningful Tourism's paradigm – with an implicit reference to Goethe (Faust I): "That which issues from the heart alone, Will bend the hearts of others to your own."

At first glance it looks like a contrast, yet it is a summary of Martin Seligman's Positive Psychology: „Focus on available resources instead deficits, focus on solutions instead problems, focus on tiny improvements instead big plans, focus on self-consciousness instead of attention to the remote and irrelevant“ (Rahim Taghizadegan: Europa auf der Intensivstation/Europe in Intensive Care). The issue is both emotional and rational: We will have to get away from a sector-centered tunnel vision, towards orchestrating a 'cluster' of multi-level communication tools, integrated in an all-over 'place management'.

We cannot but acknowledge the biological and psychological proposition that a healthy growth depends on sound roots and proven values. Only if we stand up to our cultural values and the way we live them, are we perceived, recognized, and – respected. From this point of view, Travel & Tourism and its representatives must not stand by as merely folkloric guardians of cultural heritage, but should act as a destination's enlightened visionaries and foremost promoters. The question sounds haunting and daunting alike: Is it presumptuous to say that Tourism, measured by its own claims, could and should help to tip the scales for a better world?

We should avoid pusillanimity and small-mindedness. We can in word and deed tip the scales toward the True, the Beautiful, the Good: We can counteract an escalating culture of suspicion, blemish acts of violence, show the world the hidden beauty even of countries in turmoil, and link consolation with clear, heartfelt information and promotion to stop war and distruction – to decry it as a barbaric, anachronistic behaviour of mentally retrospect warmongers. Albeit aggressors won't listen, people will hear us, and stumbling means failureonly, if we don't stand up again. In an old-time essay (FAZ, December 21, 1991), Rüdiger Safranski praised the magic of each commencement and, calling the 'Faustian revolution' the „art of forgetting“, intentionally named Faust „the Patron of all Beginners“. It's worth quoting Faust (I): "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it, Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"

 Although it might take years and convincing personalities at the very top to set the pace, we are the Representatives of Travel & Tourism: We can determine a region's or country’s overall identity and perception – as the leading vector of an encompassing ‘place marketing’ –  far beyond the scope of Tourism promotion itself. Enhancing the message, we (each of us and, of course, the world's leading Travel & Tourism organizations) can affiliate with the standard bearers of Cultural Diplomacy and, as a sideline effect, leverage likeminded institutions like Skål International and Corps Touristique, a membership organization which past year celebrated its 70th anniversary.

„The message well I hear, my faith alone is weak“, says Faust (Goethe, Faust I) and, despite all his failures, obtains divine redemption at the end of his life. The pivot is Faith: faith in God, faith in our dreams and teams, faith in the good side of humans – faith „in the severity of laughter“ (Peter Ustinov).

Bibliography

A. Books:

· Appiah, Kwame Anthony(2005), The Ethics of Identity

· Arlt, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg (2024), Meaningful Tourism – an Introduction

· Bausinger, Hermann; Beyrer, Klaus; Korff, Gottfried (1991), Reisekultur – Von der Pilgerfahrt zum modernen Tourismus (Travel Culture – From Pilgrimage to Modern Tourism)

· Clark, Christopher (2020), Gefangene der Zeit (Prisoners of Time)

· Coulmas, Peter (1990), Weltbürger (Cosmopolitan)

· Darbezies, André (1967), Visages de Faust au XXe Siècle (The Faces of Faust in the 20th Century)

· D’Eramo, Marco (2018), Die Welt im Selfie (Il Selfie del Mondo/The World in Selfie)

· Domizlaff, Hans (1951 + 1992), Die Gewinnung des öffentlichen Vertrauens (Winning Public Confidence)

· Duterme, Bernard (2006), Expansioin du tourisme: gagnants et perdants (Expansion of Tourism – Winners and Losers)

· Filkins, Dexter (2009), The Forever War

· Frankl, Viktor E. (1984), Man's Search for Meaning  

· Fusshoeller, Ludwig (1984), Die Dämonen kehren wieder (The Return of the Demons)

· Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1808/1991), Faust I and II (comments by Erich Trunz)

· Hugo, Victor (1832/2018), Notre-Dame de Paris

· Kelley, Kevin W., ed., (1988), The Home Planet

· Lours, Mathieu (2024), Rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris

· Röpke, Wilhelm (1948), Die Gesellschaftskrisis der Gegenwart (The Present Social Crisis)

· Servan-Schreiber, Jean-Jacques (1968), Le défi américain (The American Challenge)

· Taghizadegan, Rahim (2020), Europa auf der Intensivstation (Europe on in intensive care)

· Watson, Peter (2010), The German Genius

B. Newspapers:

· Berliner Zeitung: Bassange, Jean Pierre, 8./9.3.2008: „Skeptisch bis zum Schluss“ – Joseph Weizenbaum … ist tot („Skeptical Until the End“ – Joseph Weizenbaum … Passed Away)

· Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Rüdiger Safranski, 21.12.2991: "Himmel und Erde aus dem Nichts" – Über das Anfangen ("Heavan and Earth out of Nothing" – About Beginnings)

· Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Faber, Malte; Manstetten, Reiner, Universität Heidelberg, 30./31.3.1991: „Ihr werdet sein wie Gott“ – Das faustische Streben als Ursprung der Umweltkrise („You will Be Like God“ – The Faustian Ambition as Cause of the Environmental Crisis). This essay gave me the idea to use it as an inspiration to extrapolate the Faustian World to Travel & Tourism.

C. Websites:

· goodreds.com, Faust quotes (1 quote)

· Kline, A. S., English version of Faust I and II, 2003 (all other Faust quotes)

· STR, 6 Tourism Industry Trends

· Wikipedia, Artificial Intelligence

· bing.com

D. Websites  and Magazines:

· Academia Updates (2025), Goethes Faust im chinesischen Aufklärungsdiskurs (Goethe's Faust in the Chinese Enlightenment Discourse)

· Anthropocene – National Geographic Society, Anthropocene | National Geographic Society (12.11.2022)

· Global Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy in a Changing World, Global COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy in a Changing World: July 2022 update (who.int) (12.11.2022)

· Sachs, Jeffrey, Jeffrey Sachs Lays Out Possible Lab Origin of Covid (theintercept.com) (12.11.2022)

· The Lancet, The Lancet | The best science for better lives (12.11.2022)

· Wikipedia, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial intelligence - Wikipedia (12.11.2022)