In times of ongoing pandemics, health tourism is having a hard time. The question of whether it still has a future was hotly debated at the European Health Prevention Day from 2 to 3 December in Wiesbaden. Three scientists from the European Campus Rottal-Inn (ECRI) were invited as speakers, which underlines ECRI’s expertise in the field.

Under strict conditions, about 50 participants had gathered at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden to devote themselves for two days entirely to the question “Do natural place-based remedies have a future in the age of the pandemic?”. Prof. Dr. Marcus Herntrei, Head of Tourism Studies at ECRI, hosted a thematic block on products in spa tourism and contributed a paper entitled “Experience Health. Planning holidays with healthy content”. Sebastian Markov and Dean Prof. Dr. Georg Christian Steckenbauer were invited as further experts from the campus. They spoke on the topic “The potential of the forest for the development of target group-specific offers. Findings of a representative survey from Germany and Austria”.

This year, the European Health Prevention Day was dominated by Lithuania, which had its own thematic block as a partner country and hosted a “Lithuanian evening” for all participants. The European Health Prevention Day is an international meeting of experts with a focus on relaxation and wellness. The special feature is the focus on local remedies such as thermal water, healing mud, seawater or climate. Topics of the event are marketing, new products and strategy.

An application needs to be well prepared, even for a degree programme. Applicants need to know which deadlines apply, whether an aptitude test is required in advance or, for example, proof of language skills. The Student and Academic Counselling at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) is offering the first information event of this year on 19 January. Students can find out how to best prepare for the next application period. From 15 April, they can apply to study in Deggendorf, Pfarrkirchen and Cham. The best way for interested students to come to the “Schüler:innen-Talk” online seminar is via the event calendar: https://www.th-deg.de/de/veranstaltung?id=744087. It is scheduled from 4 to 5 pm.

The European Campus Rottal-Inn (ECRI) of the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) rings in the new year with a new event format. The series called “ECRI Lunch Talk”, kicks off with the topic of destination branding. The free virtual event will take place on Friday, 21 January at noon and is open to all interested parties. The event is held in German.

The ECRI Lunch Talk is about a topic considered by two experts and invited the audience to actively participate in the discussion. The special feature: The format takes place virtually during the lunch break from noon to 1 pm. The kick-off event is all about destination branding in tourism. Because every place, or destination in the technical jargon, tells a story, brings its own culture and way of life and is defined by its environment and the people there. Destination branding is all about identifying the strongest and most competitive values of the destination in the eyes of its potential visitors. In particular, it is about capturing the “DNA of the destination” and conveying it consistently across all marketing channels and communications.

Claudia Hinnerkopf explains how this is done in practice at the ECRI Lunch Talk. She is Head of Marketing at Bayern Tourismus Marketing GmbH and knows Bavaria as a destination inside out. The second participant, Prof. Dr. Marcus Herntrei, will contribute scientific findings on citizen participation in destination branding. He is the head of the Bachelor International Tourism Management and Master International Tourism Development programmes at ECRI. The ECRI Lunch Talk will be hosted by Sarah Beham, correspondent at Bayerischer Rundfunk and experienced journalist on tourism in Eastern Bavaria.

Interested parties can register for the free event by sending an e-mail to miriam.bleck@th-deg.de or using the registration form. This can be found under the heading “Veranstaltungen” on the German ECRI website at: https://th-deg.de/ecri.

The ECRI Lunch Talk will take place twice a semester in the future and will focus on different ECRI topics. In each case, lecturers from the campus meet people from outside and look at a topic from different angles.