Deutsch Intern
Chair of Human Geography

Dr. Manuel Woltering

Chair of Human Geography

Phone: +49 931 31-88290
E-Mail: manuel.woltering@uni-wuerzburg.de 

Institute of Geography and Geology
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg

Campus Southern Hubland
Geography building
Room 318

Office hours Wednesday, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

During the semester break, by appointment; please register by email.

  • Economic geography, focused on leisure and tourism research
  • Protected area management
  • Regional economics and regional development
  • Regional focus: Central Europe, Alps

PINO – Planning Instruments for Nature-based Solutions

Alpine mountain-lowland transition zones (MLTZ), where diverse urban, agricultural and naturalsystems meet, face increasing urbanization, land take, habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss. Despite available planning strategies promoting nature-based solutions and ecological connectivity, spatial planning authorities in these regions still lack effective instruments and targeted approaches for implementation. PINO addresses this gap by co-designing and testing biodiversity-oriented spatial planning tools that embed multifunctional green-blue infrastructure in land-use decisions and improve ecological connectivity. PINO contributes to Priority 1 of the Alpine Space Programm by piloting biodiversity restoration tools, applying nature-based solutions to enhance air, water and soil quality, fostering their integration into land-use and spatial planning policies. PINO addresses regional and local planning department in MLTZ and Alpine governance networks via co-design, pilot testing, peer learning andpolicy uptake ensuring transferable usability and institutional anchoring.

Regional economic effects of sustainable tourism in nature parks and 'total economic valuation' of the National Natural Landscapes

In recent years, almost all German national parks and biosphere reserves have now been analyzed with regard to their regional economic effects on the surrounding regions. The resulting data, such as the number of visitors per year or the proportion of guests coming because of the status as a protected area, are part of the Integrative Monitoring Program of the Federal Government and the Federal/State Working Group on Nature Conservation, Landscape Management and Recreation (LANA). For the category of nature parks, such an assessment of their importance for the tourism economy in Germany is still pending. Due to the large number of nature parks with more than 100 representatives, however, it is not possible to carry out a comprehensive case-by-case analysis. Instead, a nationwide statement is made on the basis of detailed knowledge of selected case studies by means of extrapolation. Furthermore, it is the aim of the project to carry out a 'total economic valuation' for the first time on the basis of the results on the economic importance of tourism as well as further analyses for all three categories of National Natural Landscapes.

Analysis of the regional economic effects of nature tourism in the nature park Lüneburger Heide

Regional economic effects of tourism in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park as a contribution to improved communication of natural values

Regional economic effects of tourism in the Berchtesgadener Land Biosphere Reserve

Regional economic effects of tourism in the Hamburg and Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Parks

Determining the socio-economic effects of tourism in German UNESCO biosphere reserves

  • Funding body: UFOPLAN – BMUB/Bundesamt für Naturschutz, Bonn
  • Duration: 04/2016 – 05/2022
  • Budget: 545.000 EUR
  • Leadership: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hubert Job
  • Contact persons: Dr. Manuel Engelbauer, Dr. Lisa Majewski, Dr. Manuel Woltering

07/2011
Promotion at Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg (Dr. rer. nat.)

Dissertation: "Tourism and Regional Development in German National Parks: Regional Economic Impact Analysis of Tourism as Focus of a Socio-Economic Monitoring System"

since 05/2008
Research assistant at the Chair of Human Geography, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

07/2007 – 04/2008
Research assistant at the Chair of Economic Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

10/2001 – 05/2007
Studies of economic geography, economics and political science at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Diplom-Geograph)

Diploma thesis: "Identifying Indicators for Predicting Tourism Expenditure"

2026

Woltering, M., Mayer, M., Job, H.: Wertschöpfung mit Wildnis. In: Rosenthal, G. (Hrsg.): Naturschutz mit Wildnis. Stuttgart, 228-241.

Mayer, M., Woltering, M.: Nature tourism in Germany’s protected areas. In: Chen, J. S.,  Prebensen, N. K. (Hrsg.): Nature Tourism, 2. Auflage. Abingdon u.a., 139-154. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003622086-12 

2025

Mayer, M., Woltering, M.: Regionalwirtschaftliche Effekte. In: Schmude, J., Freytag, T., Bandi Tanner, M. (Hrsg.): Tourismusforschung: Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Praxis. Baden-Baden, 341-351.

Arnegger, J., Eisenstein, B., Job, H., Woltering, M.: Protected area labels as brands in tourism. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 49, 100851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jort.2024.100851

Majewski, L., Bittlingmaier, S., Frieser, A., Woltering, M., Job, H.: Evaluating the economic impact of tourism in Germany’s Biosphere Reserves. Tourism Geographies, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2025.2536120

2024

Majewski, L., Frieser, A., Lang-Novikov, K., Woltering, M.: Mapping the distance: An analysis of visitor travel distance to German national parks and biosphere reserves. Spatial Research and Planning, 82(5), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.14512/rur.2571

Mayer, M. und Woltering, M.: Ländliche Tourismus- und Erholungsräume. In: Grabski-Kieron, U., Kordel, S., Krajewski, C., Mose, I. und Steinführer A. (Hrsg.): Geographie ländlicher Räume. Paderborn, 195-210.

Job, H., Bittlingmaier, S. und Woltering, M.: Regionalökonomische Effekte des Tourismus im Nationalpark Hamburgisches Wattenmeer (= Schriftenreihe Nationalpark Hamburgisches Wattenmeer 2). Hamburg.

Job, H., Majewski, L., Woltering, M. und Engels, B.: Economic analysis of visitation in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: International standards of economic analysis and their implementation in the case of germany (= BfN-Schriften 696). Bonn-Bad  Godesberg. 

2023

Job, H., Bittlingmaier, S. und Woltering, M.: Regionalökonomische Effekte des Tourismus im Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer (= Schriftenreihe Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer 18). Wilhelmshaven.

Job, H., Majewski, L., Bittlingmaier, S., Engelbauer, M. und Woltering, M.: Regionalökonomische Effekte des Tourismus in Biosphärenreservaten Deutschlands: Ein wissenschaftlicher Beitrag zum Integrativen Monitoring- Programm für Großschutzgebiete  aus sozioökonomischer Perspektive (= BfN-Schriften 667). Bonn-Bad Godesberg.

2021

Job, H., Majewski, L., Engelbauer, M., Bittlingmaier, S. und Woltering, M.: Establishing a standard for park visitation analyses: Insights from Germany. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 35, 100404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jort.2021.100404

Job, H., Bittlingmaier, S., Mayer, M., von Ruschkowski, E. und Woltering, M.: Park–people relationships: The socioeconomic monitoring of national parks in Bavaria, Germany. Sustainability 13 (16): 8984.

Spenceley, A., Schägner, J. P., Engels, B., Cullinane Thomas, C., Engelbauer, M., Erkkonen, J., Job, H., Kajala, L., Majewski, L., Mayer, M., Metzler, D., Rylance, A., Scheder, N., Smith-Christensen, C., Souza, T. B. und Woltering, M.: Visitors count! Guidance for protected areas on the economic analysis of visitation. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Paris/Bonn. 

2020

Sinclair, M., Mayer, M., Woltering, M. und Ghermandi, A.: Using social media to estimate visitor provenance and patterns of recreation in Germany’s national parks. Journal of Environmental Management 263: 110418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110418

Sinclair, M., Mayer, M., Woltering, M. und Ghermandi, A.: Valuing nature-based recreation using a crowdsourced travel cost method: A comparison to onsite survex data and value transfer. Ecosystem Services 45: 101165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101165

Mayer, M. und Woltering, M.: Tourismus in ländlichen Räumen. In: Krajewski, C. und Wiegandt, C.-C. (Hrsg.): Land in Sicht: Ländliche Räume in Deutschland zwischen Prosperität und Peripherisierung. Bonn, 200-213.