“Into the future with climate competence” (Klimakompetent in die Zukunft') – A guide to the future climate for health resorts and spas
The climate is changing and has direct effects on man and nature – this has once again been obvious in recent months. Above all, persons who are ill or have health limitations respond very sensitively to climate change.
This poses a double challenge for health resorts and spas: On the one hand, they must respond to changes in their basic resources, i.e. their natural, specific local cures; because otherwise they could potentially lose their affirmed attributes. On the other hand, new, specific offers must be found for their target group – guests seeking recuperation and healing.
Basic information and checklist
The digital handbook “Guide to the future climate” (“Reiseführer in die Klimazukunft”) (www.bifa.de or www.lokale-passung.de/klimkom2019/) provides practical and regionally differentiated support in several steps: Basic information, location definition, checklist and finally a regionally adapted package of actions – a practical scenario can be developed for the respective town in several stages. The individual steps are illustrated by the results of the study from Bad Alexandersbad, Bad Endorf, Bad Füssing and Bad Hindelang.
Communication and cooperation strategy
Whether the decisive stakeholders in the spa town or health resort are “sceptics”, “planners”, “pragmatists” or “movers and shakers” – this can ultimately be analysed by means of a typology. The communication and cooperation strategies matched to this help to achieve the previously defined climate targets.
The digital handbook was developed by bifa Umweltinstitut and the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich. Practical partners were the Bavarian Spa Association (Bayerische Heilbäderverband), and the spa towns of Bad Alexandersbad, Bad Endorf and Bad Füssing as well as Bad Hindelang. The Federal Environment Agency funded the project as part of the German climate change adaptation strategy (Deutschen Anpassungsstrategie an den Klimawandel – DAS).
