The Federal Ministry for the Environment has already organised two competitions for sustainable German tourism regions and destinations. The research project was to examine the effectiveness of the federal competitions for sustainable tourism regions and destinations in 2012/13 and 2016/17 and to review their effectiveness in achieving more sustainable tourism.

The evaluation includes three focal points:

  1. The examination of the effects triggered by the competitions on sustainable tourism in the destinations.
  2. The assessment of the conditions to be fulfilled in order for sustainable tourism concepts to be implemented successfully.
  3. Examining the effectiveness of the instrument of competition.

The focus here was on process-relevant aspects of competition implementation with regard to the suitability of the instrument of a competition for the promotion of sustainable tourism in German destinations. In addition, any need for optimisation was identified.