Tourism Management 24 (2003) 217–226 Case Study The emergent tourism industry in eastern Germany a decade after Unification Tim Coles* School of Geography and Archaeology, University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter, Devon EX4 4RJ, UK Received 26 November 2001; accepted 07 July 2002 Abstract ThenewGerman L . ander havebeenpracticallyinvisibleindiscoursesontourisminpost-socialiststates.Thiscase-studypresents an exploratory examination of major tourism trends in the former German Democratic Republic since 1990. The purpose is to provokefurtherdebateonthecriticalissuessurroundingtourismtransition,notleastthewisdomandconsequencesofthegeneral desiretoeliminatedisparitiesinproductionandconsumptionbetweeneastandwest.Specialemphasisisplacedonthedeployment ofurbanheritagetourismasamechanismtorealisetheseambitions.Farfromalessharshexperienceofchange,easterndestinations havehadtocompetewithestablishedwesternresortsandregionsfordomesticandinboundvisitors.Severalindicespointtowards convergencebutconcurrentlyraiseconcernsaboutunevendevelopmentandthelimitsto,andsustainabilityof,growth.Areadingof product development and the settings of consumption suggests that important unexpected de facto constraints to tourism development may result from continued, unchallenged, widespread adherence to western paradigms in the east. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Over10yearshavepassedsincetheUnificationofthe German states in 1990. Considerable progress has been made in the intervening period towards the integration ofthetwoformerstates’societiesandeconomies.Amid concerns that the eastern states, the so-called ‘new L . ander’, 1 wouldbeleftbehindbythewesternstates,the ‘old L . ander’, the Federal Government made constitu- tional guarantees of convergence within the new Germany (Fig.1). The decimation of the secondary sector and (producer) services led to a search for alternative activities to drive economic development and thereby convergence. Tourism was identified by politicians and governors as one such dynamo. Unlike other sectors of the economy with their deeply embedded problems, tourism was perceived as an activity that offered relatively straightforward opportu- nities to achieve a comparable structure, organization and level of provision to the west. As an under- developed and under-exploited sector, it was contended that, if developed broadly along western lines, tourism would significantly boost economic output (cf. Godau, 1991; Benthien, 2000). The purpose of this short case-study is to introduce the main features of the emergent tourism sector within eastern Germany. Considerable attention has been lavished on the restructuring of tourism in such countries as Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary,Rumania,andBulgaria(seeforinstance Hall, 1998; Bacharov, 1999; Williams & Balaz, 2000). Fascination with these post-socialist states has centred on such themes as the way in which established destinations have contended with shifts in the politico- economic system, competition in a global market, and newimperativesandprinciplesoftourismmanagement. In contrast, there has been a relative paucity of published work on tourism in what was the German DemocraticRepublic(GDR),theerstwhilebeaconstate of the Eastern Bloc and Leitmotiv of state socialism. *Tel.: +44-1392-264441; fax: +44-1392-263342. E-mail address: t.e.coles@exeter.ac.uk (T. Coles). 1 Although conventionally referred to as the five New L . ander, there are in fact six states in the eastern half of Germany: Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg–Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony–Anhalt, andThuringia.Berlinhasacuriousstatus.Inmanyofficialdocuments its data are divided between the former western and eastern districts, whicharerespectivelydiscussedseparatelyaspartoftheoldandnew L . ander. More recently, it has been increasingly discussed as a cogent spatial unit. For the purposes of geographical coherence, in general terms it will be discussed among the new states. Moreover, in the compilation of the data for this paper, the politico-statistical nuances have been recognized to allow the compilation of valid comparisons. 0261-5177/02/$-see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0261-5177(02)00060-2