Wolfgang Strasdas

Wolfgang Strasdas, born in 1957 on a North German dairy farm, is a professor for Sustainable Tourism Management, Germany’s only Master programme of this kind at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, located just outside of Berlin. Being an avid traveller and based on a Master degree in Landscape Planning, Wolfgang has been working in tourism for about 20 years, focussing on environmental issues, nature-based tourism, tourism in developing countries and, more recently, on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the challenges that climate change poses to tourism.

Ecotourism has been a focus of his work for many years, mostly as a consultant and trainer in relation to nature conservation, protected area management and rural development, initially in Latin America, but then also covering Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. Wolfgang has authored several studies and guidebooks on ecotourism on behalf of the German development cooperation, including his PhD dissertation on ecotourism management in Mexico and Belize.

His work on tourism and global warming began in earnest in 2006 with a sabbatical at Stanford University in the U.S. where he researched climate protection measures (including carbon-offsetting) for tour operators in cooperation with The International Ecotourism Society (TIES). He is now directing an extensive research project on how tourism destinations and small tourism enterprises in the German state of Brandenburg can adapt to the long-term impacts of climate change, particularly in the fields of nature- and water-based tourism.

Wolfgang Strasdas is associated with several conservation and tourism organisations, both in Germany and internationally. Among others, he is a member of the advisory boards of TIES and forum anders reisen, an association of German tour operators. He is also involved with TourCert, an international certification body for CSR reporting of travel companies.