The state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany has
been chosen as the study area. Schleswig-Holstein has two
quite different coastlines: first, to the west there is the North
Sea coast and second, to the east there is the Baltic Sea coast. In addition, there is the coastline of the river Elbe, which is
heavily influenced by the North Sea. Tourism promotion in
Schleswig-Holstein is organised at the level of the Gemeinde or
district. These are small administration units at the level of
LAU2.1 The coastal districts included in this study have an
average area of 21 km2, and the maximum area is 67 km2. The
smallness of the districts allows a high-resolution study of
tourism in the region.