Globally known. Historically loved.

Back in the summer of 1878, American philosopher Mark Twain spent some time in Heidelberg, a town in the Southwest of Germany. Later, he would describe his amazement about the place as follows.

“The Castle looks down upon the compact brown-roofed town; and from the town two picturesque old bridges span the river. Now the view broadens; through the gateway of the sentinel headlands you gaze out over the wide Rhine plain, which stretches away, softly and richly tinted, grows gradually and dreamily indistinct, and finally melts imperceptibly into the remote horizon. I have never enjoyed a view which had such a serene and satisfying charm about it as this one gives.”

It was not only Twain but also other famous philosophers and authors who have been attracted by the charme of Heidelberg such as Goethe or Nietzsche. Today, all of them are remembered in the so-called ‘Philosophenweg’, a hiking pass along the Neckar River. Wanderers come there to enjoy the view over Heidelberg, while being surrounded by nature.

Preserving the unique charme of the city is one of the key principles the city-marketing of Heidelberg is following today. “I just want the city to remain as it is”, says Mathias Schiemer, CEO of Heidelberg Marketing. A special thing in Heidelberg is, that all touristic events as well as tourist offices are under being coordinated by Heidelberg Marketing. Schiemer and his team are building a future-oriented tourism strategy focusing on maintaining the key characteristics, the beauty of the city, which in 2025 has around 150.000 inhabitants. The CEO points out that for all tourist boards it is important to have a plan. Only if they are very conscious about what they are doing, will tourism be successful on a long-term perspective. In the past, big cities focused on making money out of tourism which in the case of Venedig or Barcelona turned into exploding overtourism causing problems for the city itself.

“Everyone knows Heidelberg by name”

In the case of Heidelberg, Schiemer points out that tourists are still popular among locals as there is no overtourism. The incomes gained by tourism are being invested in the infrastructure of the city which would improve the quality of life also for residents. Thanks to the tourists, the city can be maintained as clean and well organized as it is.

“We have a castle, the historical oldtown, a river, a mountain on its left side, another mountain on its right and in the middle of it all there is the historical oldtown”, Schiemer describes his hometown, “this makes it beautiful, but there is also a limited space for visitors”. Heidelberghas an enormous power in attracting tourists from all around the world during the whole year:
“There is no nation, Heidelberg is not attracted by. People come from Arabic countries, from Thailand, Brazil and South America, North America, they come from everywhere.” It seems that a city doesn’t have to be big in order to be famous.

Accompanied by history, we step into the future.

Building an infrastructure adapted to the residents’ and tourists’ needs is one of the challenges the city is about to face. Busses are the most sustainable way of transport, but there is no central bus parking in Heidelberg. Thus, there are many bus stops throughout the city. Schiemer is currently trying to get his plans about a bus parking area put into practice. At this point two sides of sustainability collide because associations of natural preservation insist on using free fields for planting trees while a sustainable city needs a suitable infrastructure for sustainable transportation. Still, Heidelberg can absolutely be taken as a role model in terms of sustainability. Since 2023 they avoid paper brochures: At international fairs as well as in the local tourist offices, they instead go with QR codes and focus on a further development of their online presence.

Another part of sustainability is regionalism – do you remember the origin of the last Glühwein you had? If you had it in Heidelberg, you probably know. However, mostly we just drink it, without thinking about where its origin. “At the Christmas Markets in Heidelberg, we know where the Glühwein comes from”, Mathias Schiemer proudly points out, “85% are planted in the wine regions nearby, the other 15% come from further surrounding regions”.

Let’s talk with each other.

For exchanging forward-thinking ideas as well as challenges and possible solutions about how to form the future of tourism, Heidelberg Marketing works together with tourist boards from around the world, especially within Europe. Schiemer appreciates the insights into other country’s tourism. However, he also sees boundaries in working together with other nations, for instance when life in their countries doesn’t align with our approach to practicing human rights.

In an academic article about sustainable tourism published in the book Stadtmarketing by Springer Nature in 2019, Schiemer makes clear that city marketing rather must serve as a mediator than a promotor. Their work should no longer be motivated on the amount of tourists and the money they bring into the city. Instead, he sees city-marketing as responsible for taking into consideration tourists’ concerns and at the same time listens to the local residents’ voices – both sides need to be taken seriously. “At a certain level of adaptation, the question of authenticity almost inevitably follows”, he states, meaning that: Trying to attract more and more tourists by changing and adding adjusting a place to something else, which it hasn’t been before, the place would lose its characteristic flair. And isn’t it that flair that really attracts travelers with heart?