Uniqueness of tea traditions and impacts on tourism: the East Frisian tea culture

What is it about?

Tea and its culture is a strong motive and very successful theme for initializing tourism as it has a positive connotation and is linked to cosy ceremonies and authentic events. Furthermore, the award “intangible cultural heritage” for the East Frisian tea culture was a great success of joint activities of tourism, retail, culture, politics and lodging providers. The consciousness regarding this region in the Northwest of Germany got highlighted due to this unique ceremonial consumption tradition of tea, although regarding the numbers of guests the effects have been cautious till date. The brand awareness of the destination as the “tea destination” of Germany got stronger and typical tea-related events have been offered in the villages and cities in East Frisia in order to underline this branding and the awareness of the original “East Frisian Tea Ceremony”. Not only for tourists, but also for new inhabitants this ceremony is used to make them familiar with the customs of this region. This focus on “tea” as a connecting regional brand for authentic touristic services and products has developed the “East Frisian Tea Ceremony” as a regional social and economic anchor and element of loyalization for the tourism industry. As the people are committed intensively to their region and their tea culture it has the potential for establishing East Frisia as the unique region for Tea Tourism in the middle of Europe.

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