Burkhard Herbote lives and works in Beckum, Germany (https://www.muensterland.com/tourismus/orte-muensterland/orte-staedte-im-muensterland/beckum-tourismus/) a small city in the heart of the German region of Westphalia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalia).
Since the 80s he has been well-known as an international „information authority“. He operates a huge network of information contacts and correspondents around the globe.
His main specializations are travel and tourism, tourism administration and politics, sustainable and responsible travel and tourism, aviation, hospitality and tourism media. He is also interested in German international relations, worldwide diplomatic relations, cultural exchanges, foreign trade, sustainability, development, human rights, ‚third world‘, migration and integration issues.
His many years of experience in intercultural communication, geopolitical and geostrategical analysis, and his numerous contacts in the aforementioned areas around the globe, even in the smalles countries, qualify him as an expert in building international networks.
As a member of several travel, tourism, cultural and bi-national associations, Herbote writes regularly for German magazines and newspapers and makes frequent guest appearances on German radio.
Burkhard Herbote began his career in the early 80s, while still a student, by acquiring volumes of information on far-away places. During this time he attended the College of Economics in Ahlen (www.berufskolleg-ahlen.de) and worked for Krupp-Polysius AG (today ThyssenKrupp Polysius), in Beckum on international sales of cement plants (https://www.thyssenkrupp-polysius.de).
Today, his work is recognized as one of the world’s best collections of travel and tourism data, with an unique sensitivity to the world’s diverse cultures. A considerable part of Herbote’s archive, particularity that covering lesser-known destinations, is not available from any other source.
Burkhard Herbote used to be Founding Trustee of the World Tourism Foundation (Charlottesville, Virginia) and has served as a Special Consultant to the UN-funded World Tourism Organization (www.unwto.org).
Until 1999 his main work was the World Tourism Directory, published by the German academic publisher K.G. Saur Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._G._Saur_Verlag) in Munich, Germany.
This tourism industry reference publication was first published 1991 as the Worldwide Travel Information Contact Book by Gale Research Inc. (www.gale.com), Detroit, a well known U.S. publisher of research and scientific works.
Since 2001 the Africa Travel & Tourism Directory (2nd edition 2003) used to be available in cooperation with the British publisher World of Information, Cambridge, and the World Travel & Tourism Council (www.wttc.org).
The data collection of the World Tourism Directory remains the most comprehensive directory ever published, covering the tourism administration and industry associations and organizations of all states and territories worldwide.
Burkhard Herbote is also author of the Handbuch für deutsch-internationale Beziehungen (Handbook of German-International Relations), also published by K.G.Saur Verlag, today De Gruyter (www.degruyter.com/browse?publisher=KGS), in Munich in association with the German Institute of Foreign Relations (www.ifa.de) in Stuttgart and the German Overseas Institute in Hamburg (Deutsches Übersee-Institut DUEI, today GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, www.giga-hamburg.de). This directory lists all relevant information and contact points from politics, diplomacy, business, finance, culture, media, education, research, travel, tourism, integration, human rights, environmental protection, bilateral associations and all important sectors of the civil society, sorted by country and topic.
From 2004 his publications could be found online at www.worldtourismdirectory.com and www.laenderkontakte.de – Directory of German International Relations (Verzeichnis der deutsch-internationalen Beziehungen). The databases with a total of approx. 180,000 entries are currently not online. New database structures are being worked on and discussions are being held with potential publishing partners and online marketing agencies.)
His intention is to help launch an international umbrella organization fort he travel and tourism industry, supporting the private sector, which altogether represent the world’largest employer – an „International Chamber of Travel & Tourism, (www.ictt.travel) as well further initiatives to establish other necessary organizations such as an „International Travel & Tourism Industry Court“, an „International Travel & Tourism Development Bank“, an „International Association for Peace through Travel and Tourism“.
Burkhard Herbote also provides international information and networking consulting through Herbote Research International, is member of the advisory board of the International Intitute for Peace through Tourism (www.peacetourism.org) and consultant international affairs of WATA World Association of Travel Agencies (www.wata-dmc.net).
In 2023, Burkhard Herbote was awarded the title „Tourism Hero“ by the World Tourism Network (WTN) for the known but especialy for numerous initiatives he initiated in the backstage. (https://heroes.travel/2023/03/02/516/)
In his spare time he uses his skills in intercultural communication and his knowledge in international politics and serves voluntarily as “integration guide” (Integrationslotse) in his home town in charge to support the integration of refugees and foreigners in general. He also writes short stories (German), especially but not only for children, with a large pinch of humor, as well as stories that touch the heart. Since the development of reference works is rather dry, technical work, but because of international networking there were of course some interesting, nice, sometimes funny, sometimes sad encounters and stories, one of his projects is to write down these stories. Read here soon …
In between he loves the pleasant environment of friends or to walk and relax on the German North Sea Coast (www.die-nordsee.de).
