Communicating nature – entertaining and educational

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Added value through nature education

Communicating nature is the latest trend in tourism!
People have never been more interested in the wonders of nature and the threats posed by climate change.

Here we reveal what you should look out for if you want to convey nature in an entertaining and educational way:

Product Development

Tourist offers communicating nature should meet the same criteria as other offers for leisure travelers.

This means defining target groups (children, generation 50+, etc.), selecting themes, finding partners and, of course, designing the “product” and then marketing it. This can be a theme trail, a tour to direct marketers, information signs, websites or audio guides, and the like.

Themed tours with a personal guide are especially popular for communicating nature. We recommend developing tours with different durations and different focuses. It is very important to market these tours actively and that they can be booked online!

Zwergenhaus im Wald _ Naturvermittlung für Kinder

Communicating nature for children: Naturpark NÖ Eisenwurzen

Exciting and interactive

Experiencing nature is very popular with young and old. And hiking, Nordic walking and cycling are more popular than ever too!

Because more and more people are interested in flora, fauna, geology, history, customs and regional products at their vacation destination.
But long, scientific texts in small print on information boards have long been outdated and are therefore unpopular.
Guests young and old want to learn in a playful and entertaining way.
That’s why “hands-on projects” have proven to be a very good way to convey nature.
These can be, for example, barefoot or Kneipp trails or simple climbing exercises.

A particularly good example of value creation through the development of interactive nature experiences is the Geodorf Gams in Austria:

In the Nothklamm gorge there, you find not only a 700-meter-long climbing facility, but also geological excavation sites for children.
There are “treasures” buried at each search site. The appropriate geologist’s hammer is available at the cash desk.

In the geo-workshop you can cut and identify the stones you have collected yourself and turn them into jewelry.
Finally, the nearby ParkBad offers welcome cooling.

Hände zeigen Schnittflächen von Steinen - Älsterer Mann schneidet Steine mit Maschine _ interaktives Natur vermitteln

Interactively communicating nature: Geology to join in – collecting, cutting and determining. Foto @ Stefan Leitner/Stefanleitner.com

Digital helpers

If you want to convey nature and encourage participation, you should look for suitable digital solutions.

They are very helpful to develop interactive offers with added value, e.g.:

Apps to identify bird calls, animal tracks, butterflies, flowers or mushrooms.
A photo trophy hunt in which given plants and animals have to be photographed.
Magnifying glass, binoculars and compass or geo-caching for an exciting treasure hunt.
An offline audio guide for exciting stories directly on site.

Always make sure that these digital solutions also work offline, because in the wild there is often no reception!