Culture & tourism

With the project, we wanted the students and teachers from both countries to gain a thorough insight into how we work with culture and tourism as well as knowledge of the school systems in the res...

With the project, we wanted the students and teachers from both countries to gain a thorough insight into how we work with culture and tourism as well as knowledge of the school systems in the respective schools. Prior to the visits to Austria and Denmark, the teachers involved worked on topics related to tourism in both countries. In Denmark, the students worked in German lessons on researching and explaining cultural, social and business conditions - partly to familiarize themselves with Austrian conditions, but also to practice speaking German. Some role-plays were prepared where students had to work on dialogs about how to behave in a restaurant visit situation. In International Economics, they focused on how tourism affects the general economic development from a social economic aspect. Prior to the visit to Denmark, the Austrian students had familiarized themselves with tourism in Copenhagen and had prepared a thorough presentation of the culture and tourism in Austria and especially in their area around Hartberg.

In November 2023, 27 students and 2 teachers participated in a visit to Hartberg, based on the history of the city of Hartberg, ending with a guided city walk. In addition to local history and visits to cultural buildings and sights, various visits to local food producers were organized. The Danish students got a good and broad insight into Austrian gastronomy with tastings of gingerbread, visits to the famous chocolate factory Zotter Schokolade and the winery Bucshenschank Ziaglepeter. In December 2024, 13 students and 2 teachers participated in a visit to Nykøbing Falster, where the focal point was local tourism and how they work with tourism in the area. Among other things, this was accomplished with a visit from the director of Visit Lolland Falster, Lindy Kjøller, who talked about how they work to make the local population aware that we must learn to both live off and live with tourists. Tourism is growing on Lolland Falster because we do a lot for the green transition in the form of production and installation of wind turbines and solar panels, and our work with power to x. We talked also about what happen when the tunnel between Germany and Denmark will open for the hole tourism in Denmark and Europe.

Both activities have given the participants a good insight into the respective countries' cultures and their work with tourism. For the Danish students, they also got to work on their language skills. Only English was spoken when the Austrian students were in Denmark. Several of the students who visited Hartberg have made new friendships and are still in contact with each other. Due to the timing of the visit to Denmark, there were no Danish students involved in the visit. However, both schools have a continued desire to cooperate and would like to continue sending classes on study visits to each other. The activities also gave insight into the differences in tourism in the two countries. In Denmark, there is no winter tourism like in Austria, as tourist sites and many restaurants are closed during the winter months. The high season is from April to October, with peak season in June - August. The Austrian students had no knowledge of Danish food culture, and became acquainted with Christmas traditions of æbleskiver and Ris ala Mande.