Foresight and Innovation Project for Berlin's Visitor Economy
visitBerlin analyses trends with partners and researches possible futures for the visitor economy
Berlin, March 2025 Berlin is setting an example for the future and making Berlin's tourism industry fit for the times ahead through strategic foresight: as part of a restart programme funded by the Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises, visitBerlin is collaborating closely with two experienced agencies specialising in foresight and innovation management. Together, they analyse trends and explore possible futures and their implications to proactively design the future of Berlin's Visitor Economy.
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Our goal is to work hand in hand with all stakeholders from the tourism and events industry to help shape a city worth living in. To do so, it’s essential to anticipate future developments and prepare for emerging scenarios. This approach enables us to identify opportunities for Berlin’s visitor economy early on—and to actively shape a positive future.
The “Think Tank Future”: A Space for Critical Thinking and Innovation
A central aspect of this project is the active participation and collaboration with Berlin’s tourism partners. Through a systematic and participatory process, relevant developments are identified, their interdependencies analysed, and concrete conclusions drawn within the framework of the “Think Tank Future.” The Think Tank serves as a platform for critical thinking, analysis, and discussion. Here, alternative futures are developed that form the foundation for defining innovation goals. The goal is to create a space where new ideas can emerge and the Berlin Visitor Economy is equipped for the future. This process enables a holistic understanding of future requirements, opens up opportunity spaces, and fosters the creation of a desirable future.
Members of the Think Tank include, alongside visitBerlin, representatives from the Berlin Event Network, DEHOGA Berlin, INTOURA, visitBerlin Partnerhotels e.V., the Clubcommission Berlin, and the Berlin Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises.
Strategic Foresight & a Participatory Approach for a Desirable Future
Strategic foresight opens up new spaces of possibility and reveals pathways for future value creation and strategic options for action. This process enables us to prepare for future opportunities and challenges, and to proactively shape a desirable future.
The Think Tank Future promotes analysis and dialogue to identify key future challenges and derive specific needs for action as well as innovation fields and goals for the sector.
The accompanying stakeholder workshops create a space for dialogue and hands-on collaboration. Interested stakeholders from the industry are invited to actively contribute to the foresight process, help shape key content, and share their perspectives in the development of trends and possible future scenarios for Berlin’s visitor economy. The results generated during these workshops feed directly into the ongoing project and serve as an important basis for deriving strategic options for action.
In Summary: Future-Proofing Berlin’s Visitor Economy through Strategic Foresight
This project lays the foundation for making Berlin’s Visitor Economy future-proof and sustainable in the long term. It enables us to anticipate future changes and actively harness opportunities - strengthening Berlin’s position as a leading and sustainable destination.
Upcoming Event
- 9 July 2025 – You are warmly invited!
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Key Terms in the Context of Futures Thinking
Strategic Foresight
Strategic foresight is a structured approach to exploring possible futures. The aim is not to predict a single future, but rather to examine multiple potential future scenarios. This process helps organisations prepare for uncertainties, risks, and opportunities – and empowers them to shape the future proactively.
Trend
A trend is a development or change that emerges over time and points to potential future shifts. In strategic foresight, trends help us identify recurring patterns or movements in areas such as society, technology, economy, and the environment that are likely to have long-term impact. Understanding trends helps to prepare for possible futures and to make more informed strategic decisions.
Future Scenarios
Scenarios are specific descriptions or representations of possible futures. They are based on assumptions about trends and influencing factors that could shape the future and offer tangible illustrations of what the future might look like under certain conditions. Scenarios can take various forms—such as narrative texts, visualisations, or videos—and help create concrete and comprehensible visions of potential developments, enabling better preparation for different eventualities.
Futures
The term is often used in the plural form as there is no single, predetermined future from today’s perspective. Instead, there are multiple possible futures—each dependent on how certain trends and events unfold. In strategic foresight, the concept of 'futures' helps explore a range of scenarios and enables early identification of opportunities and risks.
Your contact
Review of Our First Workshop
On 9 December 2024, our first stakeholder workshop took place as part of the foresight and innovation project for Berlin’s Visitor Economy. Together with representatives from the tourism and events industry as well as expert contributors, we discussed and assessed relevant trends and began exploring possible futures.
A heartfelt thank you to all participants who enriched the discussions with their expertise and perspectives—and made this process possible in the first place.
The presentation provided below was delivered by our project partner 4strat (Dr. Birthe Menke) and offers an overview of the workshop, including an introduction to the concept of strategic foresight.
Review of Our Second Workshop
On 8 April 2025, the second stakeholder workshop took place. Together with representatives from Berlin’s tourism and event sector, we developed, discussed, and evaluated initial explorative scenarios—an important step toward realistic and optimistic visions for the future of Berlin’s Visitor Economy.
Many thanks to all participants who enriched the workshop with their openness, creativity, and expertise—and who actively shaped this participatory process.
The presentation shared below was delivered by our project partners 4strat (Dr. Birthe Menke) and dwif (Elena Schmidt). It provides an overview of the project, an introduction to strategic foresight and the concept of future scenarios as well as a recap of the workshop’s content.
