More about the writers

Mr. Burkhard Herbote / Germany

Burkhard Herbote was born in 1965 in Beckum Germany. Industrial Management Assistant Marketing and Sales (Export) is his initial profession. Burkhard started creating an archive with “not easy to reach” destinations in the 80s.

Burkhard started creating the first global “guide to the guides of tourism and country information”, the Worldwide Travel Information Contact Book. Subsequently, the title was changed to the World Tourism Directory. Further he is editor the Directory of German International Relations (Handbuch für deutsch-internationale Beziehungen).

Since 1983 he has been a trade visitor of the annual International Tourism Exchange in Berlin (ITB). His publications or websites were called the “Bible of Tourism” or commented on, like “Why are we still googling when it is easy to find everything with you?” The last editions of the hard copy publication have been co-published with the UN World Tourism Organization and the World Travel & Tourism Council. The CEO of Delta Check who has offered data for more than 2.3 million hotels for 30 years, stated structure and quality of the entries of the World Tourism Directory is among the three best international directories worldwide. “Highly respected; he knows exactly what he is talking about.”

Burkhard Herbote is also with the Advisory Board of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism, Consultant on International Affairs of the World Association of Travel Agencies (WATA-DMC), Board Member of the World Tourism Network (WTN), and German representative of the World Institute for Peace (WIP) and the International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP).

Because of his special focus on climate-friendly travel and sustainability he is a close partner of International Climate & Tourism Partners (ICTP) and the Strong Universal Network, SUNx – TheSUNProgram.com, named after Maurice Strong the father of the UN Environment Program, the World Climate Conferences/Earth Summits/COP.

Burkhard works with passion, love, competence in research, data quality, a view for accuracy and details, and a view of the big picture simultaneously. His work is not just about knowing about correct data structures of addresses, phone numbers, geography, and international politics; the real work is bridging cultures, cross-cultural communication, and intercultural competence to be able to get access to information sources, which also in the tech age, finally are human beings.

In addition to his official work, he has been active voluntarily in intercultural exchange, interreligious dialogue, and refugee aid for many years.