HOELZ CONSULTING

The discussion about sustainability has accompanied me 22 years now. The journey of becoming aware of the need for a global, equitable economy as well as the realization of the limits of growth started with reading the Brandt Report and a personal encounter with Nelson Mandela in 2002, which led to my doing an internship in the Kruger National Park with a focus on “Sustainability Awareness Building”. At the end of my stay in South Africa, I had the opportunity to spend a few days at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. It was a profoundly impressive experience that continues to have a significant impact on me to this day.

After studying political science, comparative religion and public law at the University of Heidelberg, I completed my PhD in political science in 2012 on the topic of sustainable development in connection with Luhmann’s systems theory. The topics and perspectives I dealt with in my PhD at that time are also the two pillars on which HOELZ CONSULTING is based: systemic and sustainable.

Since 2019, with my company HOELZ CONSULTING, I have been supporting and assisting national, state, and regional tourism associations as well as tourism-related organizations throughout the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Tyrol) in developing a sustainability path through workshops, lectures, complete process support steps, and/or scientific input for the creation of guidelines and strategies.

As a systemic coach and organizational facilitator, I have been providing support since 2019 for individual needs and questions in one-on-one coaching sessions. A lot revolves around the question of how to find one’s rightful place within an organization, from which one can act meaningfully and effectively.

Since 2020, I have been assisting tourism businesses (hotels, leisure facilities, mountain railways) throughout Austria in independently and successfully pursuing certification from the Austrian Eco-Label or Green Destinations.

As the first and only GSTC trainer in Austria, I have been teaching the internationally renowned GSTC course “Sustainability and Tourism” since 2021, as either a “customized version” or as “public training” globally, including for prestigious organizations such as the GIZ, Österreich Werbung, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy, or IDM South Tyrol.

Since 2022, I have been working throughout the DACH region as an internationally recognized auditor for destination and business certifications by Green Destinations and the Austrian Eco-Label.

From 2019 to 2024, I had the privilege of supporting the team of Wagrain-Kleinarl Tourism as a LEADER project manager. Together, we developed a sustainability process in line with GSTC guidelines. A notable achievement was attaining the Green Destinations certification for Wagrain-Kleinarl in September 2022 – a first in the Alpine region. Additionally, I closely supported Wagrain-Kleinarl in obtaining the Austrian Eco-Label in 2023. Our joint effort to initiate sustainable changes in the region is reflected not only in the various projects and structures of Wagrain-Kleinarl but also in the numerous awards that have recognized this work.

Before establishing HOELZ CONSULTING, I worked as a sustainability officer and the first EMAS representative at Furtwangen University (2012 to 2018), implementing regional sustainability projects, leading the university to its first EMAS certification, primarily authoring the university’s first sustainability report, and helping to establish the “RCE South Black Forest” of the United Nations. At the Baden-Württemberg level, I actively promoted the exchange between sustainability officers by founding the “MiNe Network” (2013). Furthermore, I taught sustainability reporting and systematically familiarized myself with the European funding landscape. During my stay at the TERI Research Center (The Energy and Resources Institute) in New Delhi (2006) with Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (then Chairman of the IPCC), I gained a deeper understanding of what sustainable development can encompass. In my academic year at the Center for Societal Progress e.V. in Frankfurt (2010), I was able to gain a broad insight into the German sustainability discourse through a project with the Bertelsmann Foundation.

In addition to my studies, doctorate and profession, I have consciously developed my skills further. Since the end of 2021, I am the first and only GSTC-trainer in Austria, who is allowed to teach the basic training “Sustainable Tourism” in German. Of course, I also went through this training myself as a student. This training and especially my experience as a GSTC-trainer complements my previous experience and trainings in order to approach sustainability in the context of tourism structures even better and to offer my clients an optimal portfolio.

In addition, I am an approved Auditor. I have undergone many trainings in that area and have been allowed to accompany several audits (so called “shadow audits”) with the environmental management system of “EMAS” and at destination- and business-level with the sustainability systems of Green Destinations and Austrian Eco Label (österreichisches Umweltzeichen). Last but not least, I am an approved auditor for ISO 14001 and ISO 19011. These over years gained experienced “auditor’s view” is an important part for my consultancy work. My consulting activity is enriched by the experience as an auditor and vice versa.

The training as Master “Neuro-Linguistic-Programming” (NLP) (2010) as well as the training as “System Analyst and System Setter in Organizations (DGfS)” (one could also translate it with “system facilitation”) with Dr. Friedrich Assländer (2017) and Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Christ (2013) have sharpened my view for systemic inter-actions and connections on all levels and is an integrative part of my thinking and working style. These trainings have contributed a lot to my problem-solving ability and my readiness for networked thinking and cooperative work.

Since 2018, HOELZ CONSULTING combines two passions into a sustainable project: alpine tourism that I’ve loved since childhood and sustainability. The challenges tourism has to face in terms of sustainability are manifold. However, the current pandemic years of 2020/21 in the tourism industry act as a crystallization point for sustainability insights and needs. Properly used, this phase can be an inspiring and forward-looking blueprint for truly reconciling sustainability and tourism. Therefore, one of the central, current questions (which, by the way, the sustainability discourse has been asking for a long time, but is now all the more urgent for all tourism businesses and destinations) is:  How can we live a sustainable, future-proof and healthy tourism that is “sustainable” for locals as well as for resident businesses, for tourists and for nature?

In the practical answer to this question HOELZ CONSULTING provides support with its experience, competence and knowledge. Sustainability is translated here in the first step in four categories, which have to be build up through the respective institution or organization:  (1) Sustainable Management (2) Socio-economic sustainability (3)  Cultural sustainability (4) Environmental sustainability.

Sustainability, to me, is a holistic path. I view and use certification catalogs and audit systems as a form of assistance, and together, they ideally form a process that involves profound, internal change.