Travemünde Through a Frame-by-Frame Perspective

Lying on the Baltic coast of Germany, Travemünde is a borough of the City of Lübeck, the center of which is just a short train ride away. Generally, Travemünde can be seen as a resort town for mostly domestic tourism. My family and I have visited this town almost every year of my life, either over summer or winter break, mainly because my grandparents live there, as well as other extended family in Lübeck. Having only seen Travemünde in intervals of a year, I feel that changes have seemed more highlighted to me. 

I remember that when I was younger, the beach and the park were much quieter, the town was inhabited mainly by older people and families, and it was much easier to find an open spot on the beach. One especially fond memory was that of a wooden pirate ship playground, which was my favorite spot to play, although mostly alone because none of the other kids there had seen an Asian person before, and therefore often avoided me. 

In fact, this was not a rare experience for me, my mother, and my sister. For context, my mom is Chinese and my dad is German. Experiencing racism from other kids on the playground was common, and the adults were simply better at hiding it, for they always assumed that I was not able to speak German. Nevertheless, I had been able to remain ignorant of this because I was young. This is also not true for all the people I have met, especially the older people, who were in fact kinder than the kids. Other than that, the walkability, presence of many playgrounds, and especially the food was what made Travemünde a memorable place for me.

I began to notice changes in the area when I visited in 2022 after the pandemic. When walking down the wide promenade, I realized it was much more crowded than before, with most people being teenagers or young adults. This change seemed to come into full force when I visited last summer, especially during Travemündewoche, a yearly week-long festival involving raves, food stands, and competitive sailing. I specifically remember the day before the festival, where the train to Travemünde was crammed full of teenagers who were either waiting to get drunk or already drunk. This large growth in population had led to some massive housing developments along the beachside as well as an influx of many immigrants from around the world to fill the labor gap that this increased population brought. The influx of immigrants could also be seen in the food stands that were put up during the festival, which included Mexican, Ethiopian, and Turkish food. 

Travemünde going from a hub for family tourism to one for party tourism certainly had benefits. Travemündewoche was a lot of fun, and the growth in the population of immigrants and the youth made me feel more accepted as an Asian person in the area. However, I also felt that the beachside had lost some of its charm, for after the festival ended, I remember the promenade and beach being covered with trash and empty bottles. It seems as though the town struggled to keep up with change, both causing and being caused by large-scale privatization of public areas and the expansion of Airbnb’s that now occupy houses that once held families, as is common with areas popular for tourism.

Travemündewoche at night

I would like to leave with a reflection on my own perspective and interactions with Travemünde. I find myself feeling both part of and separate from this place, having so many fond memories as if I grew up there, but at the same time realizing that in the end, I was always a tourist. Additionally, I cannot shake the fact that I seemed to be part of the changes I described earlier. I also have opinions on these changes that might not match those of the people who actually live in Travemünde, for I have yet to hear the perspectives of the families that lived there, the immigrants, and the younger partygoers. Therefore, I cannot conclusively say whether the changes I saw were generally positive or negative. Despite that, I believe that my frame-by-frame lifelong experience with Travemünde has shown me a lot about the effects of tourism on this town and therefore given me some valuable insights on the effects of tourism in many cities around the world.