When I was in the process of finding my research topic and narrowing down what I wanted to write about, I was talking to my mom at some point about the idea of covering sustainable travel and wanting to document the issue. During this call I mentioned how I would love to help showcase a solution to overtourism, but that I did not see myself as capable enough to be the one to actually come up with a solution by myself. That was when my mom said “Why don’t you ask Christoph?”. Now, you have to know, Christoph is the dad of one of my former classmates. Their family lives in the same small and quiet Upper Austrian town I am from, where everyone knows everyone. So, naturally my mom also knows Christoph and what he does for a living. But what is it that he does? Well, he happens to be the founder and leader of a travel agency called “Weltanschauen”.
“Weltanschauen” is focused on sustainable as well as socially and culturally responsible travel, so actually the perfect fit for the topic I was exploring. I’ll be honest, when my mom mentioned Christoph I was kind of embarrassed that I didn’t immediately think of his company myself.
But I guess that, even at 24, moms do still save the day from time to time.
The Setting
But let’s go back to the beginning. What exactly does “Weltanschauen” do and how did it come to be that among all places in Austria, “Gallneukirchen” was the one to start a movement towards a more responsible tourism. I first have to brag just a little bit and mention that unlike other small, rural Austrian towns, my hometown has been quite open minded, inclusive and environmentally conscious ever since I can remember. This also means that there is quite a substantial target group for sustainable tourism in the travel agency’s immediate vicinity.
The Founder
Christoph Mülleder was working at Caritas when they started offering group travels to areas which they support in the form of different social projects. During these travels the main focus was on visiting projects and getting to know the people they helped, but there was of course also always time for a bit of sightseeing an being tourists in the classical sense. These journeys were organized by Christoph, who with his acquired knowledge and his background in economics as well as humanitarian aid, took the leap in 2012 of founding his own company, “Weltanschauen”.
The Company’s Spirit
“Weltanschauen” aims to create opportunities for interaction and exchange with people in social and economical hotspots. This provides insights reaching the core of a society and culture which go beyond the usually highly polished tourist experiences. Challenges and struggles of the respective society provide visitors with a better understanding of the country they are traveling to. Additionally, journeys planned by “Weltanschauen” also include visits to social aid projects and a heavy focus on sustainability and environmental issues in the host country. The agency aims to show visitors the clear connection between environmental and socio-economical justice.
Every journey organized by “Weltanschauen” is joined by one Austrian guide with extensive knowledge on the host country and one local guide, leading the tour.
The company states its is to show travelers a multi-facetted version of the country they travel to, showcasing all of its beauty without having to hide the unpolished, imperfect parts or looking away from social hardships. It aims to educate travelers by showing them, raw and unfiltered, how others live their lives and also how our actions and choices can influence social as well as ecological issues. The hope is that through raising awareness while traveling, people also start to see their responsibility to live sustainably in their daily lives.
The Team
“Weltanschauen” works with multiple Austrian as well as international travel guides and tourism experts as well as various different agencies and NGOs focused on sustainable travel. The travel agency also still works together with Caritas, organizing journeys to their partners and social aid projects once or twice a year.
The Outlook for my Project
I have already talked to Christoph about a possible cooperation for my master project and he seemed almost as enthusiastic as myself. We talked about the possibility to create a short documentary movie about sustainable and responsible travel, visualized on the example of one of his travel agency’s journeys. As the execution of the master project is still in the far future, there is still a lot that can change or come up, but in general I would be really excited about the idea of getting to document the process of planning and executing a sustainable journey to places one might not get to see as a standard tourist. I am hoping that documenting and sharing this with a larger audience can lead to some of the documentary’s viewers to reflect on their travel behavior and maybe implement some of the learnings I might have into their future holiday planning.
(Weltanschauen, 2025)
Literature
- Weltanschauen Website –
https://www.weltanschauen.at/weltanschauen-shop/shop/content/philosophie/geschichte
