Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern exists because the Baltic Sea exists—and because post-reunification decline paradoxically preserved landscapes that now anchor Germany's tourism economy. Germany's least densely populated state (69 people/km²) lost 100,000+ residents to westward migration since 1990, yet this demographic drain created an ecological succession: abandoned industrial sites became nature reserves, depopulated coastlines became pristine beaches, and crumbling Hanseatic architecture became heritage tourism destinations. The Hanse Sail Rostock, Eastern Germany's largest maritime festival, draws one million visitors annually to watch hundreds of tall ships—a spectacle possible only because commercial shipping declined. Warnemünde transformed from fishing village to Germany's largest cruise ship harbor, processing over 200 vessels annually. Yet vulnerability persists: MV Werften's 2022 bankruptcy cost 1,200 shipyard jobs when pandemic-driven cruise collapse exposed the sector's fragility, forcing the state to acquire the Rostock yard for €210 million for naval conversion. The 2024 MV Baltic Sea Strategy attempts strategic repositioning, targeting offshore wind leadership and green hydrogen infrastructure to reduce tourism monoculture. Rostock (210,000 residents) remains Northern Germany's second maritime hub after Hamburg, its university providing 15% of the city's workforce in a knowledge economy hedge against demographic aging.