Sustainable tourism and regenerative tourism

Scroll down for posts that have been tagged with “sus­tain­able tour­ism and regen­er­at­ive tourism”.

Sus­tain­able tour­ism “takes full account of its cur­rent and future eco­nom­ic, social and envir­on­ment­al impacts, address­ing the needs of vis­it­ors, the industry, the envir­on­ment and host com­munit­ies”, accord­ing to the United Nations World Tour­ism Organ­iz­a­tion (UNWTO)Regen­er­at­ive tour­ism chal­lenges and/or extends the concept of sus­tain­able tourism.

The con­cepts of sus­tain­able tour­ism and regen­er­at­ive tour­ism have emerged as a response to the neg­at­ive impacts that tour­ism can have on the envir­on­ment, eco­nomy, and society.

The 1987 Report of the World Com­mis­sion on Envir­on­ment and Devel­op­ment, also known as the Brundtland Report, defined sus­tain­able devel­op­ment as “devel­op­ment that meets the needs of the present without com­prom­ising the abil­ity of future gen­er­a­tions to meet their own needs.”

This idea was later applied to tour­ism. The concept of sus­tain­able tour­ism was born to ensure that tour­ism activ­it­ies are car­ried out in a way that does not deplete nat­ur­al resources or harm loc­al communities.

Regen­er­at­ive tour­ism is a more recent devel­op­ment. It builds upon the prin­ciples of sus­tain­able tour­ism, but goes fur­ther by striv­ing to cre­ate pos­it­ive impact on the envir­on­ment, eco­nomy, and society.

Accord­ing to the book Regen­er­at­ive Tour­ism: Prin­ciples, prac­tices and implic­a­tions by Paul Peeters and Peter Neuwirth, the term ‘regen­er­at­ive tour­ism’ was first intro­duced in 2012. The authors define regen­er­at­ive tour­ism as a “hol­ist­ic approach to tour­ism devel­op­ment that seeks to cre­ate a pos­it­ive impact on the envir­on­ment, eco­nomy and soci­ety, and to regen­er­ate the des­tin­a­tions in which it operates”.

The United Nations World Tour­ism Organ­iz­a­tion (UNWTO) has played a key role in pro­mot­ing sus­tain­able tour­ism through the devel­op­ment of guidelines, policies, and best prac­tices, such as the UNWTO Glob­al Code of Eth­ics for Tour­ism (1999) and the UN Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals (2015)

It’s import­ant to note that these ref­er­ences are not exhaust­ive, as there are many oth­er sources of inform­a­tion on sus­tain­able tour­ism and regen­er­at­ive tour­ism, such as on The “Good Tour­ism” Blog.

At the end of a con­ver­sa­tion in August 2020 about the dif­fer­ences between sus­tain­able tour­ism and regen­er­at­ive tour­ism ― when asked to give the lift (elev­at­or) defin­i­tion of regen­er­at­ive tour­ism ― “Good Tour­ism” Friend Susanne Beck­on said: “Give back more than you take.”

At an eco­tour­ism con­fer­ence in Decem­ber 2020, Anna Pol­lock said there is a jour­ney we must all embark upon if the travel & tour­ism industry is to move from degen­er­at­ive busi­ness-as-usu­al to regen­er­at­ive flour­ish­ing and thriv­ing. The route, she reck­ons, is via notions of “green”, “sus­tain­able”, and “res­tor­at­ive” in that order.

Since August 2020 “GT” has used the same tag for both sus­tain­able tour­ism and regen­er­at­ive tour­ism. Tags are inform­al. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog tries not to get bogged down with ter­min­o­logy and defin­i­tions so you may dis­agree with tags applied (or not applied) to a post. Feel free to com­ment on the post. “GT” encour­ages good-faith debate and discussion.

The happiness factor: Social tourism is sustainable tourism

August 6, 2024

Social tourism, social good? Image by Guille Pozzi (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/silhouette-photo-of-woman-and-girl-on-shoreline-y1wVavuxZtE

Can ‘social tour­ism’ — char­ity- and/or tax­pay­er-sup­­por­ted hol­i­days — help alle­vi­ate stress in soci­ety and turn the travel & tour­ism industry’s off-sea­son frowns upside down?  Scott McCabe thinks so.  Pro­fess­or McCabe penned this “Good Tour­ism” Insight at the invit­a­tion of Tourism’s Hori­zon: Travel for the Mil­lions, a “GT” Insight Part­ner. Fam­ily hol­i­days: A fine time … Term-time hol­i­day fines were back in […]

Read More The happiness factor: Social tourism is sustainable tourism

Regenerative tourism’s myths and realities

June 11, 2024
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Regenerative tourism: Myth and reality. 'Regenerative Reliquary' stem cell image by Monika Robak (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/regenerative-reliquary-amy-karle-2744729/

Regen­er­at­ive tour­ism is great for des­tin­a­tions that choose to focus on it, and for the few who can afford it. But what about the rest of us? It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight by Jim Butcher. ‘Regen­er­at­ive’ is the latest eth­ic­al pre­fix to accom­pany ‘tour­ism’, fol­low­ing a well-worn path from ‘eco’, ‘sus­tain­able’, ‘green’, ‘com­munity’, ‘respons­ible’ et cetera. […]

Read More Regenerative tourism’s myths and realities

Prof Valeria Minghetti on peer review, overtourism, regenerative tourism, and how to succeed


Professor Valeria Minghetti: "[B]e curious. Never stop asking yourself questions. Curiosity and the desire to find solutions is what makes a difference ..."

“Nev­er stop ask­ing your­self ques­tions. Curi­os­ity and the desire to find solu­tions is what makes a dif­fer­ence,” accord­ing to Valer­ia Minghetti. Such an atti­tude will take young­sters a long way in travel & tour­ism, she reck­ons. And it must be redoubled at the very highest levels of aca­demia and industry. Saverio F Ber­to­lu­cci inter­viewed Prof Minghetti […]

Read More Prof Valeria Minghetti on peer review, overtourism, regenerative tourism, and how to succeed

Supporting ‘Bhutan Believe’: The SUSTOUR Bhutan story so far


Supporting 'Bhutan Believe'

Bhutan believes it is (or could be) the world’s green­est and most respons­ible travel des­tin­a­tion. The SUSTOUR Bhutan pro­ject, fun­ded by the European Uni­on under its SWITCH-Asia pro­gramme, is sup­port­ing Bhutan’s effort to real­ise this goal with a focus on sus­tain­able, inclus­ive, and resi­li­ent tour­ism devel­op­ment.  “The SUSTOUR pro­ject stands as a beacon of relevance […]

Read More Supporting ‘Bhutan Believe’: The SUSTOUR Bhutan story so far

For a sustainable Singapore, Green Destinations’ regional lead picks CRTS


For a sustainable Singapore, Green Destinations picks CRTS. Pic by Coleen Rivas (CC0) via Unsplash. "GT" added "GREEN Singapore". https://unsplash.com/photos/people-crossing-bridge-OZ2rS2zCjNo

Singapore’s private-sec­t­or tour­ism stake­hold­ers, from small- and medi­um-sized busi­nesses to glob­al brands, will increas­ingly pur­sue sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion over the com­ing years, accord­ing to Kev­in Phun, founder of the Centre for Respons­ible Tour­ism Singa­pore (CRTS). Mr Phun is more bullish about the oppor­tun­it­ies for a sus­tain­able Singa­pore since Susan San­tos de Cárde­n­as, Green Des­tin­a­tions’ South­east Asia […]

Read More For a sustainable Singapore, Green Destinations’ regional lead picks CRTS

Lasting Laos: Meet 20 certifiably-sustainable hotels and tour companies at ITB


Lasting Laos: Meet Laos' five 'exemplary' certifiably-sustainable tourism companies at ITB Berlin 2024

Travel agents and tour oper­at­ors seek­ing cer­ti­fi­ably-sus­tain­able ground con­tent in the peace­ful and beau­ti­ful emer­ging des­tin­a­tion of Laos can find exactly what they are look­ing for at ITB Ber­lin 2024: Last­ing Laos

Five exem­plary Lao tour­ism com­pan­ies are set to show­case their Trav­elife cer­ti­fic­a­tion, innov­at­ive spir­it, and com­mit­ment to sus­tain­ab­il­ity and sus­tain­able prac­tices at ITB.

Read More Lasting Laos: Meet 20 certifiably-sustainable hotels and tour companies at ITB