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.

Sustainable tourism’s endless balancing act: Preserving, promoting Ras Al Khaimah

February 16, 2021

Abseiling in Ras Al Khaimah. Source: Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority

The new year is an oppor­tun­ity to reflect on the val­ues that mat­ter to the travel & tour­ism industry even after the pan­dem­ic ends, accord­ing to Raki Phil­lips of the Ras Al Khaimah Tour­ism Devel­op­ment Author­ity. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Mr Phil­lips explains how the Emir­ate is embed­ding sus­tain­ab­il­ity into everything it does. Let me […]

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Engaged in green: Crowne Plaza Vientiane, Laos


Crowne Plaza Vientiane, subject of a Sustainable Tourism Laos Showcase by "Good Tourism" Partner We Are Lao.

The first Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Laos Show­case by “GT” Des­tin­a­tion Part­ner WeAre­Lao asks: “How does IHG imple­ment its strict Green Engage glob­al guidelines in Laos?”  “It’s hard work to get to where we want to go,” said Crowne Plaza Vien­tiane Gen­er­al Man­ager Pat­ria Puyat, “but it can be done.” “Sus­tain­ab­il­ity is the right thing to do,” Ms Puyat said. […]

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Host communities are at the core of tomorrow’s sustainable tourism

January 28, 2021

Baan Talae Nok, Andaman Coast, southern Thailand

The post-pan­­dem­ic future of travel & tour­ism will be more com­munity-based than it has been, accord­ing to sus­tain­able tour­ism expert Eva Moss­berg. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Ms Moss­berg points to the vil­lage of Baan Talae Nok in south­ern Thai­l­and for an example of how and why. “Humans are not per­fect decision makers. Not only are […]

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Should it all be ecotourism? Reimagining travel & tourism in 2021

January 7, 2021
One Comment

Image from Edgewalkers' Boranup Walking Retreat in Margaret River, Western Australia. Source: https://edgewalkers.com.au/walking-creativity-retreat

While road-trip­ping across West­ern Aus­tralia in 2020, Erika Jac­ob­son of boutique eco-tour out­fit Edge­walk­ers “reima­gined” what travel & tour­ism might be like in 2021 if all stake­hold­ers were of like mind. Dr Jac­ob­son encour­ages us to reima­gine with her in this “Good Tour­ism” Insight. Cer­tain that we would not be tak­ing our guests over­seas in […]

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The five most visited “Good Tourism” posts of 2020 (& all time)

December 31, 2020
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Five! Image by yohoprashant (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/colorful-five-fingers-kid-fingers-4043742/

I jot down this irrel­ev­ant pre­amble on Decem­ber 31, 2020 … Most of the past 364 days have been ter­ribly tough for many, of course, espe­cially travel & tour­ism folk. Can­’t say much more about it than every per­son and their pet has already said — “Good rid­dance 2020 … Hope 2021 is bet­ter … blah blah […]

Read More The five most visited “Good Tourism” posts of 2020 (& all time)

Why build well-being into destination resilience and tourism recovery?


Why build well being into destination resilience and recovery

Much has been writ­ten about includ­ing host com­munit­ies in des­tin­a­tion man­age­ment and tour­ism devel­op­ment decision-mak­ing, but how would one go about meas­ur­ing con­tent­ment, well-being, or even hap­pi­ness, on an ongo­ing basis? In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Paul Rogers of “GT” Insight Part­ner Plan­et Hap­pi­ness presents a solu­tion.  Pri­or to the onset of the COVID-19 global […]

Read More Why build well-being into destination resilience and tourism recovery?