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.

EXO Foundation’s first Sustainability Awards support transformative tourism projects in Asia


EXO Foundation Sustainability Awards 2923

The EXO Found­a­tion, a non-profit organ­isa­tion sup­port­ing sus­tain­able tour­ism ini­ti­at­ives, held its first Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Awards cere­mony yes­ter­day (Septem­ber 28) on Zoom.  Prizes totalling US$40,000 in value were awar­ded to win­ners and run­­n­ers-up. The goal of the awards was to identi­fy, sup­port and pro­mote exem­plary pro­jects that seek to innov­ate sus­tain­ab­il­ity in Asia.  Alex­an­dra Michat, Chief Pur­pose Officer […]

Read More EXO Foundation’s first Sustainability Awards support transformative tourism projects in Asia

Can tackling tourism income leakage unlock a more sustainable future for tourism?

September 19, 2023

Can tackling tourism income leakage unlock a more sustainable future for tourism? Image by Steve Buissinne (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/plumbing-pipe-wrenches-plumber-840835/

‘Profit’, the much-maligned ‘P’ of sus­tain­ab­il­ity, is a strong incent­ive for people to save and invest for the future; seek out and con­serve what is of value; and rein­vest. Hoteli­er and entre­pren­eur Thomas Müller argues that tak­ing a close look at tour­ism income leak­age may prove … well, prof­it­able … wherever our industry is most problematic. 

Read More Can tackling tourism income leakage unlock a more sustainable future for tourism?

Indigenous tourism’s interest-action disparity reflects sustainable tourism’s ‘say-do gap’

August 15, 2023

Indigenous tourism’s interest-action disparity reflects sustainable tourism’s ‘say-do gap’. Image by Scott Umstattd (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/trYLgKiDsR8

Indi­gen­ous tour­ism has enorm­ous poten­tial as trav­el­lers’ expect­a­tions evolve, accord­ing to Alastair Naughton. Per­haps the biggest chal­lenge now is turn­ing interest in indi­gen­ous tour­ism exper­i­ences into invest­ment and book­ings. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.)

Read More Indigenous tourism’s interest-action disparity reflects sustainable tourism’s ‘say-do gap’

Souvenirs: Can three pieces of coral inspire tourism towards ocean regeneration?

July 4, 2023

Can travel & tourism contribute to ocean regeneration? Image by Vlad Tchompalov (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/ZEpxoNzKfcc

Three pieces of cor­al, and the memor­ies they evoke, inspire K Michael Hay­wood to con­sider how travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers might con­trib­ute to ocean regen­er­a­tion.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] Every souven­ir deserves a val­ued space in our homes. As gathered from the beach in Sao Mar­tinho do Porto, […]

Read More Souvenirs: Can three pieces of coral inspire tourism towards ocean regeneration?

Do sustainability awards in long-haul destinations make sense?

June 22, 2023

Do sustainability awards for stakeholders in long-haul destinations make sense? Check box by OpenClipart-Vectors (CC0) and the beach by Walkerssk (CC0). Both via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/vectors/checkbox-checked-check-tick-okay-155884/ https://pixabay.com/photos/the-sea-maldives-holiday-paradise-3198131/

Richard But­ler won­ders why sus­tain­ab­il­ity awards are giv­en to stake­hold­ers in des­tin­a­tions that rely upon long-haul air travel.  In dir­ect reply to “Good Tour­ism” news­let­ter #185, Prof But­ler wrote: I won­der why so many organ­isa­tions sup­port­ing ‘sus­tain­able tour­ism’ offer awards to enter­prises in coun­tries where the major­ity of non-domest­­ic tour­ists travel long dis­tances by plane to reach such […]

Read More Do sustainability awards in long-haul destinations make sense?

Why sustainability certification is a process or journey, not a destination

May 23, 2023

Is sustainability certification a journey rather than a destination? Singapore garden image by Paula Prekopova (CCO) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/Mt9DbRm2KmA

Organ­isa­tions can reap bene­fits while pur­su­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fic­a­tion, which can extend far bey­ond the acquis­i­tion of the cer­ti­fic­ate itself, accord­ing to Kev­in Phun. We have often heard that: “Suc­cess is a jour­ney, not a des­tin­a­tion”.  The second part of the quote is: “The doing is often more import­ant than the out­come.” BrainyQuote attrib­utes these words […]

Read More Why sustainability certification is a process or journey, not a destination