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.

55 ways tourism can be friendlier to the environment: An ‘Eco-Guide’


Picture collage of students at ASSET-H&C member institutions

“Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner ASSET‑H&C has pub­lished the free Eco-Guide for Hos­pit­al­ity Busi­nesses and Schools, which lays out 55 tips for redu­cing tour­is­m’s neg­at­ive effects on the envir­on­ment. Soph­ie Hart­man, Nguyễn Thị Thu Thảo, and Võ Thị Quế Chi describe the why, the how, and a few of the what in this “GT” Insight.  [Scroll […]

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‘Real-life tourism’: The essence of regenerative tourism

October 19, 2021

Sharing culture. Regenerative 'real-life' tourism at Kohutapu Lodge, NZ.

Bron­wyn Hutchis­on would like to see more examples of regen­er­at­ive tour­ism in prac­tice. In her second “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Ms Hutchis­on sheds light on a fam­ily-run lodge and tour oper­a­tion in New Zea­l­and whose regen­er­at­ive prac­tices, it is claimed, are rooted in Māori beliefs and cus­toms. Regen­er­at­ive tour­ism is evolving as the new catch-cry for […]

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Can tourism destinations-as-communities be better & smarter by design?

October 12, 2021

Can destinations-as-communities be better & smarter by design? Image by Gerd Altmann (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/cyber-artificial-intelligence-brain-4062449/

What does it mean to col­lab­or­at­ively design tour­ism at the com­munity level? And to what end? If it is to strive towards a ‘good’, ‘bet­ter’, ‘smarter’ tour­ism, what does that look like? Retired uni­ver­sity pro­fess­or K Michael Hay­wood shares his vis­ion.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [Thanks to Jim Butcher for invit­ing Prof Hay­wood to write a “GT” […]

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Delicious, nutritious, precious: Nigeria’s ‘Slow Food’ travel & tourism potential

September 21, 2021
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Ofuda rice from southwestern Nigeria is usually produced on a small scale. Image by Stephen Olatunde (CC0) via unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/gB5qrP0eY50

Slow Food has found sup­port in Niger­ia. With its poten­tial to con­trib­ute to a cul­ture of sus­tain­ab­il­ity, as well as to vis­it­ors’ exper­i­ences, might Slow Food be a wel­come addi­tion to tour itin­er­ar­ies there?  Adenike Ade­bayo thinks so.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.  [Thanks to Jim Butcher for invit­ing Dr Ade­bayo to write a “GT” Insight.] Gast­ro­nomy and good […]

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Wild urban spaces: Rethinking ecotourism as a mass tourism product

July 15, 2021

'Urban Jungle' by Pelle Sten (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pellesten/5655438695

What if the ‘mass’ travel & tour­ism activ­it­ies of cit­ies and cit­izens were ‘sus­tain­able’? Could any of it be coun­ted as ‘eco­tour­ism’? Sudip­ta K Sarkar explores these ques­tions in this “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [Thanks to Jim Butcher for invit­ing Dr Sarkar to write a “GT” Insight.] After more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, […]

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Is agritourism a more eco-friendly & gender-equitable form of tourism?

July 8, 2021
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By Free-Photos (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/cherries-handful-red-ripe-fresh-1082136/

Would you pay more for cher­ries you picked your­self? Respond­ents in an agri­t­our­ism study by Erdogan Koc said they would. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, his second, Prof Koc sum­mar­ises the case for agri­t­our­ism and its poten­tial bene­fits for the envir­on­ment and women … and cherry grow­ers. In par­al­lel with its fast growth over the […]

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