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What Exactly Is Regenerative Tourism?

• Jeff Borman and Matt Brown

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Regenerative tourism focuses on leaving places better than you found them, supporting local economies, preserving culture, and protecting the environment. How does that translate to street-level tourism? Does the term "regenerative" suffer from the same thing that plagues "sustainability"—where rhetoric is strong and the action remains weak? Travelers regularly rate sustainability as a top five criteria in making travel decisions, but their buying behavior tells a very different story.

Then again, there are huge upsides in rethinking everything about the way we travel, especially now. We look at what's working, what's not, and what's ahead.


Speaker 1:

Matt, what I really want in this episode. I want the quality of intro you give our guests. That's just one time, it's all I want.

Speaker 2:

That's a huge amount of pressure and I am not prepared for it.

Speaker 1:

I think honesty is important and I am not prepared to give you that kind of intro. You could not possibly do that kind of thing of intro.

Speaker 2:

No, but I will At some point. Jeff, I will give you that kind of intro and I'm going to make it very special. Hi everybody, welcome to no Show. My name is Matt Brown. I'm joined as always by Jeff Borman.

Speaker 2:

In recent conversation we discussed the term. It's not even a term, it's a practice of overtourism. But today we're not going to talk about overtourism, we're going to pivot a little bit and talk about something called regenerative tourism and that term has also been around over the last four or five years. The pandemic. It kind of kind of the awareness of it really shot through the roof.

Speaker 2:

Nobody can really come to a consensus on what it is exactly, but the general contours of regenerative tourism seem to be. It focuses on giving back, supporting local economies, preserving culture, protecting the environment. It can include activities like reforestation or volunteering on community projects. It might have a component of engaging with local cultures through workshops and festivals and farm-to-table dining and artisan experiences and all of these things are great and they mediate, but they don't totally get rid of the idea of kind of all-out extractive tourism, and that model has been around for a long time. With regenerative tourism you're basically saying you want to have a mindset to leave a destination better than it was before you arrived, and you want to have experiences that go beyond a traditional vacation. Jeff, is that?

Speaker 1:

right. I don't think there's a wrong answer to that. I think it's. Regenerative travel is not very well defined. It's being defined. Amanda Ho, who is the co-founder of the travel platform aptly named Regenerative Travel, says it's a type of travel that is an act of replenishing and renewing the environment and community. Others that I've heard travel it gives back. You said that travel invests in the environment and local communities. Travel it makes a difference. My first take on this and, matt, I think I'm more the cynic of our duo you are we're doing so well as a society solving sustainability. Let's just add a few more major obstacles and challenges, right, like cultural preservation and other lofty ideas under do-gooder-y. Sustainability is, in many ways, about preventing harm, so let's just add on to that also doing positive, like world hunger, peace in the Middle East. Let's just go ahead, matt, and create Project Utopia. Is that what we're doing here?

Speaker 2:

Now's the time to do it. Now's the time, now's exactly the time to do it. Everything's on fire, literally. We don't have any choice. I think we have to, I think we have to do it.

Speaker 1:

Everything's on fire. Yeah, literally, we don't have any choice. I think we have to do it. People only have time for so many isms, though. Perhaps regenerative is important and maybe even timely, just because we can get a positive spin for people who are over the negativeness and the failures of greenwashing slogans and empty pledges.

Speaker 2:

Here's my beef and you hit upon it with sustainable. I don't like the word sustainable because, like green, it gets slapped on everything, everything as a marketing tool, and even with good intentions, the word just starts to lose meaning, and that's the case with all descriptive words in commerce. What I like about regenerative, at least for now, is this practical intent behind actions. There's this statement of intent that can inform your planning and thinking of trips.

Speaker 1:

You recently formalized the word sustainability, defining it so that it can enforce a mandate that it created on companies to perform due diligence throughout their supply chain. So you use the word sustainability in Europe. Now it has a definition, Matt.

Speaker 2:

And a lot of the examples that I see for regenerative travel are what I think of as kind of like bougie safaris. It's like high-end travel excursions to luxury lodges, climate-friendly boutique hotels, a photo safari with a farm tree planting All those things are great. Booking trips with global travel operators that are B Corporation certified is great. Carbon neutral is great, but a lot of these are just kind of lifestyle brands going for rich travelers. It feels like a marketing pitch for guilting rich people, which is okay too. I have no problem with that. Rich people need more guilt, and there are certainly best intentions behind a lot of it. But, man, it just feels like kind of more the same. You know, like we're putting on a shiny new paint to a very old model, which is the Grand Tour. We're going to take rich people out to see the world, and the vast majority of American tourists are not going to go on these luxury safaris.

Speaker 1:

Doesn't the end justify the means enough? Even if there was a veneer of hypocrisy in the middle. Instead of rich tourists on safari in Africa shooting rhinos, they're shooting photos of rhinos. And instead of decimating the population, they are, through their tourist dollars, providing the local economy with an alternative means to killing those animals, instead protecting and elevating them within our society. Maybe there's a little hypocrisy somewhere in the middle, but doesn't the end justify the means there?

Speaker 2:

Let's talk about some examples here of how this is playing out. You know I came across a study as we were kind of researching a little bit for this the University of Hawaii at Manoa. They did this big survey within the last couple of years. They surveyed residents on one of the islands and the residents responded favorably towards regenerative travel. Hawaii has struggled mightily with its relationship to travel from the world, travel from mainland US. That is a complicated relationship, to say the least. But examples of regenerative tourism in Hawaii have included replanting native tree species to offset the carbon footprint that is often produced by well, not often it is produced by flying to Hawaii, People going out there, staying in a cool place, enjoying some beach time, but then also taking part of their time to help remove invasive plant species off hiking trails, to remove plastic and abandoned fishing nets off beaches.

Speaker 2:

The general vibe amongst the Hawaiians, at least in this survey, was that that's better, that that's at least more connected to the place, versus you're going to come, stay in a hotel, go to the restaurant, litter and then take off. You've got another company called Byway. It's a UK company. Their whole deal is to make flight-free holidays a mainstream holiday choice, which might be a little bit easier in Europe than it is here, Maybe not, though they're prioritizing overland travel across the British Isles and Europe. More stops, more communities, more passengers per trip, less jet fuel. I don't know how the carbon footprint balances out with that, but the idea is that you are connecting more to yourself, to the scenery, to the community, when you are embracing slow travel. I saw another study that says 73% of millennials are willing to pay more for sustainable goods, including eco-friendly travel, so there's definitely non-bougie stuff out there that I think works in the context of what regenerative travel is.

Speaker 1:

First, I have a concern about regenerative, as we've already put it next to sustainability, where sustainability the rhetoric's very strong and the actions remain very weak.

Speaker 1:

And we're talking about examples here of positive, real-world examples of regenerative travel. And the last thing you mentioned, or one of the last, was that around millennials, engaging a 75% say they would pay more to have carbon neutral travel. You said something to that effect, but the difference here is in surveys you hear that, but what travelers regularly rate sustainability as a top five criteria in making travel decisions? Their buying behavior tells a very different story, and so, as we're giving these examples regularly rate sustainability as a top five criteria in making travel decisions. Their buying behavior tells a very different story. And so, as we're giving these examples, it kind of takes me back to the top where I'm saying how do you build on top of sustainability and even more ambitious idea, when the reality is people aren't fully engaged, don't fully accept that sustainable travel, regenerative travel, it's going to cost them more. It's going to cost them more in the real currency, no matter where they're from, and it's going to cost them more in time and comfort, most likely.

Speaker 2:

Human instinct is to go for the lowest price. It's just, it just is, and it does not matter if something has a ton of fees on it. It's like, hey, we've been so transparent about what our airfare and our hotel price is going to be. If you see something online that's $100 less, less cannot not go towards it. Travel experts have linked some of their studies to how people view traffic. Like how people view all travel, I guess, but like I will be the one who figures out my commute. No, the traffic this Friday. If we're getting out of the city, it won't affect us. I think if we leave at 205 versus 215, it'll save us and it never ever saves you.

Speaker 1:

Two things that have been in the news recently. Along those lines, though, matt right, american Express, amex GBT. They just recently unveiled a new emissions-based pricing tool that lets their clients apply a carbon fee to the travel based on their own selected carbon methodology, rather than just a flat fee that Amex itself would determine. I think this is an example of where you describe the consumer is just. There is a disposition from the very beginning that says I'm going to buy the lowest price. If the tool that presents your options is pre-filtered to only give you certain selections, then I think that's going to make a meaningful step forward. Like this, amex enhancement has the opportunity to really truly make the choice for the customer by not showing them choices that their company says are not options for them. That doesn't help your individual trail, I think, most when it comes to sustainable. You can talk a lot about corporate input, right, our travelers will only X Y, z. When it comes to leisure travel and you make that decision for yourself, regenerative is probably more in the leisure than the business space, because you're choosing to go do something for a purpose that suits your own, the things you care about individually, and you're probably not going to be filtered, like Amex would, when a company says only show my business travelers these options. So I think that's going to be a challenge.

Speaker 1:

New Zealand the country's official tourism body, has what they call the Taiki promise. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that properly, but it's a promise to care for New Zealand, and when people arrive, they take a pledge that reads while traveling in New Zealand, I will care for the land, sea and nature, treading lightly and leaving no trace, travel safely, showing care and consideration for all, respect, culture, traveling with an open heart and mind. That makes me want to go to New Zealand even more. At the same time, though, matt, does a pledge have any real world impact, and I think that's the rub here. Just again, like these really lofty ideas that we want to care and do good, does taking a pledge upon entry before you hit my passport stamp my passport got to take the pledge. Will I really do anything in New Zealand that is different? I don't think the pledge is going to get you there. Boracay in the Philippines does something similar. It's difficult. I mean, let's just put it easy. I don't have the solutions and I'm not trying to throw barbs at those who've tried.

Speaker 2:

No, I hear what you're saying and pledges are high-minded ways to make everybody feel good. Here's what I'd like to see, I think, bringing it down to things that are super granular, super tactical. I think that's a way to focus people on the idea of regenerative travel. You know, environmental restoration is a big part of regenerative tourism, but I kind of like a broader definition of environment, and that broader definition would actually include some of these tactical things, and I'm not sure what I'm thinking about here is classified as regenerative as such. But I'd like to include some of this stuff that's closer to home. For instance, as you're planning a trip, are you staying in a locally owned lodging option versus a chain Ditto for restaurants? Are you packing intentionally? Are you packing a reusable water bottle and cutlery? Are you buying responsibly sourced clothing? Are you buying used gear? Are you buying local souvenirs? Are you using interesting tour guides who aren't part of some kind of national company? Are they kind of locals who are doing this? Are you going to off track locations? You know, and cultural festivals oftentimes come up as an option for tourists who want to kind of go down the regenerative arc.

Speaker 2:

And one of the things that I would always tell people. You know I grew up in Louisiana. One of the things I always tell people is, if you want to go to Mardi Gras, don't go to New Orleans. Do not go to New Orleans. It'll be crowded, you'll pay a billion dollars to stay there, everybody will be drunk by eight o'clock and if you really want a Mardi Gras experience, you should go out. You should go two hours out into Cajun country. It doesn't even have to be some small town, but it could be like a little city and that Mardi Gras parade and festival is exactly maximum Louisiana and you will get a tourist experience you will never forget, and I think that applies to so many many places. I like those things as under the regenerative umbrella and I think of them as environmental as any of these other exercises.

Speaker 1:

What do you think? First of all, I love the Bourdain episode on Cajun Mardi Gras.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's a classic and it's raw. Man it is, it is raw.

Speaker 1:

It is him at his best going and saying you know, this is a part of America none of you have seen and you really should. You think you know. If you think you know what's really going on, you have no idea, and it's kind of classic Bourdain. But the other thing that you kind of reminded me of is that, thankfully, probably nobody takes my advice on where to go. Foreigners coming to the US Europeans, asians they all want to go to New York, la, san Francisco and Miami and I encourage every one of them. If you want to see the United States, go to Cincinnati, go to Detroit, go to Des Moines. These are the places that this is real America. It's not going to be the photo op, it's not going to be the selfie you're looking for. It's not going to be the photo op. It's not going to be the selfie you're looking for, but you're going to get a flavor of the culture in a way that is far more genuine than Times Square, south Beach and Hollywood.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and I think you know what's the? What's the word that comes up the most in this local, local, local. At the very least, keeping locality on the brain feels like a great first step to get to this, versus being forced to eat your broccoli. You're right. Nobody's going to want to take, especially if convenience and cost are part of it, because this is your vacation. I deal with matters of convenience and cost in every other part of my life. The very idea of going on vacation is that I don't want to deal with that. And now you're making me work, and I can imagine, even for a lot of people who have great intention, that for this week out of the year, I just want to go stay in a luxury hotel and I don't want to think about problems and people, and I get that, and that is also a very luxurious way to think of the world, and one that I think we need to reframe and reframe soon.

Speaker 1:

There's nothing inherently negative about regenerative, you know, other than maybe there's buzzword fatigue out there, but the idea of leaving a place better than you arrived, I think it's something that most people could get on board with. Leveraging tourism to be a force for good is something you and I talk about all the time. Skift research analyst Robert Gilbert Jones said on a podcast that I listened to that hardcore greenwashers have not yet caught on to the use of regenerative as a term. It still doesn't have a commercial label that resonates with people, so it's not really being abused yet, and I think there's reason for optimism just in that, as the entire travel industry moves to a more central focus on experiences and their reason for travel, the purpose regenerative, socially minded, could really become trendy. Instead of sending a selfie on a beach in Panama with a cocktail, what if the trend on social media becomes photos of helping turtles or clean up trash? To me, that's where regenerative has an opportunity to be meaningful. I genuinely, desperately hope I'm right In closing.

Speaker 2:

Ladies and gentlemen, here's an optimistic take to echo Jeff's optimism. Now is the time when something as pie-in-the-sky, crazy, a big good-for-all idea in an America-first world, is absolutely what we need to be doing. If you're voting with your dollar, your dollar, where your dollar goes and how that dollar spent is maybe the biggest single thing you can do. As a committed American traveler, I think of it often like buying groceries. You know, everybody shops at Trader Joe's these days to kind of keep costs down. Or Aldi, and you know big part of our grocery shop is that. The other big part of it is, you know we do our staples there. But then the other big part of it is community market, and so I'm going to allow in my life for us to go. We'll spend money on the cheaper option, and it's this big company with branches everywhere, and then we're also going to be committed to spending a chunk of that expense towards the local farmer that we know and want to support. I think that's how Americans deal with a lot of their lives, especially since everything is a chain these days. But I think looking for ways to stay connected to community and stay connected to local commerce is really what the ask is from Regenerative and it's one that I think, when you frame it like that, it can kind of get people motivated in ways that doing something that's maybe a little more of a high-minded statement isn't. I'm hoping that we keep it real, keep it local.

Speaker 2:

I have a mystery question for you. You want it, bring it. So we discussed Mardi Gras. Have you ever attended an offbeat weirdo festival somewhere? It cannot be. Bonnaroo Can't be like I'm thinking like all the music festivals.

Speaker 1:

That's exactly where I was going. I gotta get all the music festivals out of my mind there. Usually those memories purge themselves Sure.

Speaker 2:

Quickly after, I might add.

Speaker 1:

During Were they ever really created Matt Festival? Wow, Literally nothing is coming to mind for an offbeat festival of that kind.

Speaker 2:

You can't say state fairs. I used to say Iowa State Fair, but I can't say that anymore. That's mainstream. That shows up on the front page of National Geographic, traveler or whatever. Maybe this is an imploration for us to go out and look for some of these.

Speaker 1:

I'd say I was in Cambodia and we stumbled across and I don't know what the intent of the festival or the theme of the festival was. We stumbled into what became just a fantastic night. There was music playing, all kinds of games, noises we've never heard, flavors we've never tasted. I have no idea what the festival actually was. It was a phenomenal night.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to take this as a. This should be a challenge for us. This will be our first step towards a regenerative lifestyle.

Speaker 1:

Are you with me? We need to do our version of Hunter Thompson's essay on the Kentucky Derby. That's really what I'm learning here, Matt.

Speaker 1:

I will look into tickets today All right, I'll tell you what I want to do. I don't think this falls at all under regenerative. Have you ever heard of the Calcio Storico in Florence? No, look this up, it is on my short end of the bucket list is to attend this. It's every June in Florence, where the four quadrants of the city.

Speaker 1:

This event goes back 500 years and it's a full combat version of rugby, american football and MMA. In this old town piazza they put up stands and the four quadrants of the town they face off against one another for bragging rights for the next year. And as the game begins, one team has possession of the ball what you would think of in like rugby or American football, as kind of an offensive line, or the guys who are going to kind of protect and block for the guy who's trying to advance the ball, except that protection and blocking is straight up street fighting. Like no rules, I think. Like you know, no groin punches, but headbutting is still allowed, like it is an absolute bloodbath. The fighters don't even tell their families they're involved. It's such a dangerous sport, but they represent their part of town and it's like pure gang warfare with a football in the middle. That's one I can't wait to go to.

Speaker 2:

That's the most Jeff answer ever. There you have it. Folks, bring the whole family down, really Just enjoy it. It's just about life. Just I'll get tickets right now.