The approach, dubbed “regenerative travel,” extends and amplifies the concepts of sustainable travel in subtle but important ways. 

Whereas the notion of sustainability was built around the idea of educating travelers to leave no trace of their respective visits to faraway lands, the thinking behind the new philosophy is more directly impactful—empowering travelers to play an active role in helping to make the destinations they visit better places once they have left. 

Put differently, regenerative travel rejects “leave no trace” for a philosophy of making things better. 

“Sustainable travel is the beginning, it’s where the foundation starts and transformation begins,” said Jessica Upchurch, vice-chair and sustainability strategist at Virtuoso. “Regenerative travel takes the transformation to the next step and focuses on leaving places better than how they were when you arrived. Sustainability is like the root system of a tree, and regenerative is the next evolution because it’s intended to benefit everyone involved. It’s not only about maintaining to prevent further deterioration or erosion; it’s about adjusting practices and behaviors that lead to improvements.” 

Gaining Momentum 

The way many see it, the move to regenerative travel was inevitable. 

While overtourism was the biggest threat of 2019 (see: Venice), COVID stopped travel cold and ground everything to a halt. This provided the opportunity for a long-overdue reset. 

At the same time, travelers started educating themselves about the state of the world. Numerous studies, including a recent endeavor on behalf of SANDALS, tracked a shift in thinking and personal responsibility from “Someone should do something” to “I want to do something.” 

Data from a recent Virtuoso study backs this up. According to the study, four in five people (82%) said the pandemic has made them want to travel more responsibly in the future. Almost three-quarters (72%) said travel should support local communities and economies, preserve destinations' cultural heritage, and protect the planet. 

Nina Patel, owner of Vacations That Matter, a travel services outfit that specializes in trips that give back, said she sees this demand every day. 

“There’s been a definite increase in the number of clients who wish to make a more meaningful impact and leave a place better than it was and give more than they take away,” said Patel, who is based in Southern California. 

Technically speaking, industry leaders and progressive organizations already were thinking more broadly about sustainability in 2019. 

That year, six nonprofit organizations including the Center for Responsible Travel and Sustainable Travel International joined together as the Future of Tourism coalition, which espouses a platform that incorporates the notion of helping the travel industry to make destinations better. 

This outfit launched with 13 guiding principles that include demanding fair income distribution, mitigating climate impacts, containing tourism’s land use and respecting the internationally approved minimum criteria for sustainable tourism practices maintained by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). 

At launch, 22 groups including tour operators such as Lindblad Expeditions, destination marketers such as the Bureau of Tourism for the Republic of Palau, and organizations such as the World Wildlife Foundation, had signed on. 

The Future of Tourism was spotlighted in an early 2020 article in The New York Times. 

Another organization fighting to make regenerative travel more commonplace: Regenerative Travel, a booking agency that requires members to meet a series of specific standards such as giving back to local communities, monitoring water and energy use, avoiding single-use plastics, and operating with respect for local customs and cultures. 

Travelers can book directly with member resorts through Regenerative Travel and know that their destinations have been vetted thoroughly. Prices range from US$150 to more than US$2,000 per night. 

Co-founder Amanda Ho said this peace of mind can be invaluable when selecting travel partners. 

“We are at a turning point to reverse the trajectory of climate change with an urgent call to repair and replenish the damage to our environment and our communities,” she wrote recently. “Regenerative principles are emerging as the future of tourism with the potential and capacity to create better conditions for people and life to flourish.” 

Ho and Regenerative Travel recently published a white paper that leverages case studies from hotels who might be practicing regeneration without explicitly using the terminology; plus a lexicon of “regenerative terminology” so readers can go from the theoretical to the practical applications of Regenerative Travel as a force for positive change. To download the paper, visit the organization’s website. 

Other Approaches 

While the Future of Tourism and Regenerative Travel are two of the largest efforts underway right now, several smaller endeavors have sprouted in the last few years to promote regenerative travel, as well. 

One of the most intriguing: Elsewhere. 

This travel marketplace works with on-the-ground experts to curate one-of-a-kind trips for travelers interested in visiting a destination and making a positive impact as they go. These local experts are at the center of the regenerative aspect of Elsewhere’s business—because the guides know the ins and outs of each of the destinations they serve, they can direct travelers to activities that will have real impact on the community long after they depart. 

“They’re going to bring travelers to the mom-and-pop shops, the locally owned businesses that will benefit from the visit,” said co-founder Alexis Bowen. “The end result is more tourism dollars staying in each destination, which ultimately helps these destinations thrive.” 

Elsewhere also has rolled into its model some classic sustainable travel strategies; the company offsets every trip (including international flights) using the UNFCCC Carbon Offset Platform, removes 2.2 pounds of plastic (the equivalent of 50 plastic water bottles) from the ocean via Plastic Bank, and plants 10 trees through the Eden Project. 

The Transformational Travel Council (TTC) is another effort that has been turning heads. 

This organization was founded in 2020 with the objective of applying age-old design principles to change the way people think about travel. Co-founder Jake Haupert said the approach revolves around balancing the needs of nature, communities and the economy, and using tourism to encourage the healthy functioning of ecosystems and people’s role within them. The group provides in-depth live and virtual courses for travel organizations, advisors, and travelers themselves—workshops that designed to provide compelling insight, tangible learning, and practical applications that spur personal development, turn purpose into action, and action into impact. 

He added that the idea behind the TTC is broader than putting money into an economic system that’s already thriving; instead it’s about creating a new symbiosis that leads to a positive outcome. 

“As a traveler, you are entering another person’s home,” Haupert explained. “Are you going to go in there with a sense of entitlement and be selfish, or are you going to leave it better than you did when you arrived? The way we see it, this is the fundamental question behind regenerative travel.” 

A third organization that is moving the needle in regenerative travel is Wanderwell. 

This startup focuses on travel insurance and aims to change the travel insurance market by funding environmental causes with every policy it sells. 

Co-founder and impact officer Erin Fish said the firm is a certified B-Corporation, and is a member of 1% For the Planet, a nonprofit organization whose members commit to donating at least one percent of revenue to vetted non-profit partners of the group, all of which are focused on conservation and sustainability initiatives. 

“This approach focuses on duty of care,” he said. “It’s not enough anymore to protect a destination. Now we must ask ourselves: How can we give back?” 

Practical Application 

So, what does regenerative travel look like? That depends on whom you ask. 

Some believe that any indirect give-back to the local ecosystem or community offsets the “footprint” of tourism and therefore qualifies as regenerative. Others say regenerative travel must have direct and quantifiable benefits. In the end, anything that makes a difference is a win. 

At some places across the American West, travelers staying at certain hotel properties can participate in trail rehabilitation or fisheries management projects. Elsewhere, advisors such as Patel help clients pack with purpose, and bring along books, toiletries, and other supplies that locals can’t find affordably anywhere else. 

In the California Wine Country town of Healdsburg, a new bike tour offered by a local hotel group in conjunction with professional cyclist Pete Stetina also fits the bill. 

Earlier this spring, Stetina partnered with Piazza Hospitality to offer guests one-of-a-kind cycling adventures and customized routes to explore the region’s natural beauty on wheels. One of the packages includes a private guided ride with Stetina for up to four people on a route tailored to guests’ skill levels and preferences, plus a two-night stay in Hotel Healdsburg, the Harmon Guest House, or h2hotel, for $1,765 and up for four people. 

It’s an indulgence, but the chance to ride with a professional could be a draw for pro cycling fans. Guests at the hotel who don’t go for that option can instead bike routes based on Stetina’s suggestions, but without a guide. 

“The idea of ‘cyclotourism’ is to give guests their best experience,” he said. “It’s nice to have local intel.” 

For every cycling-hotel stay package booked at the hotel, a $400 donation will be made to provide a new bike, helmet, lock and cycling experience to a local child in need through the B-Rad Foundation, which creates kids’ leadership programs and community-based environmental stewardship projects on the Sonoma Coast and the Island of Kauai. 

Elsewhere, regenerative travel has taken on a more financial approach—almost like the modern-day equivalent of carbon offset credits. 

Denver-based OneSeed Expeditions sells purpose-driven adventure travel packages, but also donates 10 percent of its proceeds in the form of zero-interest loans to local nongovernmental organizations where it operates—places such as Nepal, Ecuador, Croatia, Tanzania, and Peru. According to founder Chris Baker, the local groups then issue microloans to community entrepreneurs in businesses such as farming and retail. 

“The areas of greatest need are not necessarily in areas of the greatest tourism attractions,” Baker told The New York Times. “We want to use tourism to be able to benefit people outside of those areas.” 

Pulling it All Together 

However, travel industry insiders choose to look at the future, one thing is certain: Coming out of COVID, nobody can approach the industry the way they had before. 

According to Marc Casto, President, Leisure Americas at Flight Centre Travel Group and ASTA vice chairman, it is critical that travel vendors and advisors alike be aware of both immediate and existential challenges to the industry, and act to act against them. 

“Climate change threatens the means of transport (many airports will be too hot to operate and there is already significant increase in air turbulence; likewise cruise lines are reporting increased ocean swell activity), overall reduction in the size of the market (sea level rise threatens most coastal communities, nearly all of which are dependent upon tourism economies), and destination features (from species and biome loss there are [fewer] places to go or things to see),” he wrote in a recent email. “Our unwillingness to confront [these] issues head-on threaten our relevance to future generations.” 

Others say the future of travel must incorporate embracing a notion of interdependence. 

Alex Sharpe, president and CEO Signature Travel Network, noted that the last 16 months have inspired everyone to rethink priorities, and that simply seeing travelers concerned about their impact on local communities is a step in the right direction. 

 “Travelers saw how quickly things can change and that their actions can have an equally immediate impact,” he said. “Call it sustainable, regenerative, or responsible travel, it is clear there is a new respect for our interdependence. And that is good news for the communities and ecosystems we all travel to experience.”