Regenerative Tourism and Wellbeing

The COVID 19 pandemic, an unprecedented global health, social, and economic emergency severely impacted the tourism and hospitality industry. This catastrophic disaster has fueled the need for a paradigm shift in the mind of the traveler to rethink the concept of tourism and its economic, socio-cultural and environmental impact. It also demands that we pay more attention to the travel decision-making process. The term “regenerative travel” and “regenerative tourism” are currently gaining traction, primarily driven by the increasing recognition of tourism’s environmental implications and the imperative for sustainable travel practices. Behaviour change in tourism is hence required to promote the health of our people and the planet. This renewed attention is particularly noteworthy in the post-pandemic era, where the revival of the global tourism industry and its associated stakeholders can be viewed as a regenerative act.

Regenerative tourism embodies a sustainable approach to travel and the exploration of new destinations. The primary objective of this initiative is to ensure that tourists make a good contribution to their vacation location, leaving it in a better condition than its initial condition. Sustainable regeneration is a notion that transcends the mere avoidance of environmental harm and instead strives to actively rejuvenate and regenerate the environment. This approach leads to a positive cycle of benefits for the local communities and the economy. Hence, regenerative tourism fosters well-being from both human and ecosystem perspectives. In regenerative tourism, both tourists and communities work collaboratively which can have positive impacts on human health and wellbeing and the environment. According to Suárez-Rojas et al. (2023, p. 2), “regenerative tourism is a novel concept that, in departing from the traditional ideas of sustainability, goes beyond the ‘sustainable development’ paradigm in order to transform the social-ecological systems where tourism takes place and adopts an innovative approach to elevating human and non-human well-being”.

Understanding the implications of regenerative tourism from a socio-cultural, environmental, and economic perspective is increasingly relevant given its importance in the tourism and hospitality industry. Research linking regenerative tourism and behaviors and behavioral change of tourists, communities, and stakeholders are still in an infancy stage. The impact of regenerative tourism on tourists’ and the local community’s well-being, and wellbeing the ecosystem need to be further explored.

This Research Topic seeks original research papers, conceptual studies, empirical investigations, review papers, case studies, and methodological papers that offer fresh perspectives on regenerative tourism, and its impact on stakeholders of the tourism and hospitality industry. We seek to identify best practices for regenerative tourism and its impact on well-being and the behavioral change of tourists towards sustainable travel to mitigate negative impacts of tourism.

We welcome contributions that address the following areas:

• Understanding, and defining the conceptualization of regenerative tourism
• Regenerative tourism and sustainable behavior
• Regenerative tourism and behavioral change among tourists
• Host community behavior towards regenerative tourism
• Understanding the behavior of stakeholders towards regenerative tourism
• Behavioral intention of regenerative tourists
• Tourist behavior in the planning and decision making process of a regenerative tourism destination
• Transformational and inspirational experiences and regenerative tourism
• Regenerative tourism and its socio-cultural, economic, and environmental impact
• Regenerative and cultural stewardship
• Regenerative tourism and tourist well-being
• Regenerative tourism and host community well-being
• Regenerative tourism and its role in improving the natural environment through preservation, restoration, and regeneration
• Inclusive and equitable: involvement of the local communities to strengthen the overall ecosystem
• Regenerative tourism and responsible and sustainable business
• The relationship between regenerative tourism and sustainable tourism
• Regenerative tourism and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
• Social mission, social innovation, social change, entrepreneurial spirit, and regenerative tourism
• Planning and management and marketing of the regenerative tourism destination
• Regenerative tourism and pro-environmental behavior
• Nexus between regenerative tourism and well-being
• Regenerative tourism, and co-creation

Keywords: regenerative tourism, wellbeing, sustainable behavior, behavior change, pro-environmental behavior, regenerative travel

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.