Prioritisation of barriers in the journey of regenerative tourism – a DEMATEL perspective

Purpose Humans are the most significant entity in the fast-growing tourism ecosystem. Paradoxically, many of the environmental crises caused by tourism are the consequences of anthropocentrism. Therefore, initiatives for regenerative tourism are imperative. This paper aims to identify and understand the key barriers and their interrelationships under regenerative tourism and provide recommendations for progress. Design/methodology/approach The literature review and focus group approach identified barriers to regenerative tourism. Then, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology was applied to analyse the strength and cause-and-effect interrelationships between the barriers. Findings The scatter plot and digraph of the data set from DEMATEL have provided useful insights. The strongest barrier is the absence of an evolved comprehensive framework for regenerative tourism for each location. A linear mindset and lack of a single-window approach for regenerative initiatives are the two cause barriers. The two strongest effect barriers are the lack of symbiotic relationship/management between various entities in the tourism ecosystem, and operational barriers focused only on short-term routine business objectives. Practical implications The DEMATEL approach has brought out useful stakeholder insights. It has set the priorities for focus based on the degree of interrelationship strength and the relationship’s kind (cause or effect). It has provided stakeholders for futuristic regenerative tourism. Originality/value Application of the DEMATEL approach for analysing the cause-and-effect dynamics between the twelve barriers to the future of regenerative tourism.