A regenerative approach to tourism: Learnings from community enterprises

The benefits of tourism to communities have long been recognised but so too are the pressures it can place on local communities. Recent global turmoil has led to new ways of conceptualising tourism development and the emergence of regenerative tourism as a guiding philosophy. However, there still remain considerable gaps in our knowledge of the application of regenerative tourism principles. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the emerging literature on regenerative tourism with a particular, and practice-oriented, focus on learnings from community-based social enterprises, that illustrate the positive and meaningful impacts a regenerative approach to tourism development can deliver. This paper reports on the findings of a bilateral networking project between academics in Ireland and Scotland. Through a series of interviews with stakeholders of five different community-based initiatives, the emphasis was on developing a greater understanding of regenerative tourism ‘in practice’ and how visitor experiences developed by social enterprises can drive sustainable local development. Analysis of interviews led to the generation of four themes of activities and impacts indicative of regenerative tourism: Nature, Community, Place and Visitor Positive. The themes identified reflect and build on existing regenerative tourism principles offering practical examples of regenerative tourism.