Tourism has always been one of the main ways for cultures, territories, and people to come together. It has the power to broaden horizons, open eyes, and connect worlds. But while it promotes discovery and enchantment, tourism also carries contradictions. Depending on how it is practiced, it can have profound negative impacts, depleting natural resources, disfiguring landscapes, and undermining local ways of life.
For a long time, we believed that the solution would be to simply control or minimize these impacts. This gave rise to the debate around sustainable tourism, which seeks to find a balance: meeting the needs of travelers while ensuring that future generations inherit the same territories in preserved conditions. Sustainable tourism was—and still is—an important step forward, but in the face of today’s social and environmental challenges, we realize that it is no longer enough.
The climate emergency, the loss of biodiversity, the water crisis, and social inequalities show us that maintaining what we have is no longer sufficient. It is not enough to sustain; we must regenerate. And this is where the concept of regenerative tourism comes in, a practice that is not limited to balancing, but seeks to restore, transform, and create new forms of relationship between people, cultures, and ecosystems.
From degenerative to regenerative: a paradigm shift
Researcher Daniel Wahl, in Designing Regenerative Cultures, proposes a scale ranging from degenerative to regenerative systems. Adapting this vision to tourism, we can see different stages that help us understand why regenerative tourism is so necessary. Mass tourism, for example, represents a degenerative model that exploits ecosystems and communities without considering limits. Gradually, initiatives considered more “green” have emerged, such as responsible tourism, which seek to minimize damage through more conscious use of resources, local purchasing, or the reduction of disposable plastics.
Sustainable tourism, in turn, emerges as a point of balance, inspired by the Brundtland Report, ensuring that what we receive today is passed on to future generations. Tourism in Conservation Units and visitation models that respect carrying capacity are clear examples of this stage.
However, in light of the environmental and social crisis we are experiencing, maintaining what we have is no longer enough. We need to take bolder steps that lead us to
restorative experiences capable of recovering what has been lost, such as tourism projects that involve reforestation and the creation of Private Natural Heritage Reserves. At this stage, there are inspiring projects such as the
Biofábrica de Corais, which uses tourism as a strategy for reef recovery in Pernambuco.
Even deeper is what we might call a moment of reconciliation between human beings and their origins, breaking down the artificial separation between culture and nature. Edgar Morin calls this process religare, a return to the understanding that we are part of natural life and not an entity external to it. Ailton Krenak reinforces this view by reminding us that humanity and nature are inseparable. This point of reconnection paves the way for regenerative tourism, which is not limited to restoration, but creates conditions for life to flourish. It invites a paradigm shift, placing ecology and collectivity at the center and proposing another way of being in the world.
What does it mean to regenerate through tourism?
Regenerative tourism is not just about planting a tree at the end of a tour. It is a way of seeing the world that transforms both those who travel and those who receive them, because it is organized around restoring vitality to ecosystems and strengthening cultural identities.
ndigenous villages that share their culture autonomously, quilombos that revive ancestral practices, and lodgings that invest in green building and permaculture are examples of how tourism can leave a legacy of abundance in tune with what is organic and ancestral. This perspective is also manifested in the daily choices of travelers. When we choose family-run lodgings, value local and seasonal foods, prefer less polluting means of transportation, and respect the territory’s time, we are contributing to regeneration.
When we seek to learn from ancestral knowledge, support the bioeconomy, and draw inspiration from solutions that mimic nature’s intelligence, we reinforce this web of life. Every gesture, no matter how small it may seem, helps to strengthen the movement.
Far beyond the impact
Regenerative tourism points to a future in which travel is not just a journey or an individual experience, but an opportunity to co-evolve with the places visited. It calls for a change in perspective: from tourists who merely consume to travelers who integrate, respect, and collaborate. This transition requires time, sensitivity, and a willingness to learn from the communities and ecosystems that welcome us.
More than a “trend” (which is by definition consumerist in nature), it is a call to rethink our way of being in the world. By choosing regenerative paths, tourism becomes a space for reconnection and the creation of new meanings for collective life. It is in this encounter between cultures and nature, between the local and the global, that tourism can cease to be a destructive threat and become a force for regeneration.
By Mariana Madureira, Jussara Rocha and Tauana Costa
Photo 1: Coral Biofactory
Photo 2: Book Designing Regenerative Cultures
