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Is regenerative tourism the future of tourism?

Regenerative tourism understands that visitors and destinations are part of a living system embedded in the natural environment, and it operates under nature rules and principles. This transformative term is starting to change the understanding of tourism. The concept acknowledges the interconnectedness of various natural and social environments and is designed to give back to the land and the people. The newly coined concept includes the aspects of sustainable tourism niches. After the first wave of the global health crisis (Covid-19), we started to think about post-pandemic tourism. Now, we need to discuss with-pandemic tourism. Because of the pandemic, long haul travel is becoming harder and expensive. Restrictions on international travel and the absence of international tourism have provided us with an opportunity to rethink the future of tourism. It is argued that regenerative tourism offers much more and is moving beyond sustainable tourism. Because of the advancement of transport systems and their growing affordability, the frequency of travel increased and the twenty-first century has witnessed mass tourism globally. Tourism only exists when people travel, which was linked to fossil fuels, resulting in global warming and climate change from a mass tourism perspective. Hence, niche tourism such as eco-tourism, responsible tourism, social tourism, ethical tourism, volunteer tourism and community-based tourism emerged to negotiate a sustainable future of tourism. In parallel, other forms of tourism, such as slow tourism, were developed to mitigate mass tourism and contributed to economic development and global wellbeing. Many examples of slow and fast drivers of change have led to the emergence and evolution of both tourism production and consumption, and regenerative tourism is one of the many forms. The question is whether ‘Regenerative Tourism’ is the future of tourism or another slogan which rhymes well with the current global crisis? How it reflects the needs of tour operators and other tourism stakeholders in the long run? How it ensures long term sustainability and resilience of local communities? This volume invites authors and readers to discuss both academia and the industry, the expected impacts of new forms of tourism on people, places and processes at local and global scales.