At its simplest, to regenerate means to re-vitalise, or to resuscitate, hence the title Back to Life.

Regeneration is what Life does naturally. Healthy living systems create the fertile conditions for all life to thrive.

A perfect example from nature is the Waitakere Forest in Auckland. Early colonists stripped the area of its timber then, when farming proved poor and unproductive, the land was neglected, giving nature the chance to recover. At first grasses and shrubs created shade for other bigger species, including the kauri, to take root. Sixty years on and a mighty forest asserts its presence in the landscape creating homes for many other plants and animals.

Another great example in New Zealand of ecological regeneration at work is on the Banks Peninsula - in this case consciously aided and stewarded by humans. In 1997, Dr. Hugh Wilson went against convention by allowing gorse to cover pasture land in order to let the native forest regenerate. The Hinewai Nature Reserve is now 15,000 hectares of flourishing native bush and documented in the film Fools and Dreamers - view 2 minute trailer.

Regenerative Tourism applies many of the same principles to create a visitor economy that enables people and places to flourish.

It is designed to shift tourism from being an extractive economy to one that generates greater net benefit to host communities and contains within it the capacity to nourish healthy individuals, and enterprises a. 

Success is not measured by the numbers of visitors or even their spending but the extent to which all aspects of community life (human, plant, animal, enterprise) are enhanced and enriched as a result of attracting and serving visitors. We call that flourishing or thriving. 

Regenerative Tourism constitutes a maturation of sustainability and both includes and transcends all the key sustainable  practices necessary to shrink the footprint of the visitor economy. But it also recognises that sustaining a destructive model, while simply doing less harm,  will not produce a truly resilient recovery.

The key hallmarks of a regenerative tourism, which will be explored in the Back to Life Learning Journey include: 

1. Regenerative Tourism applies a holistic, living systems perspective. It is shaped by the same principles that nature applies to the creation and thriving of all life. In this way, it is an inspirational approach, with tangible outcomes in healing and health.
   
   
2. Instead of maximising volume and spending as a measure of purpose and success, Regenerative Tourism optimises value and net-benefit generated to all participants. The aim is to ensure individuals, enterprises and communities thrive as a result of their involvement in tourism.
    
3. Regenerative Tourism recognises that host communities need to be directly and actively involved in shaping the way guests are attracted, accommodated and cared for. The capability to manage tourism and shape it in a way that works for the community also needs to be nourished.
   
   
4. Regeneration is about developing capacities rather than capitals, including the capacity to envision, co-create, self-organise and collaborate.
   
   
5. The role of hosts (be they service providers, residents, DMOs or others) is to become generators of “wellth” & wellbeing rather than extractors of wealth; to act as gardeners not miners. By hosting conversations that matter and bringing people together, travel & hospitality is in a prime position to fulfill a role as catalyst and change agent.
   
   
6. The core of the future value generated by tourism originates from the quality and richness of encounter between guest and host. It derives from the extent to which the encounter reflects the uniqueness of the people and places involved and to which it delivers meaning and value.
   
   
7. Regenerative tourism is not shaped by the problems to be fixed but by the unique essence and potential of a place and its people.

The Fork in the Road

The pause imposed by Covid-19 provides a time to stop and reflect on the root cause of both the pandemic itself and the other change drivers (climate change, biodiversity loss, wealth disparity, etc.) that are nudging us to re-examine our relationship with the rest of life on this planet. 

When lockdown is removed, we will stand at a fork in the road. 

• Will we rush straight down the path known as business as usual and continue to suck life and value out of a stressed environment and workforce in the pursuit of endless growth?
  
   
• Or will we consciously pursue a more considered, responsible slower route that revives and resuscitates the visitor economy, enabling it and the people in it to flourish forever?
  
  

Without some understanding of the consequences of our choices we have a tendency to default to the familiar and miss the opportunities that lie within the unknown alternatives. Hence this online course, Back to Life: Towards a Regenerative Recovery, is designed to present an alternative approach to how we “do” tourism that delivers greater net benefit, adaptability, resilience and productivity.