Regenerative Travel Experiences: The Future of Tourism beyond Sustainable Travel
Sitting around a campfire, enjoying a local meal while listening to a community organizer telling a story about a fire that deforested the once massive community nature trail. Then, the next day you are participating in tree planting alongside other travelers and community members as part of the reforestation program. You're connected to this place where you have planted a tree. You probably want to come back. And the community wants you to.
People are becoming more introspective - asking what is the meaning of life, wanting to connect with families. People want to reconnect with people in person. - Steven Liew, Director of Public Policy, Airbnb
It is one thing to read about a dangerous event that threatened an ecological system. But it is a whole experience to physically do something to change that, alongside other people. This is a crucial part of what regenerative travel entails. And as a travel company, you can make this experience possible in diverse ways by creating opportunities for both the travelers and the community to learn, serve and immerse.
Regenerative Travel is the Future of Travel Industry: What Are the Key Drivers?
Today travelers are more aware of sustainable travel, leading to higher demand for eco-friendly and climate-neutral tourism services and products. More people are considering how their travel impacts their destinations and have developed a need for purposeful traveling.
Graph showing the percentage of the Asia population that desire conscious travel
But travelers want more than sustainable travel. There is a shift in mindset towards having a positive impact on places and communities we visit.
Currently, there is a growing desire for authentic and immersive travel experiences driving the need for regenerative travel. In the survey by Economist Impact, about 67% of the participants pointed out that the impact on the local community is a major consideration when making travel arrangements. Also, a study conducted by Intrepid Travel indicated that 86% of 18 to 29-year-olds prefer booking travel plans with a company that offers sustainable travel and is socially conscious, driving demand for sustainable and regenerative travel.
The pandemic played a huge role in the drive for regenerative travel, making 2020 a global turning point from simply sustainability to regeneration in tourism and travel. Travelers say the pandemic made them want to form connections which include conscious traveling. They want to connect with the host communities in their travel destinations make a positive impact.
In line with this shift, regenerative tourism has gained support from the government as well as not-for-profit organizations in the industry. Currently, governments in the Asia-Pacific region are actively participating in the promotion of regenerative travel to ensure the travel and tourism sector thrives. In 2021, the tourism and travel industry contributed over USD 143 billion to Southeast Asia’s GDP; a significant part of the economy.
Collaboration is Key in the Move toward Regenerative Travel
Implementing regenerative tourism practices is not an easy feat; you need a lot of effort and collaboration from travelers, host communities, organizations, and businesses. However, companies such as Airbnb and Trepid and organizations like Tourism Australia are paving the way for regenerative tourism globally through their actions and projects.
Airbnb’s Regenerative Travel Projects Across Asia: Homestays, Green Homestays and Farm Stays
Wellness – people want to hear more about experiences – how do you balance wellness, social, and sustainable travel. - Tony Chow, Global Director - Content Marketing and Marketing Partnerships, Hong Kong Tourism Board
Airbnb has made huge investments in promoting community-based tourism through collaborations and projects all over the globe, especially in Asia. Airbnb offers travelers diverse, authentic, and immersive experiences while offering the communities a chance to diversify income channels and improve the local area economy.
Economic Revitalization…
Airbnb discovered travelers' interest in destinations outside big cities. For example, travel searches for Nasushiobara in Japan as a destination grew by 200%. A trend that was similar to places like Haldwani in India, Mount Field in Australia, Marang in Malaysia, and Yeongdeok in South Korea. Evidently, this was a new avenue for locals to provide homestays and gain a new income stream. This was the inspiration behind Hanok Stays where Airbnb empowers the community to take advantage of the growing popularity to offer hosting and make an economic contribution to their community. The project was realized in partnership with Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Traditional Hanok House for Airbnb
Source: Airbnb
Diversity through Agritourism
In 2020, Airbnb collaborated with Australian Regional Tourism (ART) to help farmers achieve diversified operations for their local businesses. The project involved providing farm stays alongside agritourism. The two companies developed a bespoke toolkit for farmers interested in offering Airbnb services. Later, the toolkit was expanded to a development plan for funding national agritourism. An arrangement that also provides amazing learning experiences for travelers.
Sustainability Alongside Regenerative Tourism…
From Economist Impact’s Analysis of travelers in Asia, 58% say it is important for them not to contribute to over-tourism. And 60% say they will be more conscious about the communities they visit and how they can give a positive contribution. Airbnb’s Green Stays project in Malaysia is a great project to appeal to such travelers. The project involves rewarding small farmers and businesses that provide homestays with sustainable practices. Apart from supporting the local community, the project promotes sustainability.
Intrepid Travel Contribution to Regenerative Travel
Intrepid impacts host communities by providing skills training, and supporting gender equality initiatives through community-based tourism experiences. With the mission of positive impact travel, Intrepid launched around 22 impact initiatives in 2022. The initiatives support wildlife conservation, preservation of indigenous culture, and support of vulnerable social groups. The initiatives provide employment opportunities, diverse revenue generation channels, and increasing economic activities within the host community.
Intrepid’s regenerative projects offer experience-rich travel allowing all tourists to connect with the destination and people through hands-on and immersive experiences. Some of the initiatives include:
The papercraft classes are an initiative aimed at supporting the deaf and mute community living in Hue, Vietnam where travelers have an opportunity to interact and connect with them. The travelers join in on the paper flower-making classes, thus connecting without the need to exchange words. The project ensures funding for the organization to support the community. And the project gives visitors an opportunity for purposeful travel; connecting with the community.
In partnership with ActionAid, Intrepid created a community-based project in Myanmar, South East Asia. The project is based in Myaing township impacting over 1,150 members living in the villages. Visitors get to interact with the local people and experience the culture. Additionally, the community lodge created an employment opportunity for the community members, contributing to economic growth.
