On 17 February, the world gained a new memorable date: Global Tourism Resilience Day. Announced to the UN General Assembly, it is intended to highlight the economic importance of the tourism sector, particularly in developing countries. It is also designed to build awareness of the sector’s vulnerability to shocks, which are increasingly driven by climate change but also by the impact of tourism itself. Building resilience demands a new form of tourism – one that is regenerative.
In contrast with traditionally passive consumers seeing the sights, regenerative travellers try to make deeper connections with the places they visit. They seek to minimise negative impact but also to contribute to communities’ resilience and learn about local cultures.
A recent survey conducted by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) in Saudi Arabia indicates that regenerative travellers have a strong interest in culture and the environment. More than a third say they are planning trips involving natural heritage over the next two years, and almost as many say the same about cultural heritage.
Sustainable travel does not have to mean sacrifice
But while 94 per cent of travellers say they take steps to reduce their carbon footprint on their trips, only 37 per cent have participated in an activity that made a positive impact on the local environment, and only about a quarter have selected a hotel or airline based on its sustainability credentials.
For policymakers and planners, this is an opportunity to close the perception gap. And part of the challenge is providing tourism options that do not involve compromise. For example, not everyone is willing to sacrifice personal comfort on holiday. While more than 40 per cent say they would use eco-friendly or shared transport, travel out of season or eat at restaurants without buffets, this drops below 30 per cent for restrictions on power or water supply.
Gopinath Parayil, founder of The Blue Yonder, which specialises in immersive and cultural travel experiences that benefit local communities, says that sustainable tourism is often about experiencing things in new ways, rather than giving anything up.
“In the early days, we were putting pressure on the traveller, saying ‘you need to do this, you need to do that’,” says Parayil. “Now, we simply position our business as experiential immersive fun, and our customers get to see the benefits for communities first-hand.”
And sustainable tourism can be more enjoyable, says Waleed Aldayel, Chief Strategy Officer for the Royal Commission for AlUla, a county in northwest Saudi Arabia. The AlUla sustainable tourism masterplan – which is based on bringing together Saudi Arabia’s natural beauty with its community, culture, contemporary art, wellness, adventure and sports – includes using trams to move visitors to destinations, reducing carbon emissions. “But most importantly, this is also enriching the travel experience by reducing the number of cars,” says Aldayel.
Grasping economic opportunity involves playing a long game
In some small island developing states, tourism can account for up to 70 per cent of GDP. The economic benefits are well understood by the travellers in the RCU survey, who see local employment as one of the most important ways in which tourism affects communities.
But too often, forests are felled to make way for large-scale resorts whose swimming pools and golf courses drain local water supplies. “According to some estimates, travellers consume eight to nine times more water than local residents,” says Gloria Rebeca Guevara Manzo, Chief Special Advisor to Saudi Arabia’s tourism ministry.
There must be a balance between encouraging sustainability and rebuilding pandemic-hit economic potential while taking into account both social impact and environmental conservation. This, says Anita Mendiratta, a tourism adviser and author, will mean increasing the number of regenerative travellers. Mendiratta sees Saudi Arabia working to strike this balance by making investments whose benefits will be felt in the long term: “The kingdom is committed to sustainable tourism development in its holistic sense, economic, social, cultural and environmental - working to ensure that short-term growth numbers were aligned to growing the right way for the long term.”
Some countries are cultivating a new generation of responsible travellers
Policymakers can set the tone for regenerative tourism. New Zealand, for instance, is encouraging a mindset shift among visitors. On arrival, they are invited to take the Tiaki promise – a pledge to care for the country’s people, culture, land, sea and natural environment, and to act as a guardian of these resources for future generations.
There is a similar initiative in Palau, where the government requires visitors to confirm in their passport declaration that they will protect the country’s natural assets during their stay. Guevara says that governments must take the lead in promoting a regenerative travel sector and encouraging private investment. “Tourism certainly has the capability to solve many problems, but it is equally important to assign the resources in order to make it part of the solution.”