Rewriting Tourism: Communities at the Heart of Change

In our previous posts exploring future scenarios for sustainable tourism, we looked at the challenges of short-term thinking and made the case for a more holistic approach — one that balances environmental, economic and socio-cultural factors. This time we want to go deeper into models and approaches that see regenerative tourism as a key element in local place making and community rebuilding.

Leading global expert on responsible tourism Birgitta Spee-König says that, today, most destination management organisations (DMOs) are stuck in promo mode, attracting tourists without managing the real-life impact of their strategies: “This amounts to destination neglect,” she argues, highlighting the need to establish an agenda for conscious destinations built on shared values and true collaboration with those most affected.

In this post, we want to explore some innovative approaches that go beyond vague notions of sustainability.  While most of the current published research on sustainability and tourism acknowledges the UN sustainable development goals, in our view tourism policies and strategies need to go further­. In practice, this means adapting solutions to fit each distinctive context so that places can thrive not just as destinations, but as vibrant communities.

In a recent interview for the Journal of Tourism Futures, Pauline Sheldon, Emeritus Professor at the University of Hawai‘s School of Travel Industry Management  advocates for regenerative tourism as a means to contribute more significantly to improving quality of life for all. However, she also argues that regenerative tourism is often viewed simply as a step beyond sustainability — without acknowledging that truly regenerative approaches require deep, systemic shifts in mindsets, values and systems.

Sheldon’s interview raises some pressing questions. Although it’s encouraging to see DMOs adopting sustainable management models and tourism businesses backing corporate social responsibility initiatives, such efforts, in many cases, fall short of transforming the underlying structure of tourism enterprises, which remain primarily driven by short-term profit goals.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)  is taking interesting steps towards a holistic approach to managing destinations. In particular, the institution´s new vision is to create “a meaningful Pacific Asia tourism economy,” where meaningful reflects a commitment to long-term outcomes that benefit all stakeholders. Such an approach, based on the work of Georg Arlt, director of the UK and Nepal-based Meaningful Tourism Centre, takes a holistic view of destination management by measuring satisfaction levels across six major stakeholder groups (visitors, host communities, employees, companies, governments, the environment).

One approach that moves beyond traditional destination management and embraces community-led ownership is the recently launched partnership between the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) and Slow Food. In a Memorandum of Understanding  signed in June this year the two organisations  set out to promote gastronomy tourism as a tool for socio-economic development. In the Memorandum both organizations commit to strengthening the gastronomy tourism ecosystem by fostering stronger connections among organic farmers, food producers, tourism service providers, rural tourism destinations, Slow Food communities and visitors.

Staying on the theme of food, this time in smaller rural areas, the Slow Food Travel Programme, created in response to the climate and environmental crisis, is attracting attention with its sustainable culinary tourism initiatives. Their Slow Food Farms programme, in particular, bring farmers together in a vast network to help them take control of their business, amplify their voices, and work towards an agroecological transition. Austria´s southernmost region of Carinthia is officially the first Slow Food Travel Region  and is considered a global best-practice example of a regenerative model combining agriculture, culinary heritage and tourism.

But that’s not all — in parallel with the implementation of regenerative tourism projects, new forms of governance, essential to ensuring long-term impact and legitimacy, are being tested. These are grounded in the active involvement of local stakeholders such as residents, community groups, local businesses, cultural organisations, indigenous communities and municipal authorities.

In San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), the Via Orgánica Ranch provides a powerful model for restoring both ecosystems and rural livelihoods. Here, on 75 once-degraded hectares, there is now a vibrant hub that grows organic vegetables, herbs, fruits, seeds and ethical animal products. And the ranch is more than a farm — it’s a hands-on learning centre where visitors discover how to heal the land through composting, biointensive gardening, seed-saving and tree-planting.

In the Maldives tourism operators in the Horsburgh Atoll got organized to deal with the negative impacts of Covid 19. The result was the creation of HATA: the Horsburgh Atoll Tourism Alliance  a bold, grassroots movement which in time led to the Maldives’ first community-led DMO. Backed by USAID and Solimar International (a consulting and marketing firm that specializes in sustainable tourism development) HATA is structured as a cooperative, aimed at giving locals a real stake in shaping socially and economically sustainable tourism. For the first time, island councils are sitting together to co-design a future where tourism protects nature while uplifting communities.

City-led culture and heritage partnerships are driving some interesting practices across the EU. In Halandri, a neighbourhood of Athens, a forgotten 20 km Roman aqueduct — once the city’s lifeline — has been revived as a catalyst for community wellbeing and regeneration. Led by the municipality and a mix of cultural, academic and civic partners, the project has turned underground history into a living asset. The aqueduct now irrigates public spaces (which are now considerably cooler in the summer heat), and among other things, has brought 8,500m² of green land back to life — all by engaging local communities.

Visitors too benefit from such regenerative initiatives driven by new models of governance. In Paris, for example, the implementation of mayor Anne Hidalgo’s pioneering 15-minute city concept,  the greening of 500 streets through the removal of car parking, and the recent opening of three public bathing zones along the Seine (throughout the summer) are improving everyday life for residents, creating a more liveable and enjoyable city for all. Here visitors gain a memorable Parisian summer experience — cooling off with a dip in the Seine, while admiring the city’s iconic landmarks. Locals benefit from new accessible green and recreational spaces, reflecting the city’s commitment to sustainability and climate-adaptive infrastructure.

If Paris shows how hybrid governance structures (combining state regulation, expert agencies, municipal leadership and civic collaboration) can drive regeneration with social benefits, Italy offers an even more interesting model: Community Cooperatives (community enterprises), a distinctive form of entrepreneurship emerging in fragile territories, often rural or marginalized urban areas, where economic and social opportunities are scarce.

As a pioneer of participatory entrepreneurial models rooted in local communities, Giovanni Teneggi highlights  such models of enterprise which offer a concrete alternative to the traditional development model, which is often focused on global market dynamics. They place people, local culture and sustainability at the centre, creating resilient and inclusive economies. There are 300 such initiatives, 40 of which are located in the Emilia-Romagna region alone. An example is Rigoso (Parma) where the community enterprise reopened local shops with the condition that the shopkeepers live in the village. This helped revive local shops, foster social interaction and support the economy — renewing Rigoso’s vitality and its appeal to community-minded visitors.

Elsewhere, Mpidusa on the island of Lampedusa,  traditional agriculture linked food production with cultural memory to provide authentic agritourism experiences. Elsewhere, the iconic Paranza, a social cooperative founded in 2006 in the heart of Naples’ Rione Sanità, saw a group of young people from the neighbourhood transforming the area’s history, culture and archaeology into a driving force for conscious urban regeneration, and social hope. Paranza received the European Heritage Award – Europa Nostra (2022), for its grassroots approach, helping to restore pride and active participation within the community. The Sanità district is today a tourist hub, attracting mindful visitors and generating an estimated economic impact of around €33 million per year.

The “Sanità method” is now being studied across Europe as a blueprint for harmonising culture, generative welfare, local identity and sustainable tourism that values quality over quantity and connection over consumption. More broadly, rooted in residents’ desire to reclaim their places through collective action, community cooperatives play a vital role in tourism because, as Giovanni Teneggi maintains, they rewrite the story of tourism from one of extraction to one of co-creation, respect and regeneration — a story that resonates deeply with the calls for sustainable and ethical cultural tourism today.

Lia Ghilardi is a leading expert in cultural tourism strategies and city making. With decades of hands-on consulting experience, she supports places in uncovering their cultural DNA to create opportunities for inclusive and equitable regeneration. She works with international organisations such as the EU, OECD, and the British Council, as well as cities around the world to promote sustainable, people-centred growth.

Bernhard Bauer is a cultural anthropologist and consultant in tourism and the cultural industries. He connects tourism, culture, and agriculture to propose creative solutions for projects funded by UNESCO, UNWTO, and the World Bank in developing countries. He advises the management company Bain & Co. and the OECD Tourism Unit and teaches at the SRH School of Management in Germany.