Sustainability. Evolving tourism to save the future
Imagine not being able to travel to pristine beaches, colourful coral reefs, and untouched forests. A bitter pill to swallow in the short-term for us living through the pandemic. But it could be an all-too-real actuality for future generations — maybe even our generation. Irreparable damage is being done to even the most robust ecosystems. And much of it thanks to over-tourism. The question is: can tourism, the world’s largest and fastest-growing industry pre-pandemic and also one of the most destructive, be reconstructed into a force for good — a catalyst for ecosystem regeneration? More and more believe an awakening is manifesting.
Eco-tourism is no longer a new idea, so what if we evolved it further? Not only preserving but actively regenerating, lifting degraded ecosystems out of survival mode and into thriving areas of abundance. Travelling in a way that left the destination in a better state than when you found it. Regenerative tourism to support large-scale restoration projects may just be the way to abide by our moral obligation to the planet and change behaviour for the better.
Here are some thoughts I’ve been mulling over on this. If you have ideas to share or that build on what you read here, reach out. Help us get this conversation going about the role of tourism in the future of our planet. They say it takes a village to raise a baby; it’s going to take the collaboration of many villages — from diverse backgrounds, skill sets, and generations — to combat the rapid degradation of ecosystems around the globe.
Before thinking about how resto-tourism can be cultivated to grow green bonds, eco-awareness, and eco-literacy (more on that later), a logical place to start is defining the term, so we’re all on the same page. Regeneration is simply “healing what has been wounded in our communities”, according to Michelle Holliday’s Age Of Thrivability. For too long now, we have treated delicate ecosystems as if they were machines: farming, visiting, depleting, destroying with little thought of ‘maintenance.’ And so, restoration and regeneration concerning tourism can be seen not as anti-growth, but pro-planet. By focusing on ecosystem restoration, we aim to remedy the Climate Crises, re-stabilising climate patterns in the coming decades through healthy habitats. Resto-tourism asks for a shift in perspective and practice for the benefit of the entire system as a whole, not only humanity in the short term.
Pause for breath.
Right now, we are experiencing an unprecedented pause in travel. For the first time in this relatively young industry’s existence, planes are grounded, hotels lie empty. This pause is a golden opportunity to rally, restore, and move forward with tangible change. More than just riding a natural wave of change, we need to paddle out ahead and secure the best set. When things get going again — and they will — travel needs to restart on the right foot. But how?
There are a few ideas.
Firstly, a regenerative tourist tax.
Over 500 million tourists visited Europe each year before the pandemic. That’s a huge potential currency for change. We need to ask how can we use travel to restore the natural wildness of our continent. If even a Euro from each traveller made it to the right cause, that would be €500 million to finance rewilding and ecosystem restoration projects on a massive scale within just fifty years.
Now, you may be thinking, ‘there’s already a tourist tax implemented in many places in Europe.’ And, you’re not wrong. But in general, there has been a lack of monitoring, evaluation, and analysis in tourism-related taxes. And, while there has been some increase in environmental protection funding, there is a lot of room for improvement. A resto-tourism tax could take many forms: tax on arrival, with tourists being able to choose a restoration project and follow their money or, what I’m most intrigued by, accommodation tax. What if we built the Booking.com of eco-restoration with an even greater scope and scale?
Not as far-fetched as it seems. Fairbnb and Iceland’s Accommodation Tax are already proving that is possible to funnel revenue into local regenerative projects that promote, protect, and regenerate natural attractions. Rather than going to the shareholders.
Shifting the status-quo
One thing tourism has going for it is its universality. It has touched every corner of the globe. Such an important industry can create awareness for ecosystem restoration on a massive scale. Even a seemingly small change — such as allowing travellers to see where their few Euros from a booking fee go, which ecosystem restoration project they are aiding — has the potential for a big impact. However, it begs to ask the question: would a regenerative tourist tax alone be enough to raise awareness on such a scale? Unlikely. We need a multi-pronged approach. Cue eco-literacy, eco-awareness.
Giving ourselves a future
In our modern ways, we have mistaken technology for wisdom. Our ancestors lived harmoniously with nature, but we lost connection to the natural world and with it, knowledge about it. We must re-learn that nature is not separate from us, everything is interdependent. “Shifting from an old, fragmented, mechanical way of seeing to a holistic, systemic, perspective,” as transformative innovator Daniel Christian Wahl puts it, “is the biggest, most critical task facing humanity today.” But in doing so, we journey into eco-awareness: reconnecting with nature, reconnecting logic and intuition, masculine and feminine, and the socio-economic system with equality and prosperity.
Getting tourists engaged and contributing in a meaningful way starts with shifting the widely accepted view of separateness to one where ecosystems, species, cities, and continents are seen as a living, breathing whole — a web of interconnectedness. Resto-tourism’s success relies not only on governments being on board but also on informed tourists and caring hosts. The local tour companies, resorts, and HORECA (hotels, restaurants, cafes) need to know the value of investing in the long-term health of their community, coral reefs, wetlands, forests and all. Cultivating not only an innate eco-awareness but deeper: eco-literacy.
Re-learning to live regeneratively
To become eco-literate is to “understand the ecological systems that make life on earth possible” and using that knowledge “to create sustainable human communities.” For too long, tourism — and indeed humanity — has existed in a silo, separate from and at the expense of ecological communities. For us to move beyond eco-tourism and its sustainable mindset and embrace regeneration and restoration tourism, there’s a need to grow eco-literacy at all levels of society: politics, the big guns of the tourism industry, and the masses.
An awakening is underway. A growing number of thinkers believe that tourism plays a pivotal role in restoring once flourishing, thriving destinations. After all, the future of humanity depends on it. Fortunately, research has shown that people are willing to pay for a good cause. What cultivating an eco-literacy and awareness would do on a large-scale would put existing and yet-to-be-realised restoration projects on the map.
The finding of restoration projects from a tourist perspective is challenged, as is the funding of such projects. The Jukajoki basin restoration project in Finland is one of many European rewilding efforts that has been going on, largely undetected by the general public. But March 17th this year marked the very first #rewilding day. And in many ways, it’s thanks to Sir David Attenborough and the release of his most recent documentary to bring the idea of rewilding to the masses.
Tourism is in dire need of transformation. Continuing as we have been doing is simply not an option anymore. But this unprecedented pause caused by the pandemic is an opportunity to reinvent tourism as a driving force to safeguard and restore our earth of abundance. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors once lived regeneratively. The time now is to “become, once again, a species in balance with nature.” I use this quote from Attenborough’s A Life On Our Planet intentionally. We cannot mobilise a generation to restore the planet without powerful, populist forces like Netflix, which brings urgent topics into the homes and minds of many, and tourism, the largest and fastest-growing industry on earth.
If we take care of nature, nature will take care of us.
— D. Attenborough, A Life On Our Planet
It’s a snowball effect. The more eco-awareness and eco-literacy grows, the more a regenerative tourist tax makes sense. The more scaled-up a regenerative tourist tax becomes, the more funding goes directly into the restoration of diverse ecosystems. And the more successfully resto-tourism becomes a catalyst for ecosystem regeneration.
Let’s act now and use this pandemic-induced pause to further the global awakening that has begun because the stark truth is too many ecosystems — life support systems for the planet — risk collapse.
One positive takeaway is that the idea of travel at its core is a ‘Force For Transformation,’ to use Anna Pollucks words. We go away to rest, relax, recuperate, rejuvenate, and re-charge — to “come alive.” Restorative tourism is a matter of expanding that notion of renewal from ourselves, to incorporate the destinations and ecosystems we visit, shifting our perspectives and policies for the good of the planet. Tourism is the only industry with enough global reach and local impact. Put like that, it’s a much easier pill to swallow, don’t you think?
