New types of Regenerative Tourism
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: What New Forms of Regenerative Tourism? Innovating for Lasting Impact.
As the UN calls for resilient tourism to adapt to crises, climate change, and economic pressures, the tourism industry remains constrained by its reactive mindset. Indeed, any new approach in tourism, even independent ones, risks focusing on preserving existing structures without fully anticipating future challenges. As a result, new proposals are often insufficient to meet the ecological urgency and inclusive economic goals.
Regenerative tourism goes beyond mere adaptation by committing to a proactive approach focused on local repair and regeneration of economies, educational systems, and natural ecosystems. It doesn’t just minimize impacts or engage target audiences; it also aims to create positive impacts on the places visited. This approach considers not only immediate needs but also those of future generations, working collaboratively with local communities, scientists, and governments.
What regenerative practices should tourism adopt to become a catalyst for restoring natural environments and revitalizing local economies in a sustainable way? These solutions should encompass reforestation, biodiversity conservation, and the promotion of local culture while actively involving visitors, who shift from passive consumers to engaged participants. This is an opportunity to turn tourism challenges into renewal opportunities for both destinations and travelers.
This call for contributions aims to gather concrete and innovative proposals to reinvent tourism beyond simple sustainability, focusing on the regeneration of ecosystems, local cultures, and communities.
|
In the context of the 18th Geneva Forum, this annual conference offers a high-level interactive workshop to be held on Monday, December 7, 2026, from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm in Geneva, bringing together key players to discuss new forms of sustainable, eco-friendly, resilient, and regenerative tourism. This event is organized in partnership with the Geneva Forum, Terra Scientifica, and the NGO Objectif Sciences International.
Call for Contributions
We invite:
– tourism and travel professionals, travel agencies, tour operators, federations,
– entrepreneurs,
– tour guides and sector actors,
– event facilitators, adventure coaches…
– researchers,
to actively contribute to discussions on Regenerative Tourism as a lever for impact.
Submit Your Projects!
We call on travel and tourism professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers, local stakeholders, project leaders, or anyone committed to tourism to share their ideas, projects, initiatives, or concepts that contribute to transforming the sector.
You may submit:
– Pilot projects or ongoing initiatives aimed at establishing a regenerative tourism model.
– Innovative ideas or early-stage concepts exploring new approaches.
– Case studies illustrating implemented regenerative tourism practices and their results.
– Collaborative and multidisciplinary approaches to create formats tailored to the needs of territories and communities.Selected contributions may be presented during conferences, workshops, or professional meetings at the event. They will also have the opportunity to participate in in-depth discussions for potential collaborations or funding.
- If you would like to propose a topic for short presentations, please fill out the form below on this page.
- To view the workshop program, please visit the page for [-
- 2:00 pm: Doors Open
- 2:30 pm: Reception
- 3:00 pm: Opening Keynotes
- 3:15 pm: Cycle of - (10 talks of 5 minutes each) - -
- 4:10 pm: Introduction of the question to address
- 4:20 pm: - sessions
- 5:25 pm: - (feedback session)
- 5:50 pm: Closing remarks
- 6:00 pm: Workshop concludes
- 7:00 pm : Networking Dinner
-
–
–
- Identify and propose - The goal is to imagine practices and models that regenerate ecosystems, local communities, and cultures, while offering travelers an authentic and meaningful experience.
- Foster - by designing approaches that go beyond simple sustainability: We seek concepts that positively transform visited areas, whether through ecological restoration, promotion of local know-how, or strengthening social ties between travelers and communities.
- Accelerate - Encourage practices that make tourism a lever for transformation for territories and local populations by optimizing natural and human resources, ensuring a balance between development and preservation.
- Develop an evaluation framework to - of regenerative tourism projects.
- - to maximize the impact of regenerative projects, prioritizing those that bring tangible benefits for ecosystem and cultural preservation.
–
- - to showcase your ideas and projects to an engaged audience.
- - with experts and potential partners to collaborate and advance your initiatives.
- - toward more regenerative and respectful tourism for natural and human environments.
This workshop is part of the ongoing work of the Geneva Forum’s Conference Cycle on the Sustainable Travel and Tourism Day. It aims to provide the professional community with solutions and proposals for formats that strive toward regenerative tourism. It will facilitate collaboration between project leaders, local stakeholders, communities, and investors to maximize the positive impact of initiatives for regenerative tourism.
Through collaborative facilitation and exchanges between experts in tourism, environmental sectors, and communities, we will explore how to maximize available resources to support projects that regenerate both the environment and local communities within tourism.
To realize this approach, we will first give the floor to 10 professionals from various fields, each with 5 minutes to present their perspectives during the workshop’s first hour. Participants will have received information about the speakers and their projects beforehand. These short presentations will focus on best practices for implementing regenerative tourism initiatives, based on key criteria of efficiency, sustainability, and positive impact on territories.
the Annual International Conference on Responsible and Resilient Travel and Tourism for Peace and Development->https://www.geneva-forum.com/Responsible-and-Resilient-Tourism.html].
-
Workshop Agenda
- short presentations What new forms of regenerative tourism can address today’s ecological, social, and cultural challenges? see below
- Group Work Traditional tourism, although often sustainability-focused, is no longer sufficient to offset the ecological and social impacts it generates. There is a need to reinvent tourism formats that not only minimize negative footprints but actively restore and revitalize the environments and communities visited. This call aims to gather ideas and concrete projects that demonstrate tourism can be a transformative force for a fairer world that respects ecosystems and enriches local populations.
Interactive Roundtable
Workshop Objectives - Why Participate
How can tourism experiences be designed to foster the regeneration of ecosystems and communities while respecting local cultural characteristics?
- Workshop Objectives How can tourism play a role in preserving and transmitting local traditions, valuing intangible heritage while stimulating the local economy?
- new formats for regenerative tourism: Develop formats where local communities are at the center of the process, not only as beneficiaries but as co-creators of the tourism content.
- innovation in the tourism sector Use of new technologies to promote smart tourism (Smart Tourism) that contributes to regeneration, for example through sustainable resource management, waste reduction, or renewable energy use in tourist infrastructures.
- the transition to positive-impact tourism: How to integrate cir
|