New Zealand’s popularity among travelers has steadily increased over the
years. In 2019, nearly 3.9 million international
visitors
arrived on the island (Aotearoa, the country’s Māori name); and
international visitor arrivals were forecasted to reach 5.1 million in
2024,
according to the country’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. And,
like most destinations, increased tourism in New Zealand has led
to
natural resource degradation, increased greenhouse gas emissions, loss of
biodiversity,
and overcrowding on beaches and in natural landscapes.
Like many industries coming out of the Industrial Revolution, traditional
tourism models relied on extraction and exploitation.
“Places are packaged up and sold as destinations and places you must see before
you
die.
And the landscapes, culture and people, in a sense, are packaged up as part of
that sales proposition,” said Anna
Pollock, founder of Conscious
Travel and a change agent in regenerative-focused tourism.
Yet, long before COVID-19 swept around the globe, tourism professionals in New
Zealand’s Bay of Plenty, in particular, were already exploring regenerative
approaches
leaning heavily on Māori values and wisdom to address tourism’s problems while
reimagining the scope and purpose of the industry.
In many ways,
“regeneration” has
become a buzzword companies are tacking on to their products in an effort to
repackage “sustainable” offerings as having a positive impact on the planet and
people. But no single product, company or even industry is singularly
regenerative; nor is regeneration new. Rather, regeneration is an ideology and
process that embraces the interconnectedness of Earth’s ecosystems and
collective wisdom so that people and the planet can flourish. It’s as old as the
planet itself — and it may be the answer the world needs as it stands on the
precipice of catastrophic biodiversity loss and climate disaster.
“What we’re being asked to do as human beings, let alone as tourism
professionals, is seriously rethink how we have related to the natural world,”
Pollock said.
Taking advantage of the forced pandemic pause and building off the momentum of a
less extractive tourism model already taking shape in the Bay of Plenty,
approximately 80 tourism stakeholders across New Zealand participated in a
program called Back to Life in early
2021. Led by Pollock, who has worked closely with New Zealand tourism partners
for more than a decade; and Michelle Holliday —
a consultant and author of the book, The Age of Thrivability: Vital Perspectives and Practices for a Better World, the 10-week online program provided a foundation
for shaping thriving host communities rooted in local context and culture.
“It was a combination of content, conversation and practice as much as possible
along the way,” Holliday said — noting that while she and Pollock provided
content, they were very intentional in honoring and centering local Māori
wisdom.
The program’s five modules centered on the core principles of regenerative
tourism:
-
perspective and principles (what does regeneration mean and how can
nature’s proven design principles be applied in a tourism framework?);
-
purpose (what does flourishing look like within a visitor economy?);
-
people (how do roles and relationships help create the conditions for
healthy, resilient and productive communities?);
-
place (how does the uniqueness of place shape us?); and
-
practice (how do we broaden the understanding of and deepen care for
nature and its people?).
Extensive offline reading prepared participants for facilitated discussions and
small breakout groups where participants ideated and reflected on content.
Everyone was invited to contribute to a “continuing harvest” document where they
shared questions and thoughts on how to apply regenerative principles in their
work and specific context. “The first session, in particular, was so powerful.
People were so eager to be together in this exploration, and feel hope for a new
way of imagining and doing tourism,” Holliday said.
“My understanding of regeneration, initially, was very shallow. It was the
understanding that, like sustainability was ‘do less harm,’ regeneration was ‘do
more good,’” said Josie Major, New Zealand programs manager for GOOD
Travel. Similarly, Debbie Clarke, founder of New Zealand Awaits, said she had
an awareness but not a thorough understanding of regeneration prior to Back to
Life. Going through the learning process as a group was particularly powerful
for her: “It was a deeply personal and very emotional experience, especially
around understanding our place and our belonging to our place,” Clarke said.
For people working in an industry centered on doing, taking time to reflect
upon and learn from the larger ecosystem in which tourism exists was a jarring
departure. Initially, Pollock said, “everyone wanted practical tools for dealing
with COVID, so you had that dynamic of how are we going to survive this enormous
crisis and an inherent internal desire by many to go back to
normal
as soon as possible. The biggest challenge was getting people to understand that
this is a whole new way of thinking, a whole new way of seeing the world — and
that takes time.”
As New Zealand prepares to reopen its borders to vaccinated international
visitors in early
2022,
the question is whether the country’s tourism industry will fall back into its
old habits or embrace an entirely new, regenerative approach that honors place
and people far more than extractive profit.
“Since the course, it’s been a fundamental shift in thinking for me. In
particular, the living systems principles and starting to see the visitor
economy in our communities as living systems has been a profound shift,” Major
said. “I’m taking the time to have conversations that don’t necessarily have a
specific output. I’m building relationships and still deepening my
understanding.”
For their part, Major and Clarke are committed to continuing the conversation
about regenerative tourism in New Zealand through a new podcast called “GOOD
Awaits” — which they launched after completing
the Back to Life program.
“This is a practice. This is a journey,” Clarke said. “I think all of us in the
course really realized, ‘ok, we’re in this together, we’re starting this
together.’ And there is so much hope.”
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JoAnna Haugen is a writer, speaker and solutions advocate who has worked in the travel and tourism industry for her entire career. She is also the founder of Rooted — a solutions platform at the intersection of sustainable tourism, social impact and storytelling. A returned US Peace Corps volunteer, international election observer and intrepid traveler, JoAnna helps tourism professionals decolonize travel and support sustainability using strategic communication skills.
Published Aug 16, 2021 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST