International forum: Regenerative tourism in action

We invite you to the ZRC Atrium on Monday, 14 September at 9.00 am, where an international forum on regenerative tourism entitled ‘Places, Communities and Tourism: From Concept to Practice' will take place.

Register for the event by 11 September at https://1ka.arnes.si/RegenerativniTurizem 

INVITATION

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Few economic sectors provoke such conflicting reactions as tourism. While it provides employment for a large number of people and is widely considered to be a driver of development, its negative impacts have recently received increased attention. These impacts range from environmental degradation and the erosion of local cultural identities to a decline in the quality of life for local communities.

But what if tourism could break free from the pressure to prioritise profitability at any cost? What if it were to become not just more sustainable, but regenerative?

Regenerative tourism is a new concept at the heart of the Interreg project Regenera4MED, of which ZRC SAZU — specifically the Anton Melik Institute of Geography — is a partner. Running from April 2025 to 2027, the project involves representatives from various Mediterranean regions, including Catalonia, Liguria, Abruzzo, Crete, Corsica and the Split-Dalmatia region. The project involves developing and testing new tourism models in practice at six pilot destinations, including creating 13 regenerative tourism experiences.

As a research-academic partner, the ZRC SAZU team has conducted a thorough review of the concept and analysed examples of good practice. This has helped establish the basic framework for further practical work in the pilot areas, and the team has also developed practical educational content and other support tools to facilitate the transition to regenerative tourism.

Regenerative tourism is based on a systemic approach that considers the environment and society as interconnected systems. Therefore, every action inevitably affects related systems at all levels, ranging from culture and agriculture to infrastructure. When viewed through the lens of regeneration, tourism acts as a catalyst that strengthens the resilience of the local environment, its people, and its communities, ensuring a better quality of life and greater sustainability.

Regenerative tourism is based on a holistic understanding of a given area ('place-based' approach) and the active involvement of the local community ('bottom-up' approach). Through this approach, it aims to bolster the resilience of places and actively restore local ecosystems while ensuring a high quality of life for local residents and communities in the long term.

Interest in this topic and regenerative practices has been growing recently, both in Europe and globally. Regenerative tourism is already being practised in northern Europe, in countries such as Iceland, Finland and Estonia. It is also gaining momentum in Catalonia and several other European countries, as well as in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The recent OECD Trends and Policies 2026 report also recognises regenerative tourism as a future direction for development. All of this provides us with a strong incentive to discuss regenerative tourism more actively across Slovenia as a whole.

As part of the Regenera4MED project, we aim to encourage individuals and organisations from various sectors in the Mediterranean region and Europe as a whole, including Slovenia, to understand and implement regenerative tourism. The involvement of decision-makers and policymakers in tourism and related sectors at the national, regional and local levels, as well as cross-sectoral collaboration, is essential for effective systemic change.

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The international forum will begin with a discussion with Dr Irena Ateljević. an internationally recognized scholar, policy advisor, and practitioner in sustainable and regenerative development. With a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, she held academic positions across Australasia and Europe, including Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, and has authored more than 60 publications. In 2011, she returned to Croatia to “walk the talk” and translate decades of research into place-based regenerative practice. She founded Terra Meera and Regenerate Europe, and currently leads regenerative tourism education and participatory processes through the Interreg SUSTOUR project in Šibenik-Knin County and the Interreg Regenera4MED project on the island of Hvar.

Her talk explores regenerative tourism as a catalyst for place regeneration—moving beyond reducing tourism’s negative impacts towards strengthening the ecological, cultural and social vitality of place. Drawing on her journey from academic theory to lived practice, she will share how regeneration can become a pathway for systemic transformation. More about her work can be found on her website.