What is regenerative travel?

‘Regenerative travel’ is a new concept that goes beyond sustainable travel. While sustainable travel focuses on minimising the negative impacts of tourism, regenerative travel aims to leave a positive impact on the destination. It’s social-led rather than product-led and gives travellers the opportunity to create a lasting connection with the places they visit.

Regenerative travel helps destinations in a range of ways:

— Community engagement through supporting local businesses and learning about local customs and traditions

— Environmental conservation through foraging, understanding the environment and tree-planting

— Developing cultural respect through practicing local customs and traditions and raising cultural sensitivity

— Economic empowerment through supporting local businesses

— Education and awareness of the benefits of reforestation and biodiversity, while learning about New Zealand native species.

This is how Amanda Ho, the Co-Founder & CEO at Regenerative Travel defines the concept.

The world needs regeneration now more than ever. Regeneration is a concept that goes beyond sustainability by focusing on renewal, restoration, and improvement. While sustainability seeks to minimize harm and achieve neutrality, regeneration aims to create positive outcomes that enhance the well-being of ecosystems, communities, and cultures.

Regeneration is about making things better, not just preventing them from getting worse. It is about healing the damage that has already been done and creating conditions that allow life to thrive. This approach recognizes that everything is interconnected—the health of the environment is linked to the health of communities, economies, and cultures. Regenerative practices seek to restore and enhance these connections, by fostering a holistic and integrated approach to everything we do.

Regenerative travel is about reimagining the entire travel experience—from the moment a trip is planned to the moment a traveler returns home. It involves rethinking how we choose destinations, how we travel to them, how we interact with local communities and environments, and how we leave a positive legacy in the places we visit. Regeneration is not just an alternative to sustainability; it is a fundamental shift in the way we think about travel and our relationship with the world.

All experiences at Velskov are designed to be regerative.