TIA has launched the New Zealand Tourism Awards 2022, with a new award added to the esteemed ensemble for tourism’s highest achievers.
Alongside three individual awards and eight business awards, the supreme Regenerative Tourism Award will celebrate a well-rounded, high-performing tourism business that is working towards all 12 commitments of the Tourism Sustainability Commitment.
This means the business encompasses economic, visitor and community sustainability as well as environmental sustainability.
But what exactly is regenerative tourism, and where did the term come from? The short answer: a regenerative tourism industry is one that gives back more than it takes.
If sustainable tourism asks, ‘how can we make tourism better?’, regenerative tourism asks ‘how can tourism make New Zealand better?’
Regenerative tourism has been used in academic circles for a good while as an evolution of the concept of sustainable tourism.
In New Zealand, the term has gained traction and is seen as the next step on from sustainability. This view was built on with work by Tourism Bay of Plenty which engaged Anna Pollock, a leading academic, to assist in developing its destination management plan for 2019-2022.
Government has very much adopted the term ‘regenerative’.
The 2019 Government Tourism Strategy had the goal: ‘The government wants tourism growth to be productive, sustainable and inclusive’.
Since then and led by Tourism Minister Stuart Nash, the term regenerative has become centrally used, including in the context of the COVID-19 recovery. The Tourism Futures Taskforce used the term widely.
How TIA sees it
TIA invested heavily in developing and operating the Tourism Sustainability Commitment in the years prior to the term regenerative taking hold. The team has considered how we adapt the TSC to incorporate regenerative tourism.
We see sustainability and regenerative being on the same spectrum. Both essentially seek the same outcomes.
We have also evolved our definition of sustainable. Not just holding the line on the current system but making it better. Tourism for good.
A healthy visitor economy is one that we can be proud to leave to those who come after us.
Like all the New Zealand Tourism Awards, the Regenerative Tourism Award is a high bar to reach.
But after last year’s record-breaking number of entries, we know the industry has significant progress to be proud of, and we want to showcase and celebrate these efforts and achievements.
Don’t be afraid of the term regenerative tourism. We are all working towards the same goal: a healthy visitor economy that gives back more than it takes. The important thing is to make a start—and TIA can help.
Read the criteria for the Regenerative Tourism Award here.
Find out more about the New Zealand Tourism Awards here.
