In this same post, the Co-founder of Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency points out concrete experiences in which he considers that regenerative tourism practices are being carried out Antarctica Email List.
This is the case of the Visit Flanders Tourist Office, which is reorienting its offer to promote travel in the interior of Belgium. “It is not necessary to travel to the other side of the world to have a pleasant experience, in the future people may combine a national trip with other international ones, instead of going so much to foreign destinations”, said Elke Dens, Marketing Director of Visit Flanders, highlighting a phenomenon that is already occurring with intensity in Spain, where domestic tourism, although it may have been due to the pandemic, has multiplied and according to experts it may take root in subsequent years. Through Visit Flanders, initiatives have also been launched for visitors to create links with local communities through experiences on episodes such as World War I, where neighbors become transmitters of their historical identity.
New Zealand is another of the countries that has experienced a change in trend in recent months and the result of this was the “Do something new this winter” campaign to redirect its offer towards more relaxed tourism, reinforcing local trails. The Government of this country stood firm this year against the massive visits to the Milford Sound-Piopiotahi fjord, a world heritage site on the South Island and which has a pressure of 870,000 annual visitors, especially attracted because this enclave was one of the most popular venues. recognizable that appear in the trilogy of “The Lord of the Rings” and that was described by the writer Rudyard Kipling as “the eighth wonder of the world”. Thus, in the New Zealand country, experiences such as the Ecotours of Queenstown have been launched, a southern city where activities such as tree planting are offered, or diving experiences accompanied by the recovery of maritime reserves.
In a similar sense, restrictions have been applied in Venice, which as of September 1, 2022 will charge entrance fees to combat what they have called “over-tourism” and which seek to reduce the negative environmental and cultural impact of overcrowding while they want to stimulate the local economy. The Italian city has registered years of more than 30 million visitors that have increased pollution by the hotel sector and dynamited its real estate market due to the collapse of some buildings, a situation that led Unesco to intervene, organizing a workshop on restoration of the Venetian heritage.
Another territory in which a debate has been opened about tourism and its effects is Hawaii, where the local population has spoken out on several occasions against mass trips to the island. In fact, the Hawaii Tourism Authority published in April an action plan to promote other types of practices, appealing directly to the concept of regenerative tourism, “which takes sustainability one step further and focuses on the net benefit of the visitor’s economy. to a destination, looking at the social and cultural benefits ”. As a result of this program, those in charge of regulating tourism in this destination will apply actions to protect Hawaiian culture, promote environmental preservation practices among visitors and members of the community, promote agrotourism, invest in programs and infrastructure, and improve application. of holiday rental regulations socialposts.
