The Journey to Regenerative Destination Management
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The path to regenerative destination management typically progresses through three phases of maturity: Startup, Integrated, and Empowered.
Each phase signifies a deepening commitment to sustainability, gradually integrating regenerative practices into the destination’s brand and operational ethos.
Startup phase
The initial phase is typically driven by one or more passionate volunteers within the Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP). If you are in the startup phase you will need to focus on building internal support (for example, creating a Green Team with representatives at each level) and engaging interested parties locally to get an understanding of the sustainability initiatives already underway in your destination (there will almost certainly be more than you think!) and start to plan future actions.
Your goal is to bring interested parties together (starting small if you have to), then laying a solid foundation by mapping and understanding current sustainability efforts, fostering collaboration and innovation, and developing an initial sustainability action plan - ideally with some quick wins.
Integrated phase
As efforts mature, a dedicated sustainability manager, often promoted from within, will probably need to be appointed. An external advisory taskforce can also be formed to provide diverse perspectives and input into your strategy and direction. The organisation conducts sentiment analysis of data from surveys, reviews and social media to determine opinions and support about the destinations, its businesses and services from a wide selection of interested parties.
The type of sustainability activities you might undertake should evolve from basic environmental actions (such as reducing energy use in your office) to include activities that promote and encourage social and environmental actions across the destination.
Education, capacity building and sustainability certifications are typically key considerations at this stage, ensuring comprehensive integration of sustainability practices across your destination.
Empowered phase
At this more advanced stage, which will take some years, sustainability will be deeply embedded into your destination’s core. Depending on the size of your organisation, you may have an experienced director, or head of sustainability leading activities. In time, the focus should start to shift from embedding sustainable practices into promoting regenerative business models and accelerating positive impact.
Working with key interested parties in your destination, you will have or develop a long- term (10+ years) regenerative destination management strategy to define goals and set out a roadmap to tourism that has a measurable positive impact, underpinned with data that evidences this.
The strategy will also have mechanisms that harness the opportunities for tourism and events to help solve local environmental, social, and economic challenges. Residents will be at the centre of the plan, and businesses will be encouraged and empowered to take ownership of regenerative initiatives.
Listen and adapt
At all phases of the journey, your destination will need to remain adaptable, continuously listening to those interested parties locally who may have a view, collaborating with them to create new solutions and learning from both successes and challenges.
Engaging in national and international networking enables you to keep up with the latest thinking and allows for sharing stories and strategies, fostering a community of learning and mutual support.
Benchmarking against established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), certification and transparent reporting, such as that offered by the GDS-Index and others, can help destinations stay aligned with their long-term goals, but is not essential to move forward.
