The growth of regenerative travel

Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International (pictured below), says we must lead by example to create sustainable, safe and liveable destinations The work of the Destinations International (DI) European Pathfinders Programme is uncovering the key areas of importance when it comes to the role of convention and visitors bureaus and destination organisations around the world. Of the many fluid challenges, regenerative travel and sustainability are two focus areas leaders are increasingly faced with across the travel and tourism industry. We believe the destination organisation community has a global commitment to be part of the solution when it comes to creating sustainable, safe and livable destinations. This effort must be collaborative between elected leaders, tourism officials, key stakeholders and the citizens of the community. As destinations around the world prioritise these critical initiatives, there are numerous examples of communities big and small that have already done great work. When it comes to meetings and events, we are seeing many destinations develop strategies on meetings legacy and those events having lasting positive impacts in host communities. An example of this is Fáilte Ireland. The destination is looking at developing a wider impact and legacy measurement framework to measure across five success factors including social, sectoral, economic, environmental and political. Our host city for our CEO Summit in early April, Victoria, BC Canada, has a carbon neutral conference centre. During the event, we tackled many topics that destination leaders are facing, including sustainability. The summit had an afternoon dedicated to exploring regenerative tourism. During the event, Yrjötapio ‘YT’ Kivisaari, CEO of Visit Oulu in Finland, shared with the group that sustainability starts with each of us. He urged the audience to step up and make decisions personally toward sustainability before asking our community to follow. YT holds a master’s degree in leadership and sustainability from the University of Cumbria, UK, and has been using his experience and educational knowledge to help the destination of Oulu continue to be a sustainable destination. Visit Oulu is a pioneer in ground-breaking technology and sustainable solutions. You may read more about Visit Oulu’s sustainability efforts at visitoulu.fi/en/sustainability.

Coming together to exchange ideas is one of the unique advantages of the global membership of DI. Our association has members in 23 countries around the world where destination leaders share best practices and guidance on pressing topics – all available through peer-to-peer networking and educational opportunities. We look forward to welcoming leaders from around the world to our Annual Convention, 18-20 July, 2023, in Dallas, Texas, USA, where we will continue to address the key areas of regenerative travel and sustainable tourism. For more information and to register, visit destinationsinternational.org/annual.