ReTour

ReTour is a project co-financed by the Interreg South Baltic 2021-2027 program to develop new methods and solutions for regenerative tourism.

What is regenerative tourism?

Regenerative tourism is an approach that goes beyond sustainable tourism. While sustainable tourism focuses on preserving places for future use, regenerative tourism aims to restore and improve these places, restoring their natural and cultural resources and supporting local communities. Regenerative tourism makes a place thrive. It requires both a shift in thinking and a paradigm shift. The project focuses on developing regenerative tourism, which aims to create experiences that contribute to the improvement and renewal of places where it is implemented. In this way, tourism not only makes use of local resources, but also supports their sustainability and improves the quality of life of local residents.

What will be implemented as part of the project?

The Pomorskie Tourism Organization will focus on studying the needs of various tourist destinations and, on this basis, will develop and introduce proposals for new tourism offers that are rich in experience based on regenarative tourism.

These activities will be conducted in close cooperation with various entities, such as:

• municipalities
• tourist enterprises
• non-governmental organizations

The identified examples and key findings will be shared among the partners in the ReTour project, allowing the development of tourism offers that will create significant value for various stakeholders, including:

• local communities
• small and medium-sized enterprises

Specific offers will be prepared taking into account the specifics of the site, allowing for a better fit with the needs of tourists and local communities, taking into account important aspects, including environmental protection and cultural preservation of the site.

The project’s activities are divided into four different working areas:

1. The first
2. The working area includes joint study tours to explore good
3. practices, collaborate with stakeholders and develop methods of action for
4. regenerative tourism.
5. The second
6. work area focuses on testing and exploring different tourism offerings
7. tourism. In this process, both opportunities and
8. limitations of these offers. All partners will conduct tests in their
9. areas of operation, taking into account the specifics of their locations. The goal is to
10. jointly develop appropriate regenerative tourism practices that are
11. adapted to local conditions and needs.
12. The third
13. work area involves developing guidelines on how to
14. positioning in the Baltic Sea tourism space of places of
15. regenerative character. These sites will be promoted through various
16. PR activities, with accompanying journalistic visits.
17. The fourth
18. work area concerns the consolidation and dissemination of new developments. A
19. guidebook, toolkit and joint action plan for
20. positioning of regenerative tourism sites.

All of the project’s work areas are aimed at development and are characterized by an exploratory approach. This means that:

• They focus on finding new solutions and ideas.
• They aim to enrich the knowledge of regenerative tourism.
• Participants will explore various aspects and opportunities to better understand how to improve tourism offerings.

This approach will enable the project to adapt to changing market needs and better respond to tourism challenges.

Why is cooperation important?

Regenerative tourism requires consideration of several aspects of sustainability. By identifying the needs of a place, experiences can be developed that address important and key challenges, such as environmental protection, preservation of a place’s culture and economic development. This can include, for example, the creation of non-obvious tourism experiences in which the conditions and specific needs of places and communities determine which experiences are developed. In this way, the potential of a place is developed while providing visitors with a valuable experience. To achieve this, various stakeholders such as local communities, businesses, nonprofit organizations and authorities must work together.

Pilot project

The Pomorskie Tourism Organization’s pilot project will research, analyze and market new experiences in regenerative tourism. The examples collected and key lessons learned will be shared with other regions and countries as part of the ReTour project to shape the development of sustainable tourism offerings. Collaboration is critical to the success of regenerative tourism with its innovative strategies and methods to revitalize the local tourism sector.

Our goals

The goal of the project is to understand how tourism can develop and strengthen local communities and support the natural conservation of a place. Initially, we will focus on exploring how different places around the world are using regenerative tourism. We will delve into methods already developed, as well as test brand new approaches, to begin the process of finding out what will work in Pomorskie and the South Baltic region.

Downloadable files

Information about the project (EN)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (EN)