In the past few decades, there has been increasing criticism on the classical measurements of success within the tourism sector. Tourism is still mainly evaluated by measuring tourist numbers and national economic impact, with a lesser emphasis on environmental impact and the effects of tourism on communities.

The rise of regenerative tourism brings to the forefront the question of how to evaluate tourism from a holistic perspective, considering effects on community and nature, hosts, and visitors. Regenerative tourism has a place-based focus and can in general be summarized by its core aim of invigorating and strengthening places and tourism resources (objective AND subjective). Some pioneers of regenerative tourism have even been wary of attaching scientific metrics or evaluation methods to the pursuit of regenerative tourism, as this might swallow the holistic, living, and subjective basis of the practice.

In academic literature, there has been interest in turning towards broader impact studies, where it is acknowledged that economic benefits alone do not provide a full assessment of the role of tourism. Thus, for instance, carrying capacity studies have been conducted looking at tourism through the perspective of visitors, hosts, environment, and services; the concept of community wellbeing has been gaining ground as a way to evaluate the impact on host communities; and surveys aiming at discerning host communities’ views on changes brought by the rise of tourism have gained traction.

Within NorReg, we acknowledge the need for evaluation; for assessing where we start our endeavors from how we progress and what we have achieved.  

Here, we introduce the NorReg Evaluation Matrix, where we are gathering possible methods of evaluation for regenerative tourism. 

We will be adding approaches through contributions from members, academic input and new examples brought to us. This is a learning process for all of us and we look forward to developing this matrix with the regenerative tourism community.

Join us in growing the bank of knowledge we can use to evaluate our journey towards regenerative tourism!

Contact us through icelandtourism@icelandtourism.is

Access the Evaluation Matrix Masterclass on 24. October 2024 to learn more: https://www.norreg.is/events/norreg-massterclass-october