On What Terms Might Regenerative Tourism Proponents Justly Engage with Indigenous Knowledges?

Abstract

A key feature of the regenerative tourism movement is the engagement with Indigenous knowledges as inspiration for principles and practices, recognizing that Indigenous peoples have developed sophisticated relationships of care and custodianship over millennia. Regenerative tourism leaders view Indigenous knowledges as key assets in creating social and ecological transformations vital to sustainable futures. This Letter critically analyses this engagement, addressing the questions of: if, when and how Indigenous knowledges might inform regenerative tourism planning in just ways. It explores a conceptual typology that distinguishes appreciation, appropriation and allyship, noting a context of power differentials and structural injustices, particularly in settler-colonial states. Turning to Indigenous analyses of allyship, decolonizing allyship processes provide essential approaches for the movement to undertake for just engagement with Indigenous knowledges. Finally, this analysis offers a taxonomy for just inclusion of Indigenous knowledges in regenerative tourism developments. These findings hold implications for research, policymaking, collaborations and funding.