Finnish Journal of Tourism Research - Call for Papers: Special Issue on Regenerative tourism

Tourism research and practice are increasingly called to move beyond sustainability and toward regenerative ways of thinking, doing and knowing. While sustainability has often focused on reducing harm and maintaining existing systems, regenerative tourism seeks to improve the regenerative capacity and the social and ecological wellbeing of places and communities (Bellato et al., 2023; Iddawala & Lee, 2025). It approaches tourism as part of a living system: a complex web of relationships between people, communities, cultures, economies, landscapes and more-than-human nature (Bellato et al., 2022).

The special issue invites researchers to discuss regenerative tourism both as an emerging concept and as a practical approach to tourism development, governance and everyday action. We are particularly interested in contributions that examine how regenerative principles are interpreted, applied, challenged, or evaluated in specific tourism contexts. These may include studies of destinations, communities, enterprises, policies, visitor practices, ecological restoration, cultural revitalisation or collaborative governance. Regenerative tourism requires methodologically innovative approaches aligned with regenerative principles (Bellato & Pollock, 2025). It is a methodologically rich and experimental field, dominated by qualitative, participatory, and systems-oriented approaches. Therefore, we also invite contributions to advance methodological considerations in regenerative tourism.

Link to the Call for Papers

Important dates:

Abstract submission deadline: 10 September 2026

Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 September 2026

Full manuscript deadline (first draft): 10 December 2026

Expected publication: end of May 2027 (pre-publishing possible for articles that are accepted earlier)