NS34 Session 3

 

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Title: Tourism Innovation for Regenerative Futures

Organisers: Olga Høegh‑Guldberg, Dorthe Eide, and Lars Fuglsang 

Affiliation: Nord University, Roskilde University

 

Description

Tourism is increasingly expected to contribute positively to societal and environmental well‑being. The capacity of tourism to act as “an active agent for good” depends not only on innovative ideas, but on the enabling conditions that allow innovation to thrive across organizations, communities, and destinations. This session explores such enabling conditions, drawing on insights from the forthcoming Handbook of Research on Innovation in Tourism Industries, which examines emerging approaches to innovation across several domains, including open and collaborative innovation, experience‑based innovation, sustainable and regenerative innovation, and innovation driven by digitalization and new technologies.

The book highlights the growing need for innovation that responds to wicked problems, climate‑related challenges, shifting visitor needs, cross‑sector tensions, and transformations at organizational, destination, and societal levels. Against this backdrop, the session invites contributions that address enablers of tourism innovation such as relational and network conditions, resource configurations, competencies and capabilities, governance and policy frameworks, contextual drivers, and broader systemic factors.

We particularly welcome submissions on collaborative or network-driven innovation, regenerative destination practices, digital enablers of new business models and experiences, and the governance structures that shape innovation capacity. The session aims to foster knowledge exchange, stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue, and offer insights relevant to advancing regenerative and transformative futures in tourism.

 

Abstracts

Title: Comparing Innovation Capabilities in Mountain Destinations: An Analysis of Management Systems' Properties
Authors: Stine Lien, University of Inland Norway, and Kelvin Owusu

This study investigates how destination management systems shape innovation capabilities in mountain tourism destinations in south-eastern Norway. Drawing on a qualitative, multisite comparative design and cross-case analysis, the paper examines four purposively selected destinations to capture variation in governance, ownership, and organisational configuration within a regional context. The literature review synthesises six analytically useful management-system properties—coordination, ownership and governance, organisational culture, knowledge and learning, leadership, and networks—and frames innovation capabilities as the capacity of resource bundles to perform problem-solving, value-creating activities in context-dependent settings. Empirical findings show that corporately dominated, centrally coordinated systems can mobilise investment and rapid knowledge transfer, but risk narrow seasonal portfolios; fragmented, community-based constellations foster local embeddedness yet struggle to mobilise collective innovation; and hybrid systems occupy intermediate positions. Leadership emerged as a key micro-foundation: personal attachment, long tenure, and deliberate experience-building by destination leaders enhance learning, reduce transaction costs, and enable cross-actor coordination. The study refines theoretical understanding of destination innovation by linking specific management-system properties to observable capability outcomes and by highlighting contextual contingencies that moderate these relationships. Policy and managerial implications include designing governance arrangements that balance coordination with local entrepreneurship, investing in leader development and knowledge infrastructures, and promoting bridging ties to external knowledge sources to diversify year-round offerings and strengthen long-term competitiveness.

 

Title: Recreation as a Catalyst for Sustainable Tourism Innovation: Insights from the Recreation Cluster in Innlandet, Norway
Authors: Anne Jørgensen Nordli, University of Inland Norway, Monica Breiby, and Flemming Sørensen

This chapter’s aim is to examine how the concept of recreation can serve as a transformative framework for fostering sustainable innovation in the tourism industry. While conventional tourism often focuses on consumerism and hedonistic experiences, recreation emphasizes healing, health, wellbeing, immersion and quality of experiences. Recreation invites slower, more intentional interactions with destinations, where visitors and locals alike are participants in a shared ecosystem rather than mere consumers.

By focusing on recreation in tourism innovation, planners and stakeholders are required to think beyond short-term economic gains to address both visitors' and local residents' needs. This includes protecting natural resources that holds value not only for visitors but also for local communities who depend on these environments for their own recreational activities. Recreation, therefore, fosters deeper connections between people, places, and purpose, enabling a more sustainable and inclusive approach to tourism innovation.

The chapter uses the Recreation Cluster (Rekreasjonsklynga) in Innlandet, Norway, as a case study to explore how recreation has been actively implemented as a central concept for driving sustainable innovation through collaboration in the cluster. The cluster brings together diverse stakeholders—including accommodation providers, experience operators, cabin developers, municipalities, and financial organizations—to innovate sustainable recreational offerings. Through its focus on recreation, the cluster has fostered cross-sectoral partnerships that transcend traditional silos, encouraging innovation of recreation offerings that take care of nature, the environment, and the local community.

The analysis highlights the cluster’s organizational structure, strategies, and key initiatives, with a focus on the opportunities and challenges of sustainable innovation. It also discusses how recreation-driven co-creation requires a design shift: from designing products for consumption to designing for purpose, such as sustainability and shared value creation. Findings from this study demonstrate how recreation can catalyze sustainable transformations in tourism by aligning stakeholder interests and integrating local communities into tourism planning. The chapter argues that placing recreation at the heart of innovation processes not only enhances visitor experiences and gives the destination competitive advantages. It also enhances local community resilience by creating regenerative, inclusive, place-sensitive and community-driven tourism models that share sustainable value and reinvest profits locally.

Keywords: Recreation, co-creation, sustainable tourism innovation, cross-sectoral partnerships, and local community resilience

 

Title: Competence Gaps in Tourism and Hospitality: A Structured Literature Review for Navigating Future Skills Development
Authors: Ove Oklevik, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Timo Halttunen, Christian Dragin-Jensen, Carlos Ferreira, Susanna Saari, and Grzegorz Kwiatkowski

The tourism and hospitality industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by sustainability challenges, technological change and evolving stakeholder expectations. These developments increase the need for competencies that enable organisations to innovate and support more sustainable and regenerative forms of tourism development. However, research addressing competence development in tourism remains fragmented, often focusing on specific skill areas in isolation. This study, therefore, provides a structured overview of competence gaps discussed in tourism and hospitality research.

The study applies a structured literature review methodology to analyse research on competence development in tourism and hospitality. Using the Web of Science database, publications were identified through a multi-stage search process focusing on leading tourism journals. The final dataset includes key contributions addressing competence and skill gaps in the sector.

The analysis identifies five core competence domains discussed in the literature: (1) green transition competencies, (2) transferable competencies and adaptability, (3) artificial intelligence (AI) and digital competencies, (4) intercultural competencies, and (5) leadership competencies. The findings suggest that competence gaps arise not only from shortages of specific skills among employees but also from broader organisational capability challenges. In many cases, relevant competencies exist but remain underutilised due to organisational structures, leadership practices, or limited opportunities for learning and knowledge integration.

The study contributes to tourism research by synthesising fragmented research streams and proposing a systemic perspective on competence development. The findings highlight that sustainable and regenerative innovation in tourism depends on integrating multiple competence domains rather than developing isolated skills. Addressing competence gaps, therefore, requires coordinated competence development, supportive leadership and organisational structures that enable learning, collaboration and innovation across the tourism sector.

 

Title: Digital Hospitality and Socio-Technological Practices: Enabling and Challenging Regenerative Tourism Futures
Author: Petra Paloniemi, Lapland University of Applied Sciences 

This research examines how digitalisation acts as a driver of innovation and reshapes hospitality practices in tourism, with particular attention to its implications for regenerative futures. As tourism becomes increasingly mediated through digital platforms, hospitality encounters extend beyond physical settings into socio-technological environments where hosts, guests, locals, and technologies co-create experiences. Addressing a gap in tourism research that has largely prioritised technologies and firms, the study focuses on innovations related to digitally mediated hospitality practices and their implications for value creation, participation, and governance in destinations.

Drawing on practice theory, innovation is conceptualised as emerging from socio-technological practices formed through interactions among humans, digital platforms, and place-based contexts. An in-depth qualitative case study of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland explores how platform-based models and innovations, such as Airbnb and virtual experience platforms, reshape hospitality encounters, redistribute roles among hosts, guests, locals, and technologies, and extend tourism beyond traditional institutional structures. Empirical materials include interviews, focus groups, platform correspondence, and written reflections.

The research highlights digital platforms as both enablers and disruptors of innovation, shaping new business models, experiences, and networked collaborations. At the same time, it underscores the need for adaptive governance and context-sensitive policies to align these concepts with regenerative destination development. The research contributes to tourism and marketing debates by foregrounding digital innovations and socio-technological practices as central to regenerative futures. The study is supported by the EU-funded project: New Horizons in Luxury Service Innovation (ERDF).

Keywords: tourism, digital platforms, socio-technological practices, innovation, regenerative tourism futures

 

Title: Innovating Sustainable Food Experiences through Retrovation in Tourism
Authors: Gunhild Wedum, University of Inland Norway, and Jonas Åstrøm

Retrovation is defined as innovation rooted in tradition, involving various combinations of material and immaterial resources, as well as new and old elements. This research offers an empirically grounded answer to the question: What characterizes retrovation of food experiences in tourism? The study contributes to innovation by developing an analytical framework that improves understanding of value propositions and their components and subcomponents. It also provides a theoretical contribution to innovation by exploring how forgotten or old resources can be used effectively. It is argued that integrating service innovation theory with retro-marketing can enhance the theoretical understanding of retrovation.

The empirical foundation of this chapter is based on extensive data, including interviews with various actors in the local food industry and a case study of a tourism company focusing on sustainable food experiences.

An analytical framework has been developed to increase knowledge about the relationship between different types of resources in the innovation of value propositions. Six components of new or improved value propositions that characterize retrovation of local food have been identified:1) The local food and the experience of it,2) The brand and visual identity, 3)The story and storytelling, 4) Place identity,5) Production, and 6) Distribution.

This research highlights resources that have been largely overlooked in innovation contexts: craftsmanship, historical knowledge, and traditional production techniques. Such insights can be valuable for individual actors as well as larger tourism stakeholders in the development of sustainable food experiences in tourism.

Keywords:
Retrovation, service innovation, local food, value proposition, tourism

 

Title: Innovating with Care: Sustainability, Resilience, and Values in Philippine Diving Tourism
Author: Hindertje Hoarau-Heemstra, Nord University

Tourism is increasingly expected to contribute to societal and environmental well‑being, yet the conditions that enable such innovation in practice remain underexplored, particularly in small‑scale and peripheral contexts. This paper examines how a small-scale diving operator in the Philippines acts as an agent for good by innovating at the intersection of sustainability, resilience, and values. Rather than treating innovation as a technological or market-led activity, the study asks: how do small tourism operators innovate through everyday practices while balancing ecological care, community relations, and business viability?

Conceptually, the paper draws on practice theory, sustainability transitions, and resilience thinking to understand innovation as a relational and socio‑ecological process shaped by values, competencies, and contextual conditions. Empirically, the study is based on qualitative fieldwork with a dive operator managing two resorts in coastal communities. The data include semi‑structured interviews, participant observation, and netnographic analysis of online tourist reviews.

The findings show that innovation is enabled through a configuration of relational and contextual factors, including close ties with local communities, the mobilization of local ecological knowledge and marine science, and the integration of cultural narratives into diving experiences. Sustainability is enacted both as a set of regenerative practices—such as reef protection, waste reduction, and community collaboration—and as an experience‑based innovation that communicates care and responsibility to visitors. Resilience is expressed through adaptive responses to climate-related disruptions, extreme weather events, and the COVID‑19 pandemic. Across these practices, values of stewardship and custodianship function as key enabling conditions, shaping how innovation unfolds and how the operator positions itself within broader social‑ecological systems.

The paper contributes to debates on tourism innovation by highlighting how values, relationships, and place-based resources enable regenerative and transformative practices in small tourism organizations. It speaks directly to the session’s focus on enabling conditions for innovation and offers insights relevant to advancing sustainable and regenerative futures in tourism.

 

Title: The Future of Luxury Hospitality: Mapping Regenerative Pathways in Finland and New Zealand
Authors: Tracy Harkison, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), and Riina Iloranta

As the global tourism sector transitions from a ‘do no harm’ sustainability baseline toward a net-positive regenerative paradigm, the luxury hospitality segment finds itself at a critical juncture. Traditionally associated with high-resource consumption, luxury providers are increasingly reimagining high-end travel as a vehicle for ecological and social restoration. This study presents the initial phase of a two-phase exploratory research project investigating - how cultural attitudes, tourism policies, and legislative frameworks influence the adoption and operationalization of regenerative practices within the luxury hospitality sector in Finland and New Zealand?

Using a qualitative multiple-case study approach, the research analyses four distinct luxury operations: Helsinki Citycopter and Hawkhill in Finland, and Kohutapu Lodge and Mahu Whenua in New Zealand. Preliminary findings reveal that while both nations pursue net-positive outcomes, their pathways to innovation are deeply place-based. New Zealand’s approach is ontologically driven by Te Ao Māori (the Māori world view), where regeneration is an expression of Kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and Whanaungatanga (relationships), turning the guest into an active participant in community and ecosystem recovery. Conversely, Finland’s pathway is characterised by Nordic pragmatism and technological stewardship, utilizing systemic efficiency, carbon-negative construction, and sustainable aviation to engineer restoration into the physical product. In this study, innovation is conceptualised as place-based regenerative innovation, rather than as novelty, technology adoption, or market differentiation. Innovation is understood as a contextually embedded process through which luxury hospitality providers reconfigure practices, meanings, and material systems to deliver net-positive ecological and social outcomes.

The paper contributes to innovation research by challenging universalist and scalability-driven models of innovation, which dominate much of innovation and management scholarship. Rather than treating innovation as a transferable set of best practices, the study demonstrates that regenerative innovation is locally excavated—emerging from historically rooted cultural worldviews, governance structures, and human–nature relationships. By comparing Finland and New Zealand, the study shows that: similar regenerative ambitions lead to fundamentally different innovation pathways, and innovation outcomes cannot be separated from their ontological and institutional conditions.

 

Title: Regenerative Experience Design in Tourism
Authors: Olga Høegh-Guldberg, Nord University, Dorthe Eide, and Lars Fuglsang

Rural communities increasingly face challenges related to attractiveness, vitality, and long-term development. In response, regenerative approaches have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional sustainability perspectives by emphasizing place flourishing, community wellbeing, and positive systemic change. Despite growing interest in regenerative tourism, limited attention has been paid to how regenerative principles can be translated into tourism innovation and regenerative experience design.

This conference paper explores the concept of regenerative experience design and its relationship with tourism innovation. Drawing on insights from a review of regenerative tourism, innovation, and experience design literature, combined with empirical illustrations from two tourism-related cases, the paper identifies key principles and practices associated with regenerative approaches. The cases include a regenerative vegan farm and an outdoor cultural theatre, both of which seek to create meaningful experiences while contributing to broader community and place-based outcomes.

The paper argues that regenerative experience design extends beyond visitor satisfaction and environmental impact reduction. Instead, it seeks to facilitate learning, value creation, and positive transformation among visitors, local stakeholders, and host communities. Furthermore, the analysis highlights how regenerative approaches differ from both market-oriented and conventional sustainability-oriented experience design and discusses how regenerative principles may inspire new forms of tourism innovation. The paper concludes by discussing implications for tourism destinations and community development and outlining directions for future research.

 

Title: From Ambiguous Ideals to Situated Practice: Innovating for Regenerative Tourism
Authors: Julie Bønnelycke, UCL University College, Lars Pynt Andersen, UCL University College, and Julius Stephan, Duale Hochschule Schleswig-Holstein

Tourism is increasingly called upon to contribute to socio‑ecological well‑being, yet the enabling conditions that allow innovative, transformative practices to take root remain poorly understood. Drawing on insights from the cross‑border Nurturing Nature project in Denmark and Germany, this paper examines how regenerative tourism innovation emerges through the interplay of relational, organizational, and systemic conditions. Regenerative tourism is frequently promoted as a radical alternative to sustainability, but its conceptual vagueness presents challenges for practitioners seeking to enact it in concrete destinations. Building on care‑based, multispecies, and situated theoretical approaches, we conceptualize regeneration as an iterative practice of nurturing relationships within living systems, requiring long‑term attentiveness, contextual sensitivity, and collaborative learning among diverse actors.1

Empirically, the study is based on co-design workshops involving tourism businesses, NGOs, municipalities, and nature professionals. These workshops revealed both the possibilities and frictions that shape innovation capacity: expectations of linear tools and measurable indicators, tensions between ecological care and commercial viability, and the constraints of project-based governance. In response, we developed the Four Seasons of Nurturing Nature, a processual framework that functions as an alignment device rather than a prescriptive model, supporting stakeholders in navigating complexity, co-creating regenerative initiatives, and fostering multispecies sensitivity across innovation processes.

The paper contributes to the conference theme by highlighting the need for combining collaborative infrastructures, care‑oriented practices, and context‑responsive frameworks to strengthen tourism’s capacity to act as an “active agent for good” within dynamic socio‑ecological systems.