A Traveler’s Role in Advocating For Regenerative Travel
Photo: Interacting with a small street seller, in Odisha, India
In a time when over-tourism strains popular destinations, storytellers hold the power to reshape narratives. By highlighting lesser-known places, travel storytellers, especially influencers, not only help bring them into the mainstream media but also redistribute tourist footfall, easing pressure on overcrowded sites. This shift supports regenerative tourism and uncovers the beauty of lesser-known destinations.
In the words of Amanda Ho, co-founder of Regenerative Travel, “Regenerative travel is a type of travel that is an act of restoring, replenishing and renewing the environment and community. It’s a reciprocity of how the destination and hotel provider look to contribute to a positive impact. It’s the restoration of the bond that we have with communities and nature.”
The Traveler’s Role in Storytelling
Regenerative travel is more than just conserving a destination. It is more inspirational in intent and impacts a destination and its people positively. Therefore, regenerative travel not only aims to lead to better outcomes for local communities but also enables them to co-create tourism products and experiences that are sustainable in the long run. For instance, on my recent visits to a couple of villages in the mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh in India, I got a chance to interact with a few local women whose stories have been nothing short of inspiring. They told me how some young travelers taught them to operate a homestay while they stayed in their homes. Some of them also opened a YouTube channel to make videos and share those with a wider audience, enabling them to become financially independent and explore their creative expressions. So, while these young tourists enjoyed their travel experiences, their active participation and engagement with the locals enabled the native women to set up their small enterprises.
Every destination has plenty of stories to tell. While destinations can visually reflect what and how these stories look like, they need storytellers who can meaningfully represent the true stories of a place, its people, culture, and communities. When tourists travel, they experience a place from a neutral perspective, often forming their opinions and attitudes about the destination. Sharing these experiences with others, in the form of stories, helps shape the identity of a destination, which may further attract or push back potential travelers. Therefore, travelers have an instrumental role to play in destination storytelling, I’ve learned that my role is to visually showcase the landscapes and tourism activities I participate in and the audience, giving their meaning, experiences, social context, perspectives, and authenticity to the narrative, giving tourists more credible, unique information that increases visit intentions” (Pachucki et al., 2022).
Photo: Learning about simple mountainous village life from a child, Himachal Pradesh, India
Stories act as a bridge between travelers and locals, amplifying the call for regeneration by spotlighting endangered ecosystems and cultural traditions. Seen in this regard, storytelling is an excellent tool for change and an advocate for regenerative travel. Travelers have the responsibility to showcase destinations in a meaningful way that contributes towards their regeneration. For travelers, regenerative travel could also mean slowing down and authentically experiencing places so that they can help give back to the local communities.
Being a travel storyteller, I’ve learned that my role is to visually showcase the landscapes and tourism activities I participate in and to help preserve the culture and heritage of the destinations I visit. My role further goes on to amplify the ‘already existing’ local voices in the community to ensure the longevity of meaningful stories that form the identity of places, people, and communities.
Discovering With Purpose
Travelers have a key role to play in advancing regenerative travel. By approaching their journeys with curiosity and respect, they can share their stories in a way that helps the natural environment, destinations, and local communities. But why does the role of a traveler become significant in advocating for regenerative tourism? Let’s explore!
Photo: Interacting with village ladies selling warm clothing, Himachal Pradesh, India
Connecting People and Cultures
Storytelling strengthens bonds between travelers and local communities. By sharing information and stories, there’s an exchange of knowledge that further enables both travelers and the local communities to debunk myths and assumptions about one another and build cordial relations.
Catalyst for Regeneration
When travelers share their experiences about a destination, their stories have the potential to impact wider audiences to support conservation and cultural preservation. Gone are the times when traveling was all about just having fun and exhausting the resources of tourism stakeholders. Today, travelers are looking for authentic experiences that help them connect with the essence of a place. When travel stories are shared responsibly, local communities become one of the key beneficiaries of potential tourism activities.
Learning and Knowledge Sharing
When stories are passed on, they help preserve ecosystems and cultural identity. Last summer, I visited some villages in the Lahaul Valley in the Indian Himalayas. After returning, I shared some of my experiences and stories with my friends, who later visited those villages in the following months. The stories that I passed on to my friends helped them understand the culture and traditions of those villages, making them aware of the best practices to get along with the locals and their everyday customs. Indubitably, local stories and community initiatives have the power to make tourism activities more meaningful.
The Power of Listening
When travelers prioritize listening to locals’ narratives – which, in turn, leads to empathy and understanding through dialogue, they can pass these narratives more authentically and responsibly. They can also collaborate with local communities to amplify their voices, ensuring authenticity and ethical representation.
Inspiring Action
As travelers become aware of the local narratives, stories inspire them to take up regenerative travel initiatives. Travelers can advocate for regenerative travel by not just giving back to the places and people they visit but also by sharing stories that further inspire action within the global and local community.
On her blog, Rooted Storytelling, JoAnna Haugen shares that “regeneration, by its very nature, is not about creating more but rather integrating with what already exists.” Therefore, travelers can look out for the already-existing stories about people, culture, communities, nature, wildlife, and adventure, and offer credible and authentic destination-based stories. By doing so, they can play an important role in transforming and co-creating the experiences that emerge from their interaction with residents and other stakeholders. Isn’t this a win-win situation for all?
After all, what also matters is if your guests want to come back to your home or if you want to invite them again.
Photo: Interacting with a lady selling vermillion on streets during a festival, in Odisha, India
About the Author: Deeksha Sharma is a travel enthusiast, a passionate writer and a storyteller who loves sharing local stories about conscious travel, communities and culture. She’s a senior storyteller and editorial co-lead at Postcard Travel Club, a global media company fostering a community of conscious travellers. She was also recently nominated for the Regenerative Travel Impact Awards – Storyteller of the Year 2024 by Regenerative Travel.
With her new book launched at the New Delhi World Book Fair in 2025 by the National Book Trust of India (Ministry of Education), Deeksha is helping shape the narrative around tourism’s role in cultural preservation and sustainable development. In her award-winning blog, Story Happens (earlier known as YouInVerse - youinverse.org) – she aims to bring underrepresented voices and traditions to mainstream audiences. In addition, she loves to practice mindfulness, read and write poems, go for long walks, especially in the evenings and enjoy sunsets.