Regenerative tourism - re-placing the design of ecotourism facilities

The term ‘regenerative’ has emerged in recent years to challenge perceived inadequacies inherent in the concept of sustainability predicated on restraint rather than restoration. The application of this ideal to the arena of tourism is both pertinent and problematic. This paper explores some of the challenges of relating these concepts. Specifically, it addresses the design of ecotourism facilities and the regenerative potential of interpretation and the construction of meaning through the built environment. Questions are raised over the uncritical positions in the ecotourism literature leading to a propensity for either ‘background architecture’ or a hyper-real representation of an idealised ‘nature’. The paper proposes a reconsideration of aesthetics and place as productive ground to contribute to the existing debate on regenerative design and argues that this is fundamental to the design of ecotourism facilities.