Regenerative Tourism and Post-Development: A Paradigm Shift or a Rebranding of Sustainability?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2026.24.079Keywords:
regenerative tourism, post-development, degrowth, Latin America, critical analysisAbstract
Regenerative Tourism and Post-Development: Paradigmatic Rupture or Rebranding of Sustainability? It begins by emphasising the importance of questioning hegemonic tourism development models in Latin America. Its objective is to analyse the biocentric and decolonial foundations of regenerative tourism from postdevelopment and degrowth perspectives, problematising its sociopolitical tensions. The methodology consisted of a critical theoretical review of global and Latin American academic literature. Key findings include the potential of regenerative tourism to promote ecosocial justice, cultural revitalisation, and territorial restoration, alongside risks of neoliberal co-optation, greenwashing, and reproduction of extractivist logics. The discussion reflects on the need to reconfigure epistemologies and power relations to advance towards just and pluriversal transitions. It concludes that regenerative tourism requires a profound rethinking of the development model to constitute a genuine alternative within the Latin American context.
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