“Regenerative humanism”: A pathway to justice and gender equality in community-led rural tourism

TThe COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities and paradoxes of the neoliberal structure of capitalism and tourism as a fuel of capitalism. Targeting injustice, inequality, and discrimination, along with exclusion in the tourism sector is at the heart of the calls for a radical transformation in tourism development models and foundations. This contribution explores the interlink between two transformative values-based approaches, valuing equality concerns (humanistic management) and environment concerns (regenerative development), in order to shape the pathways to justice and address the injustice in tourism development and management. The principles of this interlink captured by the novel notion of “Humanistic Regeneration” have been qualitatively applied to an exemplary community-based rural initiative. While creating conditions for wellbeing and thriving livelihood, the improvements made by the local community in terms of environmental justice, social equality, and women’s empowerment may become guidelines to enhance social and environmental justice in similar rural contexts and correct social, economic, and environmental inequalities.