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

The 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 environmental 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 “regenerative humanism” have been qualitatively applied to an exemplary community-led rural initiative. While creating conditions for well-being and thriving livelihoods, 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.