From the Extractive Model to the Regenerative Paradigm

This chapter argues that the shift from extractive tourism to regenerative tourism constitutes a paradigmatic transformation rather than a mere evolution of sustainability. It critically examines how growth-driven logics and performance metrics have prioritized economic expansion while generating systemic ecological and social degradation, and how sustainability (largely implemented as a corrective, technocratic framework) has failed to challenge these structural foundations. In response, the regenerative paradigm recenters tourism on territory as a living socio-ecological system, redefines value beyond economic indicators, and advances an integrated cycle of information, knowledge, and collective action. By articulating territorial and collective intelligence as core capacities for adaptive governance, the chapter positions regeneration as a structural reorientation of tourism toward systemic coherence, relational value, and long-term resilience.