Educate, Enable, Inspire

In a time of a global pandemic and climate crisis, tourism world-wide is facing unprecedented uncertainty. To survive tourism businesses must abandon the status quo, reset and reimagine how they operate with the ultimate goal of not just adapting, but adding value to this new world. But how do we do this? In an interview with the Debbie Clarke and Josie Major from the GOOD Awaits podcast, Criffel Station’s Mandy Bell discusses her views on regenerative tourism and the collective way forward. We invite you to listen by clicking here. 

The GOOD Awaits Podcast covers Mandy’s many achievements and how these, in conjunction with her upbringing in rural New Zealand, have influenced how she views regenerative tourism but also how she practices regenerative thinking in every facet of her life. Nature-based Solutions lie at the centre of her belief structure, this is not viewing things in a silo but from a holistic approach – learning from nature and looking at everything as a living system. She challenges everyone to not merely talk about how we want this place to be today, but what we can do to ensure that the community and environment are not the same as today but better.  

In the interview you will hear Mandy discuss the following viewpoints: 

• It is innovators and early adopters that will push this movement 
• If we are to create a vision and move at scale and pace, then we need leadership, coordination, and an overarching strategy and commitment to restructure and go forward.  
• We need formalised vertical and horizontal communication structures to aid the sharing of the best practices.  
• We don’t need to start from scratch, however. We have models that we can look to. Mandy herself is involved with two incredible examples of this type of work in action: WAO (We Are One) and WAI (Water Action Invitative).  
• We can learn and borrow a lot from the Primary Sector which faced similar challenges ten years ago when they also had to effectively ‘start over’. From Mandy’s experience with this, she is confident that with courage and embracing the open mindset of innovators and early adopters the Tourism Sector will also survive and thrive. 

 — 

GOOD Awaits The Regenerative Tourism NZ Podcast – Created out of a desire to share the voices of the people at the forefront of the regenerative tourism movement 

The GOOD Awaits Regenerative Tourism NZ podcast is on a journey to explore what regenerative tourism means in New Zealand, to support discussion around the way tourism is being “reimagined” and to create a culture of sharing challenges, successes, models, and stories throughout the regenerative travel journey. The podcast is a platform of collective discovery for operators, travellers, and communities to share their stories, and you’re invited to join us on this journey.

The GOOD Awaits Podcast is brought to you by GOOD Travel and New Zealand Awaits 
GOOD Travel is a Wellington-based social enterprise with the mission of transforming the tourism industry into a force for GOOD. 
New Zealand Awaits is an inbound tour operator founded on conscious travel principles with a mission to provide exceptional travel experiences that enhance the lives of their guests and of the people in the communities they visit.
Hosts Debbie Clarke and Josie Major can be reached on facebook and Instagram at 

GOOD Awaits, or via email:
Debbie Clarke – debbie@newzealandawaits.com
Josie Major – josie@good-travel.org