Turismo sustentável regenerativo envolvendo ambientes rurais, culturas e comunidades

Recognizing the importance of revitalizing rural areas, particularly in the Portuguese hinterland, and the crucial role that rural tourism may play in this scope through meaningful co-created rural tourist experiences with positive impact on visitors, communities and places, RESTORE will explore the potential and challenges of RRT in depth. Specifically, the project aims at: • illuminating the essence, conditions, dimensions, types, and impacts of RRT experiences, examining their effects on visitor satisfaction, loyalty, place attachment, and well-being, as well as on well-being of local communities, on local economies and environment; • developing a first conceptual framework for RRT grounded in existing literature and inspired by international examples and by national experts and practitioners on regenerative and rural tourism; • developing research tools, scales and methods for assessing the essence, dimensions, conditioning factors and consequences of RRT; • generating knowledge on the tourists’ perspective of RRT (highlighting this less studied, but central, dimension of regenerative tourism), namely on visitor preferences and interest in RRT, visitors’ mindset and behaviors (using innovative methods, e.g. GPS tracking in nature, e.g. hiking and cycling, and eyetracking for assessing visual appeal of online images); • enhancing understanding of perceived impacts of RRT on tourists, considering the three travel phases (pre-trip, on-site, post-trip) and including a (rarely used, challenging) longitudinal approach; • producing insight into local agents’ viewpoints on RRT, through engagement with local suppliers, residents, and governance agents, exploring mindsets, behaviours and perceived challenges and interests, as well as initiatives and interest in collaboration for regenerative development; • advancing understanding of the dynamics of RRT and its potential to drive sustainable, ‘net positive’ rural development and individual experience outcomes (of both locals and visitors) through integration of results and inter/transdisciplinary action research; • contributing to the flourishing of local RRT systems by incorporating the perspectives of entrepreneurs, residents and visitors, considering local resources and context, and exploring the application of regenerative principles in rural tourism; • identifying conditions for successful implementation of RRT, also in rural areas that have not yet developed any such approach; • developing a final, theory and praxis-inspired, holistic model of the RRT system, derived from integration of research findings and ongoing transdisciplinary debate within the research team, local stakeholders, team consultant and advisors, and with specialists (at several scientific and professional events, where results will be shared) • providing practical insights and recommendations for tourism practitioners and policymakers, contributing to more responsible and positively transformative, regenerative tourism practices; • consequently, benefitting rural tourism entrepreneurs, populations, visitors, and the broader society by enriching quality of life through new travel and living practices in rural areas. Overall, we aim at stimulating debate on regenerative tourism in the rural context, but also in general, within the tourism academy and at contributing to the broader discussion on a paradigm shift towards transformative tourist experiences and a holistically regenerative tourism system.