Building resilient and regenerative destinations for the future

The webinar connected two closely related perspectives. RegenT is exploring how tourism can create more value for local communities and nature and contribute to more resilient destinations, while Light in the Dark has been tackling one of the Baltic Sea region’s most persistent tourism challenges: seasonality.

Seasonality cannot be addressed without destinations tackling the health of the main season. One message connected the first speakers, the future of tourism cannot be measured simply by increasing visitor numbers. Destinations need to think more broadly about the value tourism creates, for residents, businesses, visitors, communities and the places themselves.

From visitor growth to value for places
Drawing on the experience of Flanders, Vincent Nijs presented the Travel to Tomorrow strategy, which treats tourism as a means of creating broader societal value rather than an end in itself. Its ambition is to strengthen tourism as a positive force for the benefit of inhabitants, entrepreneurs and visitors. Importantly, this requires residents to be recognised as stakeholders in tourism development, not simply people who have to live with its consequences.

For destinations considering a regenerative approach, his advice was pragmatic: start with strategy, accept that meaningful change may be uncomfortable, build a “coalition of the willing”, and measure tourism’s impacts beyond its economic contribution. Just as importantly, destinations do not necessarily need to market the term regenerative tourism. The principles and the change they produce matter more than the terminology.

This was echoed by Alessandra Priante, who argued for a shift from managing visitors to designing destination systems. Rather than looking separately at accommodation, transport, events, businesses and communities, destinations need shared governance, better data and common outcomes. Success should increasingly include public value, resilience, year-round employment, resident well-being and the condition of nature and cultural heritage. Her message was straightforward: destinations must be governed, not only sold.

Planning tourism for a changing climate
Resilience also means recognising that the conditions tourism depends on are changing. Louis Celliers and Vanessa Völz from the Climate Service Center Germany highlighted how climate change is already influencing tourism through heat, drought, heavy rainfall, flooding, storms and changing snow conditions. Their key point was that the climate destinations have known in the past is not necessarily the climate they should plan for in the future.

A climate service being developed through RegenT aims to help destinations explore how tourism seasons could change under future climate conditions. One example presented suggested that climatic conditions associated with Latvia’s present July-August summer season could extend into June and September in future scenarios. Conversely, climatic conditions associated with Finland’s present December-March winter season could become considerably shorter. For tourism businesses making long-term investments, this makes climate information an increasingly important part of planning.

The Baltic Sea region has a strong foundation.

Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło, EUBSR Policy area coordinator for tourism placed this within the wider Baltic Sea region. The region combines strong natural and cultural assets with common challenges including seasonality, climate change, demographic change and the economic vulnerability of rural and peripheral areas. But the area also has a long tradition of cooperation and established structures for working across borders.

Regeneration, she argued, asks tourism to go further than reducing negative impacts. The question becomes not only how tourism can be less harmful, but how it can actively improve the places where it happens. Much of this thinking is already visible across the Baltic Sea region through businesses working with local producers, supporting conservation, maintaining traditions and involving communities in shaping tourism development.

Projects such as RegenT, ReTour and Light in the Dark approach this transformation from different angles, but together demonstrate the value of connecting project knowledge rather than allowing individual initiatives to operate in isolation.

Making every season worth visiting
The second half of the webinar moved from strategy to practice, showcasing the results of Light in the Dark project, particularly the challenge of seasonality.

One core idea was that destinations should not try to reproduce summer all year round. Instead, they can identify what makes each season distinctive. Autumn might offer coastal walks, local stories and discovery; winter can offer silence, sauna, food and opportunities to slow down; spring can bring nature, cycling, birdwatching and reconnection.

As the destination perspective from Kurzeme put it:“We do not need to make every season look like summer. We need to make sure every season is worth visiting.”

Accessibility also needs to be part of this thinking. Alise Lūse showed that quieter periods can offer advantages for some travellers with disabilities, but these benefits disappear if attractions, accessible facilities, transport or support services are unavailable outside summer. Accessibility therefore needs to cover the complete visitor journey rather than a single attraction or piece of infrastructure.

Practical examples demonstrated that the off-season can itself become part of the experience. A Light in the Dark pilot in coastal Kurzeme combined high-quality cultural performances, local food and an intimate home-like setting. Its lesson was not to fight the season, but to create a compelling reason to travel within it.

From projects to lasting tools
The webinar also marked the final webinar of Light in the Dark. The practical resources including a business handbook, product development materials, piloting results, a DMO workshop manual, communication resources, a media bank and an AI-based tourism business idea generator.

Perhaps the project’s most important legacy, however, is a change in perspective. Darkness, silence, changing weather, local food, nature and everyday life do not have to be disadvantages. They can become part of the attraction. The off-season does not simply have to mean fewer visitors. It can have an identity and possibilities of its own.

These tools and methodologies are incorporated into RegenT’s next steps. RegenT is bringing together learning and tools from seven Baltic Sea region projects through a Knowledge Hub, accompanied by a regenerative tourism pathway and further support for destinations.

The common message from the webinar was therefore not that every destination should simply seek more tourism throughout the year. Instead, destinations need to understand what tourism is for, what value it should create, who should benefit and what type of tourism fits the place and the season.

And, above all, this requires cooperation. As the closing discussion emphasised, individual small businesses cannot overcome seasonality alone.

Businesses, DMOs, municipalities, communities and other partners need to work together to create experiences that give people a genuine reason to travel

Watch the webinar recording: Building Resilient and Regenerative Destinations for the Future
The webinar was organised within the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme 2021–2027 projects RegenT and Light in the Dark, bringing together the work of Kurzeme Planning Region, Novia University of Applied Sciences and partners from across the Baltic Sea region.

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