Ecotourism as catalyst for regenerative futures

Rural Europe is characterized by a diversity of Traditional Multifunctional Cultural Landscapes (TMCLs), which embody centuries of socio-cultural, ecological co-evolution and sustain ecological, cultural, and economic functions. Today, these landscapes face profound challenges linked to demographic decline, land abandonment, and environmental change, while policy frameworks increasingly seek multifunctional solutions that integrate heritage, conservation, and livelihoods. Tourism, particularly ecotourism, is frequently invoked as a catalyst for sustaining such landscapes. Yet despite its promise, the role of tourism in TMCLs has been insufficiently conceptualized, fragmented across disciplines, focusing largely on economic or ecological outcomes, with limited consideration of multifunctionality, cultural identity, or regenerative frameworks. This dissertation addresses these gaps by examining how ecotourism can sustain and diversify the multifunctionality of TMCLs and by exploring how regenerative tourism concepts can extend sustainability toward net-positive socio-ecological outcomes, conceptualized here as improvements that simultaneously enhance ecological integrity, cultural vitality, and local livelihoods.
In pursuing these aims, the dissertation investigates the state of tourism research in European TMCLs, asking what themes, geographical patterns, and drivers of change characterize the field and where critical gaps remain. It further examines how visitor characteristics, awareness of certification, and sustainability attitudes influence perceptions of ecotourism in a certified TMCL, and explores how local stakeholders understand the socio-cultural, economic, and ecological consequences of tourism. To enrich these perspectives, the dissertation assesses the extent to which regenerative tourism frameworks can deepen understandings of ecotourism and inform strategies for rural development.
The findings show that TMCL tourism research in Europe is in its early stages, geographically concentrated, and insufficiently engaged with multifunctionality, governance and regenerative paradigms. Visitors in TMCLs strongly value authenticity, cultural heritage, and ecological quality; certification enhances awareness of sustainability practices but remains only modestly recognized. Stakeholder perceptions emphasize that ecotourism can generate employment, cultural pride, and livelihood diversification, but they also highlight limited financial support, lack of training, unequal benefit-sharing, and some environmental trade-offs along with cultural commodification as pressing challenges. Across these studies, regenerative tourism concept emerges as valuable for aligning visitor demand, community governance, and ecological stewardship in ways that transcend incremental sustainability.
By integrating theoretical, visitor, and stakeholder perspectives, this dissertation advances a holistic understanding of ecotourism in TMCLs and demonstrates their potential for regenerative futures. Conceptually, it bridges fragmented literatures by situating TMCLs within ecotourism and regenerative tourism debates. Methodologically, it applies a cumulative, multiscale mixed-method approach that combines systematic review, quantitative visitor analysis, and qualitative stakeholder perspectives. Practically, it provides policy-relevant insights for aligning tourism with conservation, cultural revitalization, and regenerative rural development. Taken together, the research positions TMCLs as living laboratories for regenerative futures, showing how ecotourism can move beyond mitigation to generate net-positive outcomes for landscapes, communities, and cultural heritage in Europe.