Reimagining Tourism Education for a Sustainable and Regenerative Future

Abstract

This chapter reports findings from ERASMUS+ EcoHarmony (Ecoharmony project, 2024), a multinational initiative co-funded by the European Union that advances a comprehensive strategy to embed sustainable—and explicitly regenerative tourism within European higher education. Using a sequential mixed-methods design (nine focus groups across Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands; n = 70; followed by a cross-European survey; n = 198), the chapter examines: (1) the extent of sustainability and regenerative integration in curricula; (2) pedagogical, institutional, and technological barriers and enablers; and (3) scalable strategies to align programmes with 21st-century demands. Guided by systems thinking, transformative learning, and a regenerative tourism lens (toward regenerative justice), and attentive to digital transformation (AI/VR/blockchain), the analysis finds progress but fragmentation: roughly 75% of institutions offer sustainability content, yet holistic, cross-curricular embedding is rare; familiarity with regeneration remains limited (≈20–25%). Barriers include legacy programme architectures, constrained faculty development, weak institutional support, and misaligned assessment practices. Enablers include rising student demand, motivated educators, and NGO–industry–government partnerships. The chapter proposes a practical roadmap, intentional interdisciplinarity, assessment reform (systems/ethics/collaboration), quality-assured micro-credentials, and hybrid experiential learning that blends digital simulations with fieldwork and internships, to shift institutions from incremental improvements to systemic transformation.