Project Summary

Regenerative Tourism in Aotearoa New Zealand: Building a Future-Ready Tourism Model

Tourism is emerging from a global crisis, with operators still navigating the lasting effects of the pandemic. At the same time, longstanding systemic issues—such as tourism’s impact on land, communities, and cultural heritage—remain unresolved. This moment presents both challenges and opportunities, offering a unique chance to rebuild the sector around a regenerative tourism model that benefits people, places, and the environment.

Aotearoa New Zealand is positioned to lead in regenerative tourism, focusing on experiences that enhance local environments, support communities, and deliver meaningful value to visitors. The shift toward regenerative practices goes beyond sustainability: it seeks to actively restore and enrich the places tourists visit.

To support this transformation, this research explores novel interactive and immersive tourism experiences. These experiences are designed for tourists physically present in Aotearoa with the overall aim to enhance their support of regenerative tourism.

Key research directions

• Designing augmented reality experiences for creating memorable experiences and enhancing place attachment
• Designing interactive storytelling augmented experiences to create collaborative tourism experiences
• Mobile augmented reality games that enhance tourism experiences and foster emotional connection between tourists and nature

Core research questions

To guide development of regenerative tourism experiences, the research addresses key questions such as:

• How to design augmented reality experiences to enhance place attachment for regenerative tourism?
• What are the mediators for place attachment in tourism that could be impacted by augmented reality experiences?
• How to employ narrative storytelling into augmented reality experiences to create collaborative and affective tourism experiences?
• How can mobile augmented reality games enhance the tourism experience?
• How to design mobile augmented reality games to enhance the nature-based tourism experience and foster emotional connection between tourists and nature?

Acknowledgement

This project is funded from a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) Endeavour grant. The programme is lead by Prof. Holger Regenbrecht, University of Otago. Read more about the programme at MBIE Grant Funds Sustainable Tourism Research.

HIT Lab NZ Contacts

• Prof. Stephan Lukosch, HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury
• Prof. Heide Lukosch, HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury

HIT Lab NZ Project Team