Founder and administrator · United States
Regenera Luxury LLC founded the initiative and is responsible for its founding documents, its identity and its day-to-day administration, including the processing of adherences.
Founded by Regenera Luxury ↗What it is
A shared day. A shared commitment.
World Regenerative Tourism Day is a global initiative that invites tourism to move beyond reducing harm and to intentionally strengthen the ecological, cultural, social and economic systems of the places where it operates.
It is not a certification, a regulation or a substitute for local governance. It is a common commitment, the Global Manifesto, plus an annual day when participating organisations act, document and share what they have done for their destination.
- Annual observance
- 23 May
- First global celebration
- 23 May 2027
- Founder
- Prof. Héctor de Castro
- Established by
- Regenera Luxury LLC
- Participation
- Free · No certification
Why 23 May
Where culture and biodiversity meet tourism.
- 21 May World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
- 22 May International Day for Biological Diversity
- 23 May World Regenerative Tourism Day Brings both dimensions together by asking how tourism can actively strengthen living cultures, local communities, biodiversity and the places on which hospitality depends.
21 and 22 May are United Nations observances. World Regenerative Tourism Day is an independent initiative and is not an official United Nations observance.
Purpose
From mitigating impacts to creating value.
“World Regenerative Tourism Day exists to accelerate the transition from tourism that merely mitigates its impacts to tourism that intentionally creates measurable ecological, cultural, social and economic value for destinations and future generations.”
Reducing harm is no longer enough. The future of tourism must be judged by what becomes stronger because tourism is present, as well as by the damage it avoids.
The annual cycle
How each year unfolds.
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01
Commit
Organisations sign the Global Manifesto and choose their participation tier.
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02
Prepare
Working with local partners, each organisation picks one action that suits its destination.
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03
Act
On 23 May, participants carry out their action and share it publicly.
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04
Report
They document the results and the limitations, which feed into an evidence-based annual report.
The founder
Prof. Héctor de Castro
Founder, World Regenerative Tourism Day · Founder and President, Regenera Luxury LLC · Professor, Faculty of Hotel and Tourism, Universidad Anáhuac Cancún
“We call on tourism to move from minimizing damage to creating measurable positive legacy. We call on hospitality to contribute to the development of communities and destinations.”
Prof. Héctor de Castro has more than 25 years of leadership experience in luxury hospitality across four continents. He teaches at the Faculty of Hotel and Tourism of Universidad Anáhuac Cancún and is the author of the first formal academic definition of regenerative luxury, published as a working paper with a DOI. He founded the Regenera Luxury Hospitality Awards and is editorial director of The Regenera Luxury Journal.
- Speaker at ITB Berlin 2026, in a session on regenerative luxury hospitality with EHL and UN Tourism
- Speaker at the Ibero-American Sustainable Tourism Forum, Málaga 2026
- Juror for international awards at ITB Berlin and FITUR Madrid
- Published in Forbes, HOTELS Magazine and Journal des Palaces
Governance and transparency
Open and accountable by design.
World Regenerative Tourism Day is a free, open initiative. Its rules are public, its founding documents are registered with persistent DOIs, and the role of the organisation behind it is stated plainly.
Free to join
Signing the Global Manifesto has no cost, for organisations and individuals alike.
No purchase required
Joining never requires buying Regenera Luxury services, certification or membership, and creates no commercial relationship.
Not a certification
Signing is a public commitment, not a label of performance. No one is certified by adhering.
Public, citable documents
The Founding Declaration, the Global Manifesto and the Adherence Instrument are open and registered on Zenodo with persistent DOIs.
Signatory data kept private
Adherence details are held confidentially and are not published on this website.
Evidence over claims
Actions for 23 May are documented with baselines, results and limitations, not announced as achievements.
Who does what
World Regenerative Tourism Day is not an official observance of the United Nations, and no government or intergovernmental body has endorsed it. Questions about governance: [email protected].
Where the initiative is written about
Context, research and reporting.
Research · Quarterly
The Regenera Luxury Journal
The International Journal of Regenerative Luxury and Ultra-Luxury Hospitality
The Journal is research-led and evidence-based, and gives regenerative tourism, hospitality and destinations their intellectual context. It published World Regenerative Tourism Day in Issue 01 (Autumn 2026).
Read The Regenera Luxury Journal ↗Reporting · Online
The Regenera Luxury Magazine
The International Magazine of Regenerative Luxury and Ultra-Luxury Hospitality
Reporting on regenerative hospitality, destinations, leadership, wellbeing and the wider movement. Its section The Future carries a feature on the initiative.
Be there from the start.
Founding Partner status is available only until 23 May 2027. Joining is free and requires no certification.
Sign the Global Manifesto
208 days left to join as a Founding Partner