Regenerative tourism "in the making": challenges of product innovation within existing structures

The future development of regenerative tourism requires the consideration of the practical implementation of its conceptual and philosophical underpinnings in the context of existing socioeconomic structures. In this chapter, we analyze a recent regenerative tourism product development project in rural Denmark, where we identify the confounding role of the linear nature of the project and the growth-oriented agenda of the local destinations. We argue that the underlying issue is a misalignment of stakeholder values that were overlooked in the project's activities. Based on our findings, we offer two recommendations for regenerative tourism initiatives that are embedded in existing non-regenerative socioeconomic structures, which may offer more pragmatic ways of taking regenerative tourism from the drawing board to destination realities.