The Interreg BSR project RegenT – From Ambition to Action, turning climate goals into tangible, citizen-centred tourism strategies

The Baltic Sea Region (BSR) faces challenges from climate change with tourism both contributing to and being affected by it. Due to its reliance on natural and cultural assets, tourism has a unique responsibility to protect the environment. To address this, tourism strategies need to change from merely sustaining, to actively restoring the region’s natural and cultural assets.

The aim of the Interreg BSR project RegenT project platform is to develop a regenerative tourism hub, offering training and policy recommendations for public authorities, destination management organisations (DMOs), NGOs, as well as business support organisations, to make revitalisation and sustainable tourism, a guiding strategy across the region. RegenT merges outcomes from seven different EU projects in the tourism hub.

RegenT addresses the need for information and capacity-building in regenerative tourism, by providing resources to public authorities, particularly regional and local decision-makers and public officers involved in strategic planning and resource allocation. Building on the achievements of seven projects that collectively advance regenerative tourism, RegenT offers a platform with two interlinked components: a knowledge platform and a platform for learning, knowledge exchange, and networking. The participating projects have, e.g., developed innovative solutions for attracting off-season tourists, created climate resilience guidelines, and supported local food networks.

The project lasts between July 2025 and June 2028 and has a total budget of 1,2 million €. Follow the project on https://www.linkedin.com/company/regentbsr Read about the kick-off of the project in the Turku archipelago and the city of Turku RegenT Project Launches in the Finnish Archipelago and Turku - Interreg Baltic Sea Region.

Novia University of Applied Sciences is the lead partner, and the other partners are Helmholtz-Zentrum hereon GmbH from Germany, Visit Skåne from Sweden, Pomorskie Tourist Board from Poland, Kurzeme Planning Region from Latvia, and NGO Estonian Rural Tourism from Estonia. In addition, there are 25 associated partners from 11 different countries.

Source: RegenT - Interreg Baltic Sea Region

James Simpson and Maria Engberg