When Travel Changes – A Quantitative Analysis of Transformative Tourism Experiences and their Contribution to Regenerative Tourism

This study examines the relationship between transformative tourism experiences and regenerative tourism. Building on the Modelling of Transformation framework, an extended framework of transformation and regeneration is proposed, integrating regenerative constructs related to community and nature within established dimensions of self-change and behavioural change. Data were collected through a standardized online survey among 249 participants who reported having experienced a transformative experience during travel. Confirmatory factor analysis and linear regression were employed to assess the proposed relationships. The findings indicate that self-change positively predicts changes in community attitudes and ecological worldviews, while behavioural change positively predicts intentions to give back to communities and nature. Although the explained variance remains modest, the results provide quantitative evidence that transformative tourism experiences can be associated with regenerative values and practices. The study contributes to tourism research by empirically linking transformation and regeneration and by introducing a quantitative framework for examining their relationship.