Tourist-perceived ambidexterity in responsible tourism: Balancing protection and regeneration across insular and montane ecosystems in Vietnam

Responsible tourism increasingly aspires to move beyond mitigating harm toward net-positive restoration, yet how destinations reconcile protecting fragile socio-ecological assets with actively regenerating them remains poorly understood. This study reframes that challenge through organizational ambidexterity: the capacity to pursue exploitation (refining existing resources, routines, and protective controls) and exploration (discovering novel restorative practices and value) simultaneously. Semi-structured interviews with 18 Vietnamese tourists across insular Con Dao and montane Ha Giang were analysed using a codebook (coding-reliability) form of thematic analysis. Four themes were developed: circular resource management, community-driven ecological restoration, perceived regenerative tourist engagement, and place-based cultural-ecological integration. Participants reported regenerative contributions where destinations were perceived to hold exploitative and exploratory logics in balance, drawing on established flows, traditional knowledge, and routine consumption while trialling new waste-to-value loops, adaptive conservation, and co-production of ecological value. Because the evidence base is tourist testimony, destination-level claims are advanced as participant-informed interpretations rather than verified capabilities. From these four themes the study derives five ambidextrous mechanisms, advanced as propositions for future testing, and offers a sensitizing framework for context-sensitive responsible-tourism strategies.