About the Institute
We don’t just study
regenerative tourism.
We practise it.
Most tourism businesses are told to be “sustainable.” Very few are told what that actually means — and almost none are told what comes after it. Since 2019, SRI has worked alongside operators and communities across Aotearoa who are ready to find out.
2019
Founded in Christchurch, Aotearoa
40+
Businesses Mentored
2
Peer-Reviewed Journals
1
Routledge Handbook
6+
Countries, Board Members
Routledge Handbook of Regenerative Tourism
Co-edited with Prof Francesc Fusté-Forné (University of Girona) and Dr Asif Hussain (SRI NZ) — the field’s first comprehensive international academic reference on regenerative tourism, published by Routledge.
Journal of Tourism Regeneration
Peer-reviewed journal with an international editorial board spanning NZ, USA, UK, Spain, and Tanzania. Publishing the most current research in regenerative tourism theory and practice.
Journal of Sustainability & Resilience
Open access, peer-reviewed journal hosted by the University of South Florida’s Digital Commons. International scope and editorial reach.
Glasgow Declaration Signatory
Signatories alongside global tourism organisations — committing SRI and its clients to measurable decarbonisation pathways in tourism.
RBP-Registered Provider
Registered with New Zealand’s Regional Business Partner Network since 2020 — enabling eligible NZ businesses to access advisory support at low or no cost.
NZ Tourism Awards Finalist 2024
Recognised for supporting The Seventh Generation Tours — an Indigenous-led enterprise — to national prominence in Aotearoa’s tourism industry.
The People Behind the Work
Not a consultancy.
A community of conviction.
Dr Asif Hussain
Director & Principal Research Associate
Indigenous person and passionate advocate for community wellbeing. Specialist in infrastructure development, tourism economics, and the intersection of cultural heritage and sustainable enterprise.
Resilience isn’t a business strategy. It’s an ancestral practice.
Prof Emeritus David Simmons
Advisor & Consultant
One of NZ’s most respected tourism researchers. Director of Destination Diagnostics NZ. Decades of work shaping how destinations understand and manage visitor impact.
Good tourism data doesn’t tell you what to do. It tells you what questions to ask.
Prof Francesc Fusté-Forné
Research Associate · University of Girona
Co-editor of the Routledge Handbook. International lead on rural food tourism and regenerative practices in European tourism contexts. Brings global academic perspective to SRI’s Pacific work.
Every place has a food story. Most tourism fails to tell it.
Marie Haley
Lead Researcher · Director, Seventh Generation Tours
Pioneer of participatory tourism in Aotearoa. Director of Seventh Generation Tours — turning visitors into active participants in the places they encounter. NZ Tourism Awards Finalist 2024.
The best tourism experience leaves the visitor changed, not just satisfied.
Sandra Niederlöhner
Communications & Marketing Specialist
Expertise in communication strategy and marketing from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Brings European market insight and purposeful messaging discipline to SRI’s client work.
Sustainability without communication is a tree falling in an empty forest.
Associate Professor Tracy Berno
Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand)
Professor Cihan Cobanoglu
University of South Florida (USA)
Professor Brian Garrod
Swansea University (United Kingdom)
Dr Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
Independent Abrogenies Researcher (Australia)
Associate Professor Alicia Orea-Giner
Rey Juan Carlos University (Spain) and EIREST. Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne (France)
Dr Abel Ansporthy Mamboleo
Saint Augustine University of Tanzania (Tanzania)
