Regenerative Tourism: A Roundtable on an Emerging Concept and Practices Among Tourism Stakeholders on the French Riviera[Le tourisme régénératif, table-ronde autour d'un concept et de pratiques émergentes auprès des acteurs du tourisme de la Côte-d’Azur]

This roundtable aims to raise awareness among tourism stakeholders on the Côte d'Azur—and beyond France—of emerging practices in sustainable tourism that increasingly seek to serve as instruments "to leave destinations in a better state than they were found" (GSTC, 2024, trans.). In other words, regenerative tourism—a restorative, reparative, contributive form of tourism that is above all mutually beneficial for both clients and tourism enterprises. To this end, we invited three carefully selected participants: a travel agency (Chilow), a receptive operator (La Casa des Madeleines), and two representatives from a Mediterranean metropolitan area (Office de Tourisme Métropolitain Nice Côte d'Azur). The discussion revolves around the concept of regenerative tourism and the possibility of engaging in such practices without necessarily formalising or even consciously recognising them. It also explores best practices as illustrative examples and avenues for future development, while acknowledging the limits imposed by highly competitive markets and the social and environmental expectations of clients. The roundtable also highlights a sensitive consideration of the territory and the short- and medium-term post-pandemic recovery, revealing increasingly common challenges in corporate CSR strategies and public policies within a major urban agglomeration such as Nice, globally renowned. Navigating between ethical values, innovation, and sustainability, and varying degrees of visitor-client inclusion in the value chain, commercial practices are evolving in an environment increasingly shaped by global change, sometimes under Mediterranean-specific climatic pressures, all within the pursuit of sustainable growth.