ABOUT

The RETURN project promotes regenerative tourism to build a sustainable future for the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) region. Funded by the EU’s Interreg program, this three-year initiative brings together academic institutions, tourism organizations, and environmental NGOs to address a critical challenge: ensuring that tourism revenues contribute directly to local communities, environmental conservation, and climate adaptation. 

Regenerative tourism seeks to restore ecosystems, strengthen community resilience, and preserve cultural heritage. RETURN works closely with policymakers, decision-makers, and politicians at all levels, providing them with support, evidence, and practical solutions to explore and implement innovative revenue models—particularly tourist taxes and visitor contributions. These models empower individual travelers to directly support the destinations they visit. 

While the primary focus is on tourist tax—representing direct contributions from visitors—the project also considers the broader concept of tourism tax, which reflects the overall tax burden on the tourism industry. This distinction is key to ensuring informed decision-making. 

A core aim of RETURN is to equip leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to develop revenue strategies that foster both economic growth and environmental and community well-being. Through collaborative research and hands-on guidance, RETURN helps make tourism a catalyst for resilience and regeneration across the NPA region.