Season: Lifestyle

Amanda began her career as a travel journalist and founder and Editor-in-Chief of Electrify Magazine, a multi-media lifestyle publication. She also produced and for several real estate companies and lifestyle brands with sustainability at its core. 

What we spoke about…

From a very simplistic standpoint, ‘We like to say that being green is creating less damage, being sustainable is reaching net neutrality, but regeneration is actually making a place better.’ 

‘In order for us to move from sustainability to regeneration, we really need to have a whole system approach that creates an abundance for everyone involved; all the stakeholders, all the people on the land, the community, the wildlife, and especially, the whole entire ecosystem’. 

Amanda believes that the principles of Regenerative Travel begin with your own intentions and mindset. ‘We really believe in this regenerative mindset, first and foremost, starts with your intentions, and your own state of mind. Everything you do from there, how you plan your trip, how you travel…whether you take the train or bus, the hotel you choose…it comes back to your intentionality and how you choose to plan your destination.’

What does it mean to be a Regenerative Resort?

All hotels meet a minimum criteria and we look at 29 metrics. They ask properties to submit data collection in the scope of environmental and social impact.

The founding hotel of Regenerative Travel is Playa Viva in Mexico, founded by David Leventhal, who is also Amanda’s co-founder. Playa Viva built an eco-system for regeneration in Mexico.

Regeneration starts from the mindset and comes back to the owners. All properties are independantly owned and owners are very involved.

Regenerative Travel Summit 2021

Regenerative Travel hosted its second Travel Summit 2021 in September. Ho believes that the travel industry can serve as a catalyst for change, generating economic, social, and environmental wealth. The summit brought together thought leaders and emerging innovators to discuss practical solutions for the industry’s greatest challenges and tools to unite travel with conscious consumers’ desire to do good. 

A keynote speaker at the summit was Stephen Satterfield, host of the critically-acclaimed Netflix docuseries High on the Hog. He shared his work on how to better understand humans and the world through food. 

What’s Been Your Most Memorable Places To Visit?

Oasy Hotel is situated in the heart of Tuscany and features an expanse of incredible wildlife and biodiversity, stretching over more than 900 hectares of the Apennine Mountains, meadows and woodlands. Ho describes how it was unlike any part of Italy she’d visited before – from the farm to table dining experience, to creative excursions and the wolves she saw on her travels. In addition to this, the hotel, in collaboration with WWF, created a forest fund to recover and transform the land into the protected oasis we see today. 

Fogal Island Inn in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

The hotel is a leading member of our community. Newfoundland was thriving on cod fishing but as a result of overfishing the island became very poor. Thanks to Zita Cobb, founder of Fogo Island Inn, she reinvigorated the island. One of the amazing thing that they do is that they integrate the community into the experience. Instead of a tour guide, you are invite over by a local and they show you how they live. They match a different visitor with a local family.

What Does It Mean To Be A Regenerative Traveller? 

‘This comes back to mindfulness; what kind of person are you? And what kind of impact do you want to make on the world? How can you make that change in your daily life – it doesn’t have to be drastic. It might simply engage more with someone at a coffee shop or someone in your neighbourhood. The mindset really starts at home.’