What If Your Next Trip Changed More Than Just You?
Case Studies in Regenerative Business and Systemic Change
This pair of case studies explores the growing tension in tourism and hospitality: while long associated with excess resource use and inequity, these sectors are now under pressure to prove they can create climate solutions and community value.
Tourism and hospitality are industries defined by contradictions. They connect cultures and generate trillions in revenue, yet they are also among the most resource-intensive sectors on the planet. Aviation drives emissions, hotels are responsible for high energy and waste footprints, and popular destinations suffer from overtourism and inequality as profits leak away from local economies. The challenge is stark: can businesses whose very model depends on movement and consumption reorient themselves toward regeneration? Intrepid Travel and The Social Hub, both B Corporations, are attempting to answer yes.
For Intrepid, the focus begins with climate. Carbon-neutral since 2010, the company is now targeting a 50% emissions cut by 2035 and net zero by 2050. Rather than leaning on offsets, they’ve redesigned itineraries to eliminate short-haul flights, lean more heavily on cycling, hiking, and public transit, and invest in electric transport. “Sustainability isn’t a buzzword for us, but the standard we hold ourselves to,” Barnes explained. Intrepid also distinguishes itself with equity commitments: 34% of its global supplier spend goes to women-owned businesses—compared to an industry average of just 1%—and partnerships like Nomadness Travel Tribe channel resources to BIPOC creators and communities. Their model of “detour destinations” directs tourism dollars away from overcrowded hotspots and into overlooked regions, spreading benefits while relieving pressure on fragile ecosystems.
The Social Hub (TSH), a Netherlands-based company with hubs across 18 European cities, is tackling the hotel industry’s footprint head-on. Hotels typically emit up to 40kg of CO2 per room per night; TSH aims to cut emissions by 78% by 2030 and generate 50% of its energy onsite. Solar panels already power locations in Barcelona, Madrid, and Toulouse, while AI-driven food waste monitoring and partnerships with Too Good To Go address hospitality’s notorious waste problem. Heat pumps and smart building systems further reduce reliance on fossil energy. Westerborg noted that aligning with frameworks like the Science Based Targets initiative and CSRD regulations provides both accountability and a blueprint for scaling responsibly.
Yet regeneration is not just about infrastructure—it’s about community. Intrepid has raised $18 million for grassroots partners through its Intrepid Foundation, and is expanding its U.S. nonprofit arm to amplify impact. The Social Hub builds social impact into its daily operations: 5,500 events annually transform its spaces into community ecosystems, while the TSH Talent Foundation—funded by 1% of turnover—supports students and changemakers facing barriers to opportunity. In Westerborg’s words, “Together, we create a better society.”
What unites Intrepid and TSH is their willingness to challenge structural defaults. Both embrace B Corp certification not as a marketing badge but as a framework of accountability. Both invest in equity—whether through women- and Indigenous-owned businesses in Intrepid’s supply chains or through scholarships and social innovation programs at TSH. And both show that regeneration in tourism and hospitality is not about business as usual with greener optics—it is about redesigning who benefits, how resources circulate, and what purpose growth serves.
Join the Conversation
When choosing where to stay or which company to book with, what matters most to you—price, convenience, or values?
Do you see tourism as a privilege, a right, or a responsibility? Why?
Have you noticed differences between “sustainable” travel marketing and the reality on the ground? What stood out to you?
The regenerative business practices and sustainability innovations highlighted in this week’s Regenerative Insights directly tackle the critical issues of corporate responsibility explored in my recent book explored in my recent book, The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profit and Socializes Cost.
