Main image: Birdwatching in the Dauphine Alps. Credit: Emmanuel Rondeau. Courtesy of Rewilding Europe
Rewilding tourism
The dernier cri in tourism? Having a positive effect on the environment.
A summer of record-breaking temperatures across Europe and the US means there’s no turning away from the effects of climate change. While travel impacts—from flight emissions or overtourism—can harm the environment, pioneering projects are illustrating how tourism can benefit the planet.
And the consumer appetite is there. Booking.com’s 2025 research finds that 85% of travelers globally say that more sustainable travel is important to them, while 24% of Gen Z and 23% of Millennials have “participated in a tour or activity that contributed to the health or conservation of the local ecosystem or wildlife.”
Catering to this demand, select providers are creating tourism experiences around rewilding, which Rewilding Europe defines as “a progressive approach to conservation…letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems, and restore degraded landscapes.”
Brown bears in the Central Apennines/Credit: Bruno D'Amicis; European bison in the Southern Carpathians rewilding landscape; Iberian Wolf in Greater Côa Valley Portugal. All images courtesy of Rewilding Europe
Wilder Places is a marketplace for rewilding experiences, founded by the nonprofit Rewilding Europe foundation. It offers trips like a Rewilding Week in Romania’s Southern Carpathians, where guests can track wildlife with rangers and help restore rivers. As the company says, “one day you’re following bison tracks through the mountains. The next, you’re helping farmers prevent wildlife conflict by harvesting apples in abandoned orchards.”
Bart Schutz, tourism manager at Wilder Places, tells VML Intelligence that nature-positive tourism must benefit both nature itself and the local community. In Italy’s Apennines region, where Rewilding Europe is working to save the Marsican brown bear, this has led to flourishing business for local guides, tour operators, and restaurants in the region.
There's a demand…and you don't have to be an ecological scientist to do it. It also tells us that people want more nowadays than to just to look at [nature]
Schutz notes that rewilding experiences were the first to sell out on the platform. “What it tells us is…there's a demand…and you don't have to be an ecological scientist to do it. It also tells us that people want more nowadays than to just to look at [nature],” he adds. “It [is] about wow, [the] scenery and they will post [a picture] on Insta…but it's also about really getting into the nitty gritty details and getting their hands dirty and their feet dirty, because in terms of the experience…that's way more profound.”
These landscapes also build climate resilience. When nature evolves naturally, it reduces fire risk. “If there are keystone species that are grazing again and making open spaces…the forest becomes way more biodiverse… and it becomes multi-layered with all kinds of different plants that will burn way less,” Schutz explains.
Ted Turner Reserves
Meanwhile, at the Ted Turner Reserves in New Mexico, tourists can experience rewilded landscapes. At the Vermejo property, visitors witness riverbank restoration and watch 1,400 Castle Rock Bison roam over 500,000 acres. Following Turner’s death, a nonprofit was established to continue his work, allowing guests to actively participate by measuring levels of drought-tolerant grama grass and monitoring river temperatures of the Vermejo River “to better understand conditions for the trout and other wildlife.”
And in the Tapir Valley Natura Reserve in Costa Rica’s Bijagua region, alongside hearing 440 bird species on the Morning Birding and Nature Tour, guests learn about “the critical role each species plays in maintaining healthy ecosystems.” In Scotland, charity Scotland: The Big Picture offers a Cairngorms Rewilding experience, where among the highlights guests can witness “a free-roaming herd of Highland cattle that replicate the grazing patterns of lost wild herbivores.”
When it comes to experiences, consumers are looking for something more. According to VML’s Future 100: 2026 report, 88% value experiences that feel meaningful, not just entertaining, while 85% value those that “connect me to something bigger.” Rewilding experiences connect travelers directly to the vital task of restoring the planet. “To feel part of nature, and in a hopeful way…it's so possible,” says Wilder Places’ Schutz.
