How we measure regeneration.
The Mark scores every operator on three measured pillars — Footprint, Roots and Regeneration — combined into one number, 0 to 100. Built on The Regenerative Tourism's open, public standard.
THE MARK
Three pillars, one number
Every operator receives a single score, 0 to 100: a weighted average across three pillars.
Footprint
40% of the total score
"How lightly does this operator touch the land?" Five things every operation uses, measured per person — per night for stays, per visit for experiences — against clear benchmarks:
- Energy 30% · electricity and fuel per person, and how much is renewable
- Water 25% · litres per person; bonus for harvesting, greywater reuse, treatment
- Waste 20% · % diverted from landfill (recycled, composted, recovered)
- Carbon 15% · footprint per person from on-site energy
- Site & Land 10% · integration with surroundings, biodiversity, ecological sensitivity
Roots
30% of the total score
"Does the money stay in the community?"
- Employment 35% · local staff, fair wages, permanent contracts, conditions
- Procurement 30% · food, supplies and services bought locally
- Revenue Retention 20% · revenue kept local — direct relationships, local ownership
- Community 15% · partnerships, shared resources, cultural activity
Regeneration
30% of the total score
"Is this operator actively improving the place it depends on?" The hardest pillar: beyond doing less harm — restoring ecological, cultural or scientific capacity. Traceable and additional, not relabelled.
- Scope 40% · areas covered (restoration, culture, research, community capacity)
- Traceability 30% · traceable to a specific outcome — a tree, a species, a paper
- Additionality 20% · genuinely new, not existing activity rebranded
- Continuity 10% · year-round commitment vs seasonal gesture
Operational Footprint is 40% — the most measurable, universal impact of any operation. Local Integration and Regenerative Contribution are 30% each. The Mark is the weighted average: one number that holds the full picture.
85+ Regenerative leader
70–84 Regenerative practice
55–69 Advancing
40–54 Developing
<40 Not yet published.
Operators below the publish threshold can set a Forward Commitment with improvement targets. A Progress Modifier adds up to +10 — or subtracts up to 8 if performance drops. After the first assessment, operators are reassessed periodically, and a Direction-of-Performance score rewards real improvement over time.
Why 40 / 30 / 30
The weights reflect a hierarchy, not a moral order. If the footprint is too heavy, no contribution can offset the damage—so footprint is the floor (40%). If value leaks out of the territory, ecological projects can't hold—so local integration comes next (30%). Contribution (30%) is what turns "less harm" into "more life." The weights are calibrated to this sequence and refined as operator data grows.
Footprint · Roots · Regeneration. A proprietary methodology grounded in living systems theory, ecological economics, and the UN 2030 Agenda.
We didn't invent the three pillars—we found them. Five independent fields kept landing on the same three domains—what an operation consumes, circulates and gives back:
- •Mang & Reed (2012) · extractive → sustainable → regenerative
- •Sanford (2017) · responsible → embedded → regenerative
- •Bellato et al. (2022) · resource flows → circulation → contribution
- •Capra & Jakobsen (2017) · metabolism → circulation → regeneration
- •GSTC Criteria · environmental → socioeconomic → stewardship
The destination
A score means more in a fragile place
A hotel on a fragile island faces different pressure than one in a continental city. The Destination Pressure Index (DPI) measures how much pressure tourism places on a territory—and, unlike the Mark, a higher DPI means more pressure.
Destinations fall into Low, Moderate or High pressure. A 72 on a high-pressure island isn't the same as a 72 in a low-pressure city—the DPI gives every Mark its context.
Tourist Intensity
visitors relative to local population
Ecological Sensitivity
protected areas, forest, marine reserves
Economic Leakage
revenue that stays vs flows out to foreign chains and platforms
Regenerative Performance
how local operators are already performing
Evidence tiers
A score is only as good as the data behind it
Not all evidence is equal. Every claim is graded by quality, and quality directly affects the Mark—the more you prove, the more your score reflects.
Direct
primary records: meters, bills, invoices, payroll. Strongest.
Supporting
plans, contracts, third-party documentation.
Self-reported
operator declarations; accepted, weighted lower, flagged for review.
Proxy
validated estimation with a correction factor, when no document exists.