ORN host annual conference in Northumberland National Park

Over two days in June at The Sill in the Northumberland National Park, ORN hosted their annual conference ‘Outdoor Recreation as a Catalyst for Regenerative Tourism’. The event brought together practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to explore how tourism can go beyond sustainability to actively restore landscapes and strengthen communities. The underpinning ethos of regenerative tourism is to move beyond doing less harm to doing more good!

From keynote insights on market evolutions and community-led tourism to powerful workshops and site visits at Walltown Country Park and Hadrian’s Wall, the conference created space for new ideas, collaboration, and reflection on the future of tourism and the role of outdoor recreation in it. Key take-aways included the importance of designing tourism with communities—not just for them—and recognising that regeneration is about people as much as place.

Speakers shared inspiring examples, from Ireland’s peatland transition to the Wild Kielder rewilding project, all demonstrating that bold, joined-up action is possible. Sessions also highlighted priorities for the sector: embedding accessibility, championing local leadership, and sharing best practice on nature-positive visitor experiences.

Another key theme was the power of partnerships and data to drive change—from using local insights to shape regenerative visitor offers to ensuring that tourism genuinely benefits biodiversity and community wellbeing. A phase that surfaced many times was that ‘a great place to visit is always a great place to live’.

Many delegates noted the value of connecting across organisations and sectors to share learning and grow collective confidence to implement the pillars underpinning a regenerative approach to tourism and outdoor recreation. Resources, slides, and recordings are now available to delegates who attended the conference. From the end of July this material will be available to ORN members on the ORN website for a period of 9 months before open access to the general public (non-members). If you’d like to access this material soon – or find out more about how your organisation can benefit from membership – visit https://outdoorrecreation.org.uk/orn-membership/.