Willamette Valley Visitors Association is First to Complete the TTC Destination Regeneration Accreditation Program

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Jane Wiley
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Willamette Valley Visitors Association is First to Complete the Transformational Travel Council’s Destination Regeneration Accreditation Program

 WVVA is the first in the nation to become stewards in regenerative community development and transformational travel

Salem, Ore. (June 6, 2023) – The Willamette Valley Visitors Association (WVVA) recently became the first region in the nation to complete the Transformational Travel Council’s (TTC) Destination Regeneration program, which helps forward-looking destinations implement regenerative tourism principles. “Regenerative tourism” is the idea that tourism should be holistically designed to improve host, traveler, community, and environmental well-being, which helps regions and destinations to flourish and to foster a more sustainable way of traveling and discovering new people and places.

To begin this process, WVVA launched TTC’s early adopter program in May 2021 with 11 Willamette Valley representatives from hospitality, food and wine, tour operation, agritourism and Indigenous communities, as well as state-level and regional destination management. Their mission was to create a roadmap using a transformative process, with a 12-month hybrid program following a 5-phase process designed to:

·        Empower diverse resident participation, build transformational travel experiences and co-create a regenerative future for tourism

·        Build individual and community participation

·        Foster meaningful community engagement and input

·        Adapt and embody Regenerative Guidelines for Actions for the Willamette Valley’s future.

“The Willamette Valley Visitors Association believes travel has the power to positively nurture the destination, its communities and those who visit,” said Dawnielle Tehama, Executive Director of the Willamette Valley Visitors Association. “Completing TTC's Destination Regeneration program signifies the beginning of our efforts to provide guiding principles for travelers while working to safeguard our region's treasured destinations."

The culmination of this inclusive, stakeholder-driven process is now the Regenerative Guidelines for Actions report — a first-of-its-kind effort available to any destination in the country. The report sets an overarching vision with attainable and strategic plans for the future, as well as a timeline focused on desired future-state and end-state goals.

“At the TTC we believe that for communities and their inhabitants to truly thrive and attract mindful and more reverent visitors, we must begin to shift our mindsets, meaningfully reconnect with each other and the land, open up to fresh perspectives and higher ideals, and create a cooperative, healthy community that mirrors the patterns that we see in the very nature we’re trying to protect,” said Jake Haupert, CEO of The Transformational Travel Council. “This is a challenging but vital transformation that the Willamette Valley Visitors Association has bravely and boldly initiated and with that, set the stage for an entire region to come together to actively create an enduring, and brighter future for all.”

Since committing to the program in 2019, WVVA has forged several travel opportunities that steward regenerative practices and sustainable, transformational travel. For example, WVVA has led multiple regenerative tours to rebuild areas affected by wildfires or erosion while transforming the visitor and the host. WVVA also supports winemakers and farmers as they pursue avenues to preserve land, such as Left Coast Estate’s mission to protect the oak savannas and woodlands around the Willamette Valley. In addition, WVVA has staff that work in agritourism to coordinate and connect the Valley’s farmers to visitors and highlight sustainable tourism offerings.

For more information on what WVVA is doing to make the valley a Regenerative Place, visit: https://willamettevalley.org/industry-regenerative/. To see how visitors can participate in regenerative tourism, visit: https://willamettevalley.org/regenerative-sustainable-travel/. For images, visit here.

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About the Willamette Valley Visitors Association

The Willamette Valley, defined as the area between the crest of the Cascade Mountains and the crest of the Coast Range, from Newberg south to Cottage Grove, is the largest river valley in the Pacific Northwest. Willamette Valley Visitors Association (WVVA) is a private, nonprofit organization that supports travel and tourism in the Willamette Valley, Oregon’s Wine Country. Comprising six destination marketing organizations, WVVA works to maintain the Willamette Valley as Oregon’s premier travel destination, while also highlighting the culture, heritage and natural resources of the region. For more information, visit https://willamettevalley.org/.

About The Transformational Travel Council

It's time for conscious evolution in travel and tourism. The Transformational Travel Council (TTC) is formed by global leaders shaping the future of meaningful tourism. Through a multi-stage, iterative process, we inspire change by shifting mindsets and integrating transformative and regenerative design principles that help all life to flourish, with success measured based on more holistic, conscious and virtuous outcomes. Standing for the betterment of lives and livelihoods through mindful tourism and regenerative practices, this global movement of conscious travelers is on a mission to inspire enduring change through transformational travel.