The Women Who Inspire Us Series: Regeneration

At empowered.travel, we celebrate fearless women shaping the future of adventure travel, exploration, and a healthier, more connected planet. Throughout history, women explorers, pioneers, and change-makers have defied expectations, broken barriers, and redefined the way we experience the world.

Continuing our series, we want to highlight a woman whose visionary work in regeneration is transforming the way we think about tourism—Anna Pollock.

Anna Pollock – Leading the Way in Regenerative Travel 🌿

As a thought leader, strategist, and advocate for regenerative tourism, she challenges the industry to move beyond sustainability and towards a model that actively heals and nourishes destinations, communities, and travelers alike.

With over 40 years of experience in tourism, Anna has dedicated her career to questioning conventional practices and pioneering a new paradigm—one that prioritizes the well-being of local cultures, ecosystems, and economies (regeneration). She believes that tourism should not be extractive but regenerative, leaving places better than they were before. Her work inspires travel professionals, businesses, and travelers to adopt a deeper sense of responsibility for the world they explore.

Regeneration and Leadership

When I first encountered Anna’s ideas, they shifted my entire perspective on travel. She speaks with a rare combination of wisdom and urgency, illuminating the ways in which mass tourism has harmed the very places we seek to admire. Yet, she doesn’t dwell on the damage—she offers solutions. Her insights into how we can co-create a more conscious and regenerative travel experience have ignited a global movement, pushing destinations to embrace sustainability not as a goal, but as a foundation for genuine restoration, regeneration, and growth. Anna has worked with leading tourism organizations, destinations, and businesses worldwide, offering a blueprint for a future where travel nurtures both the traveler and the world they journey through. Through her consultancy, Conscious Travel, she continues to mentor leaders and advocates committed to making tourism a force for good.

Anna’s Regenerative Tourism Projects

Anna Pollock has played a key role in advancing regenerative tourism in New Zealand. She co-led the Back to Life program in 2021, guiding 80 tourism stakeholders in shifting towards ecological and community-centered models, incorporating Māori values like manaakitanga (hospitality) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship). She has also worked with regional tourism organizations in Rotorua, Waikato, Coromandel, and Bay of Plenty, and collaborated with Visit Ruapehu to integrate regenerative principles into tourism strategies aligned with the We Are Aotearoa Tourism Taskforce report.

Anna’s work in regeneration is more than a vision—it’s a call to action.

If we truly love to travel, we must ask ourselves: How can we give back? How can we ensure that our footprints are not just light, but beneficial? Anna’s message reminds us that adventure and responsibility are not mutually exclusive—they are, in fact, deeply intertwined.

Explore more about Anna Pollock’s revolutionary regeneration approach:
🔹 Anna’s Website
🔹 Anna’s LinkedIn

🌍 How do you incorporate sustainability into your travels? Share in the comments!
🌿 Tag a fellow traveler who inspires you to explore with purpose!
🌍 Empowered.travel sabbatical guidebook comes with practical tips on how to travel and live more regeneratively.

Stay tuned as we continue this series with more extraordinary women:

🚀 Wanda Rutkiewicz – The legendary mountaineer who shattered records and redefined what it means to be fearless in the high-altitude world of Himalayan climbing.
🧗 Sasha DiGiulian – A world-renowned rock climber who has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in the climbing world. Beyond her climbing achievements, Sasha is a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment and gender equality in sports. She uses her platform to promote inclusion in the outdoor industry, mentor young athletes, and support initiatives that inspire more women to break barriers in traditionally male-dominated fields.
🌿 Lise Wortley – A modern-day explorer committed to retracing the footsteps of historic female adventurers, all while using traditional gear.
🚣 Kiko Matthews – An inspiring endurance athlete who broke records as a solo rower while championing environmental sustainability.

This is more than a tribute; it’s a movement. Let’s honor these incredible women and inspire more to step into the unknown. Share this post, tag an adventurer, and celebrate the power of fearless women! 💪✨

#WomenExplorers #AdventureTravel #EmpoweredTravel #FearlessWomen #RegenerativeTourism #SustainableTravel #AnnaPollock #TravelWithPurpose #WomenSolo #ConsciousTravel