Carol Dimopoulos, the colorful CEO of Learning Journeys, recently returned from India. It was the latest of a dozen previous trips to India, but only the second to southern India. She came back super jazzed.

“They were happy to see foreign guests,” she said. “They believe the guest is God, you know. That’s their motto.”

Carol’s group in India received even more attention than they might have otherwise because foreign travelers are still somewhat rare in post-lockdown Southern India.

Last week I spoke to Carol Dimopoulos, the founder and CEO of Learning Journeys, about the term “regenerative travel.” There’s another term she prefers when speaking about the Learning Journeys style of delivering service. She calls it “restorative travel.”

Learning Journeys offers “Journeys of Transformation,” educational experiences that take place while traveling to special destinations. The programs are based on specific interests, such as photography, wildlife, arts and crafts, dance, music or gastronomy, and include encounters with various kinds of experts and teachers.

Dr. Carol Dimopoulos has a unique background that bridges the educational tourism sector and academia. In her industry role she serves as CEO and founder of Learning Journeys, a company focused on global transformational journeys which encourages participants to immerse in their interests and passions. The organization focuses on incorporating education into the global travel platform as well as creating social exchanges which initiate economic opportunities for developing societies. Through her global exposure, she discovered what drives human empowerment at a core level. She is a well-respected assistant professor of entrepreneurship, speaker, published researcher and scholar on the subjects of DEI, social entrepreneurship, and responsible tourism. She also holds an MBA in strategic management from Sage Graduate School and a doctorate from The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in Global Education and Leadership and earned a SUNY Fellowship in DEI-teaching and learning certification.