Advocating and Implementing Slow Tourism

Encouraging visitors to make slower choices when planning and enjoying their holidays has a range of benefits - for the destination's environment and local community and for the visitor themselves. Seeking fewer, more meaningful experiences rather than trying to tick off all the 'must-do' sights in a limited amount of time should mean less travelling and possibly less spending, although hopefully more of the visitor's money may go into local businesses' pockets rather than be lost to the local economy via larger chain businesses. With a slower pace visitors should have time to make connections - with the place, people and local culture they are located in or passing through. Plus, possibly, also make better connections with their companions and themselves at the same time. Slow visitors will find out more about the natural and built heritage, local cuisine, traditions, and some of the special qualities of their destination, in contrast to those who rush through and move on quickly. They are likely to have a more authentic experience, taking time to browse the local market, absorb the atmosphere, people watch, buy something from a craftsperson, chat to local people, linger over a meal at a typical restaurant, take a guided tour of an archaeological site with a local expert, walk or cycle into the surrounding countryside, watch wildlife, or whatever takes their fancy. Slow breaks can also have an element of chilling out, relaxing and 're-creating' in the original sense of the word. Such breaks involve being with people you love, sharing quality time and experiences together and probably seeking some peace and tranquillity during a break from the everyday. Woehler (2004) advocates unshackling tourists from time constraints without denying their wish for self-fulfilment. Slow tourism and travel should also have fewer environmental impacts - people ideally travel less distance both to the destination and once there, and use more sustainable methods of travel. By choosing to eat, drink, buy and visit locally, fewer resources are used on international products and more money goes into local businesses. The great advantage slow travel and tourism have over green or eco-choices is that slow encompasses a well-being, convivial, even hedonistic, element which should be a much easier sell