The Slow Tourism Movement
Photo by Yon Krukov
For those that have the privilege to take a vacation away from home and explore new horizons, their time on holiday can be easily stretched thin and spent on “must-see” attractions, and endless moving and doing things at a fast pace. Similar to our daily routines, if our mindset on vacation is all about checking off a to-do list, then it is nearly impossible to be present and feel a new place. In my own travels, I am trying to be actively present and conscious in my travel decisions as it relates to my interests, needs, and beliefs. These attitudes around travel partly make up for the slow tourism movement. Slow tourism has been widely defined in both scholarly discussions and online tourism markets. In brief, slow tourism is the act of staying in a single place for a minimum of one week, and connecting with the local people and culture while consciously cultivating meaningful experiences with what is available to you.
Slow tourism is used to promote sustainability, especially in transportation and food. Simply by eliminating flights and reducing car time, travelers can greatly minimize their carbon footprint and try new methods of movement that are more planet-friendly. The space outside of mainstream travel is spontaneous but mindful, and curiosity can blossom here. Most slow travelers and services that participate in slow tourism are unaware of their sustainable behavior, however as travel becomes more desirable, the tourism industries that promote environmental awareness and support the local economy will maintain likeability and business in the coming decades.
Accessibility to slow tourism
Imagine turning off your phone and walking the streets of an unknown city without google maps. Your navigation depends on the flow of direction from streetwalkers. Your eyes are searching the sky for standout monuments while your nose is following the sweet and salty smells that trail through the crowd. You don’t have a plan or an itinerary to follow. You are simply observing with your senses and exploring what calls to you. This is what travel planners like Aldara Arias de Saavedra would call Slow Tourism. To live like a local during your travel journey is how the born and raised Sevilleian aims to organize her trips for clients. She explains, “Adjusting to the local’s pace of doing things is a challenge because this feeling of losing time is something that we cannot bear in our society. We are told to produce and consume all the time [however] I define Slow Tourism as neither producing nor consuming much and being fine with it. Maybe it's far from our reality, but it’s worth trying.”
While the experience of mundane or local activities is available to everyone, it might feel like those who actually participate in local life are those who can afford to. Because slow tourism is also defined by elongating the amount of time spent in a single place, visitors that have strict vacation days might not be as inclined to explore without a detailed itinerary. Aldara notes, “the challenge is the amount of time that we can dedicate to a trip. In most cases, tourists don’t have a lot of time or the money to afford an extended stay. For this reason, slow tourism can be seen as only accessible to high-budget travelers. So if you’re from the working class and have only a couple of weeks of vacation days per year, you’ll want to make the most of it. So what happens? We go back to rushing during our holidays.”
A poll conducted by OnePoll asked 2,000 Americans in 2019 about travel experiences and reasons that prevented them from traveling. Results revealed that 40% of respondents have never left the United States. Reasons for not traveling included financial restraints, with 63% indicating that an international trip would be out of their price range. Work responsibilities were also cited as prevention to travel with 25% of respondents not finding the time to travel. Under the Fair Labor and Standards Act, the Department of Labor does not require United States companies to offer paid time off to their employees. This law is a stark contrast between Spain and other countries in the European Union that are mandated to give a minimum of 20 days of paid holiday a year. Even if we remove geographic boundaries, time and money are the primary constraints to traveling for the majority of people. This leads me to wonder, can ST be made accessible to all types of clients, and maintain its purpose of preserving moments through the slow enjoyment of discovery and presence?
The Experience Economy in Slow Tourism
The experience economy is defined by goods and services sold with an emphasis on the effect they can have on people’s lives (Cambridge Dictionary). Experiences help us give meaning to the interactions we have with people and places. Meaningful experiences lead to new perspectives and knowledge about ourselves that can stay with us long after the experience has ended. Today more travelers are opting for an authentic experience over material goods from their host city or country. Memorable experiences can look like spending the day at a nature preserve or beach, visiting a farm or vineyard and learning about the local products of the area, cooking a meal inspired by the local cuisine, and getting lost in a city with an experienced local tour guide. Not surprisingly, the majority of activities marketed by slow tourism participate in the experience economy. What’s more, is in general the experiences tend to be low budget as many natural spaces are free to enter and local businesses are not dependent on tourism as much as they are on their community for economic vitality.
Finding Sustainability in Slow Tourism
If the experience economy is making travel more accessible through affordable activities, how can the travel industry work to be more sustainable? The three e’s in sustainability are ecology, economy, and equity. Ecology is the relationship between humans and their environment, the economy is the management of resources, and equity represents the fair distribution of resources in a community. When applying the 3 e’s to travel experiences, slow tourism has the potential to raise conservation awareness about an environment and its resources, provide authentic experiences that strengthen local economies, and share knowledge, tradition, and culture to all types of visitors through meaningful experiences.
Slow Tasters was born out of resistance to exploitative tourism that thrives on fast-paced consumption and overlooks the layers of meaning that can be discovered in a new city. Aldara is the Founder and Creator of Slow Tasters and defines the travel company as a slow tourism experience that introduces travelers to the local cuisines of their host country. Aldara’s mission is to introduce tourists to historical moments and emblematic themes in Sevillian culture that produced the signature plates found in the southern Spanish region. “The moment you participate in an intimate experience with locals you become more interested in learning about their culture and perhaps even research more on your own; this is when the trip becomes much more fulfilling,” says Aldara. This is what Aldara says will happen to tourists that join her upcoming Slow Taster’s guide around Seville. “It’s not about historical dates or names, but rather life in other places and learning why life is the way it is there. My experience in the tourism industry results that food is the best way to teach this”.
While Aldara admits that Slow Taster does not directly raise awareness about environmental challenges in Seville, the experience highlights century-old traditions that must be preserved. Demonstrating the use of, and eating only local products indirectly helps fight against climate change and protects small farms and local producers. What’s more, is the knowledge shared about local traditions and food culture protects it as it makes people think more about the food journey of their meal. When there is meaning attached to food, we are more likely to remember the meal and advocate for others to have a similar experience; this grows the experience economy and gives slow tourism more popularity.
Slow Tourism Sustainable?
Changing how humans travel must be seriously considered if we want to keep traveling a part of the human experience. However, we must be cautious of the idea that slow tourism is the answer to sustainable travel. In truth, there will always be parts of travel that are not sustainable.
Understanding the environmental costs to travel must be recognized and then managed by cautious and careless travelers alike. The beautiful thing about ST is that it has the potential to give the ultimate travel experience that meets the needs of types of travelers including climate warriors and holiday goers. If slow tourism can shift ideas about travel that emphasize the connections made during the journey and not the destination, then it can also foster more opportunities for sustainable travel choices to occur during a weekend, summer, or month-long trip.
