ABSTRACT
Slow travel and slow tourism are terms that have gained considerable attention in both the popular media and in academic circles over the past decade, yet the terms remain ambiguous in nature and are often perceived to be a single concept. This chapter appraises the concept(s) and explores whether slowness can be a viable characteristic of tourism in “fast” countries and societies as well as those countries that are deemed more culturally “slow.” The authors contend that slow travel and slow tourism are not interlinked concepts and, therefore, can be practiced either in parallel to or independently from one another. Specifically, slow travel is a mind-set of how a tourist approaches a travel experience, whilst slow tourism is argued to be an ethos of supplying a tourism experience for those who engage in slow travel. Hence, the chapter concludes that the (slow) tourist will seek out slow experiences in either slow or fast paced environments facilitated via their slower mind-sets, whilst slow tourism typically lends itself to regions that embrace slowness, either culturally or through the rise of the Slow Movement.
Peter McGrath: 0000-0003-2989-7897
Richard Sharpley: 0000-0002-2135-3206
