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S. Heitmann
et al.
by the enjoyment o discovery, learning andsharing. This
slowing o the pace o a holidayprovides opportunities to
interact and connectwith local people and places on a deeper
level.This acilitates a more detailed exploration o the
cultural environment in which the holidayis taking place and
results in a more rewardingand memorable experience or
the participants.Slow Tourism can be considered
romseveral diferent perspectives. The rst centralelement
o tourism activity is the necessity ortransport and travel
to a new place. In the slowscenario, this represents a move
away romlong-haul, airline-ocused travel (which
reachesmany destinations very quickly) towardsalternative
orms o travel. Not only does SlowTourism require a
change in travel behaviourand transport choice, but also the
supplyperspectives linked to the choice o transport.Second,
the slow philosophy shares commoncharacteristics with
sustainable tourism. There-ore, Slow Tourism needs to be
discussed in thecontext o tourism development and sustainability. Third, Slow Tourism as a productrequires a discussion on
the value that the labelslow attaches to a product or a service.
Hencethere are marketing implications, which arediscussed
later in this chapter. Finally, we needto establish who the Slow
Tourist is andhighlight ideas on how slow ts in with
theorieso consumer behaviour.Travel is addressed separately as
it is,arguably, separate rom tourism unlikeaccommodation provision,
which, to t the slowphilosophy, tends to relate to people staying inselcatering accommodation and more otenthan not buying ood in
local shops andintegrating themselves urther into the
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S. Heitmann
et al.
likely to be interested in gastro-tourism, and
dueto their status have su cient resources toparticipate and then
purchase goods when theyreturn to their homes. Slow Food
eventshowever, such as Terra Madre, have been acatalyst or
people to travel rom all over theworld. Convivia members,
who are oten not thetypical gastro-tourists and come rom
diversenon-European backgrounds, are regular dele-gates at
these events.On the one hand, Slow Tourists sharecharacteristics with
the generic tourist types. Onthe other hand, they do not t one type.
Forexample, a Slow Tourist could be argued to be aventurer as he/she
seeks to engage with the localculture and learn about local heritage
whileusing local transport and acilities. Yet, in thecase o the
Slow Tourist, the criticism o Plogsgeographical ocus
applies, as the aversion tolong-haul travel and the centrality
o exciting,adventurous experiences while on holiday seemsto be
in direct conict with the slow philosophy.Consequently, the Slow
Tourist only partly tsthe model o Cohens driter and explorer,
whilealso sharing personality traits more akin to themass tourist. The
Slow Tourist might rely onholiday rentals and home-rom-home
environ-ments in terms o accommodation, but is
veryindependent and exible in planning experiencesas this
acilitates unique insights into the hostculture and local
environments. Furthermore,central to Slow Tourism is to ollow the
naturalrhythm o things and pay more attention tolocal aspects
o lie of the beaten track. Yet, asthe Slow Tourist is less likely to
travel ar and isnot ound in long-haul destinations, the
hostenvironment resembles more similarly thetourists home
environment and there is notmuch o a culture shock.