It is widely recognized that travel and tourism can have a high environmental impact and make a major contribution to climate change. It is therefore vital that ways to reduce these impacts are developed and implemented. 'Slow travel' provides such a concept, drawing on ideas from the 'slow food' movement with a concern for locality, ecology and quality of life. The aim of this book is to define slow travel and to discuss how some underlining values are likely to pervade new forms of sustainable development. It also aims to provide insights into the travel experience; these are explored in several chapters which bring new knowledge about sustainable transport tourism from across the world. In order to do this the book explores the concept of slow travel and sets out its core ingredients, comparing it with related frameworks such as low-carbon tourism and sustainable tourism development. The authors explain slow travel as holiday travel where air and car transport is rejected in favour of more environmentally benign forms of overland transport, which generally take much longer and become incorporated as part of the holiday experience. The book critically examines the key trends in tourism transport and recent climate change debates, setting out the main issues facing tourism planners. It reviews the potential for new consumption patterns, as well as current business models that facilitate hyper-mobility. This provides a cutting edge critique of the 'upstream' drivers to unsustainable tourism. Finally, the authors illustrate their approach through a series of case studies from around the world, featuring travel by train, bus, cycling and walking. Examples are drawn from Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. Cases include the Eurostar train (as an alternative to air travel), walking in the Appalachian Trail (US), the Euro-Velo network of long-distance cycling routes, canoe tours on the Gudena River in Denmark, sea kayaking in British Columbia (Canada) and the Oz Bus Europe to Australia.
Biography
Janet Dickinson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Services Management, Bournemouth University, UK. Her research interests include the social construction of sustainable tourism and transport. Les Lumsdon is Professor of Tourism in the School of Sport, Tourism and the Outdoors, University of Central Lancashire, UK. He is director of the Institute of Transport and Tourism and co-editor of Tourism and Hospitality Planning & Development.
'Ironically, you might think, I'm a great advocate of Slow Travel. There is a misconception that 'seeing the world' requires us all to travel further and faster. And I've probably contributed to it, with a series of television programmes that have largely depended on visiting distant lands. Nevertheless, I would suggest that our practice when we are in another country is sympathetic to the philosophy of Slow Travel.' Michael Palin 'This timely and important book, written by two of the leading experts in this emerging discipline, starts with the observation that slow travel creates time whereas normal travel tries to save time by speeding up. Lumsdon and Dickinson reconnoitre new terrain for both scientists and practitioners in tourism thinking. What is needed is a cultural revolution and this book provides many exciting insights to accommodate this paradigm switch. Read it and be inspired, changed and given more time!' Paul Peeters, Associate Professor NHTV University of Applied Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands 'Slow Travel and Tourism will be of interest to all those interested in improving the sustainability of tourism and enhancing tourist experience. It is a very well researched book that provides detailed information on tourism transport and mobilities.' Susanne Becken, Associate Professor, Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, Lincoln University, New Zealand 'Slow Tourism shows clearly that the 'faster & further' characterizing current tourism development is a dead end. Instead, it provides us with a blueprint for a tourism system that considers environmental limits and long-term sustainability. Required reading for anyone stuck in the outdated logic of growth at any cost, as well as those looking for inspiration for innovation.' Stefan G‘ssling, Professor of Tourism, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University 'Slow travel belongs to a wider international discourse covering slow food, slow consumption and slow time. This book
