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From Slow Tourism to Slow Travel: An Idea for Marginal Regions

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Cycling & Walking for Regional Development

Part of the book series: Research for Development ((REDE))

Abstract

Tourism represents  a strategy that can be used to imagine the development of marginal areas. But what type of tourism? Slow tourism is considered in literature and by the main development policies of marginal areas as one of the forms of tourism that best lends itself to the specific context of these territories. There are three factors whose possible relationship and interaction will be studied: tourism, slowness, and marginal areas. In this piece, the matter of marginal areas is not discussed, and it is taken as fact. What is discussed is the combination of slowness and tourism, often identified with the idea of “slow tourism”. The article proposes its own definition of slow tourism, where slowness, as a conscious and alternative attitude, invests in and modifies the economic sector of tourism. We therefore identify the attitudes of slowness that bring meaning to a territorial project, useful to the development (not only financial but also cultural and social) of marginal areas. From tourism, we move on to travel, a free and discovery-based approach, in line with the lessons that slowness can provide.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this article, we will not consider what constitutes a marginal region (which will be discuss in other essays in the volume). We will therefore talk about “less developed”, “marginal”, “peripheral”, “fragile”, and “inner” (referring to the Italian context) areas to indicate the regions that for many different reasons have been included in recent support and development policies (rural, isolated, mountainous, shrinking areas, etc.).

  2. 2.

    It is curious to note that the first definition of slow travel, made by Pauline Kenny in 2000, on the slowtravel.com website, does not incorporate the idea of the journey to a destination into slow travel. Indeed, the essence of slow travel, according to Kenny, is about staying in one place and then using the time to explore nearby localities, thus getting to know more about local culture and way of life. From this perspective, it is difficult to identify a distinction between slow tourism and other alternative (to mass) approaches to tourism development, such as ecotourism and, more generally, sustainable tourism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Paolo Pileri & Rossella Moscarelli

Authors
  1. Paolo Pileri
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  2. Rossella Moscarelli
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Contributions

The authors have shared the concept of the paper. P.P. has written the paragraphs 4 and 5. R.M. has written the paragraphs 1, 2, and 3.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rossella Moscarelli .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Paolo Pileri

  2. Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Rossella Moscarelli

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Pileri, P., Moscarelli, R. (2021). From Slow Tourism to Slow Travel: An Idea for Marginal Regions. In: Pileri, P., Moscarelli, R. (eds) Cycling & Walking for Regional Development. Research for Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44003-9_1

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