Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of holidays. Walking, as an essential ingredient of slow travel, is explained in
relation to the travel experience.
The experience of walking
Why is walking appropriate for slow travel? In a similar manner to many
other forms of leisure and tourism, the extent to which a person engages with
walking for pleasure is rooted in cultural preferences and, to an extent, is
structurally determined (Stebbins, 2005). The demand for recreational walk-
ing is determined, as with other recreational pursuits, principally by tastes
and availability of disposable income and time (Curry and Ravenscroft,
2001). There are also constraints that deter people from walking, and
Ravenscroft (2004) argues that these are more likely to be at an intrapersonal
level (e.g. anxieties about walking or attitudes of reference groups) or inter-
personal level (such as not having others to walk with), rather than a lack of
physical provision of facilities (Williams, 1995). The motivation for walking
focuses on a small number of factors, many of which relate to the wider con-
ceptual framework of the tourist experience (Ryan, 2000; 2002). These might
include relaxation or escapism. It might also be the actual movement of walk-
ing as a way of enjoying natural environments. Rodaway (1994) suggests that
it is through use of the senses that we define a particular place when walking
(Rodaway, 1994). Edensor (2000, p84) describes the emotional benefits as
follows:
The walker is able to resolve transformation by recovering past
value, experiencing continuity, embracing change, while acquir-
ing poetic sensibilities.
At one level, it seems almost banal to say that walking is an integral part of a
travel experience. However, the relationship between the tourist and con-
sumption of the destination, according to Solnit (2001, p5), is about walking,
'in which the mind, the body and the world are aligned'. Equally, walking is
a form of tourist performance at the destination. The tourist glance is deter-
mined at a pace that allows absorption of the sights, sounds and smells of each
particular locality. In the context of the urban area, the crucial elements are
the open spaces and thoroughfares, where there is time to saunter, to depict a
past evoked by the proximate architecture and to assimilate the ways of life
(albeit it superficially) in each quarter. Yet, the literature on tourist mobility,
including
walking
trips
within
destinations,
is
limited
(Haldrup,
2004;
McKercher and Lau, 2008).
A few studies have reported the importance of improved streetscapes to
the encouragement of walking as transport and for leisure (Cao et al, 2009;
Giles-Corti and Donovan, 2002). Millinog and Schechtner (2006) suggest that
there are three interrelated elements determining the quality of a walking
route: physical (route capacity, protection from inclement weather), psycho-
logical (attractiveness of surroundings) and mental (route clues, way-finding
and reliable landmarks to guide and assure). The tourist expectation is related
