Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
expanded across Europe and to a lesser extent in North America (Pietryowski,
2004). There are numerous examples of food and beverage production as an
important element of destination development where local provenance and
authenticity fit well. Many ecotourism companies have taken advantage of
this; they offer exploration holidays (experiential in nature and also often
marketed as being pro-poor) that embrace the culinary arts of different com-
munities with which they engage (Bessiere, 1998). Thus, whilst there is a
strong European strand of thought, the art of slow food and locality retains
a presence at destinations across the globe, in spite of the globalization of
agro-food and much of the hospitality sector. This is a diversity which
facilitates differentiation, as much a hallmark of slow food as is enjoyment of
locality and the commonplace in slow travel (Halager and Richards,
2002).
There is also emerging a literature base that explores the relationship
between transport and tourism (Lumsdon and Page, 2004). Much of the work
relates to transport as a means of destination development and as an enabler
of tourism where speed, access and travel cost are key elements (Prideaux,
2000). However, there is a conspicuous lack of research on slow travel or, for
that matter, green travel (Page, 1999). There is a distinction. Green travel
focuses on the transport element only, especially in terms of resource use and
carbon dioxide (CO
2
) emissions per capita per trip, whereas the journey to and
around the destination is an important concept within slow travel, and slow
travel refers to the whole tourist experience. However, in the discussion of the
components of tourism, a relative lack of attention is given to the actual travel
element. Some writers have questioned whether there are differences between
travel and tourism, but these have focused, for the most part, on the world of
the travel writer in defining the roles of the traveller and tourist (Dann, 1998).
There is also the concept of transport as tourism, which Lumsdon and Page
(2004, p6) explain as:
designed or in use mainly for the visitor market only, is often
indirect as it seeks to offer a different perspective of a destina-
tion, and is rarely fast. The travel cost model does not apply in
this context. The expenditure of time or duration of travel is the
prime purpose of the trip and
is
the main benefit.
The emphasis appears to be on transport as a form of tourism at the destina-
tion, or as Bull (1991, p32) refers to it: 'more properly a form of attraction
than transport'. This narrows the interpretation somewhat. Transport to the
destination is also part of slow travel, and equally it can have high intrinsic
value (Walton, 2009).
Fast travel is often associated with the journey to the destination, and
involves intensive energy consumption leading to high levels of CO
2
emissions.
Thus, our interpretation of slow travel is that it is a counter-balance to
this fundamental and negative factor; the mindset of the slow traveller there-
fore includes not only an experiential element, but it is also interlaced with a
degree of environmental consciousness that leads to an avoidance of heavy
