Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
poor record to date, then it will struggle to meet the challenges of an emerging
green and dynamic economy.
The question is whether the response from the tourism sector will follow
the current pattern of tokenism, or be sufficiently far-reaching to bring about
real change. Analysis of the sector response to a low-carbon future, in Chapter
2, indicates that most mechanisms in situ have only limited likelihoods of suc-
cess, given the dominant paradigm of growth, profit and consequent increase
of externalities. Weaver (2009, p35) argues that the roll-out of sustainable
tourism during the past decades has amounted to no more than a paradigm
nudge, rather than a fundamental shift in the tourism system:
It may be … that industry (and government) is engaging in a
'veneer sustainability' version of paradigm nudge primarily as a
response to the veneer environmentalism exhibited by the gen-
eral public itself, in high per capita GNP societies at least.
Therein lies a real danger: inertia will dominate the current system at the
expense of innovation. The topic has also explored the drivers of tourism and
theoretical perspectives that seek to explain tourism demand. Tourism con-
sumption has been analysed and increasingly represented as bringing potential
problems in recent years; it has thus attracted the attention of academics from
various disciplines. They seek to re-appraise the societal processes that have
facilitated the rise of tourism. It is also clear that tourism has attracted the
attention of theorists interested in its complexity as a social phenomenon, one
which has particular significance in western society. Therefore, it is timely to
propose a new tourism system which would embrace the principles of slow
travel; a system that has the potential to bring about a paradigmatic shift,
rather than the incremental nudge referred to earlier.
Our thesis for slow travel revolves around a number of core processes and
ingredients that come together to facilitate lower-carbon tourism. There is clearly
a task of refining and modifying what can best be described as an emerging the-
ory. The core elements are: a process which brings about a modal shift away
from air and car travel; a behavioural shift to the rediscovery of travel for its own
sake to facilitate slower, but more carbon-efficient, journeys that engender
engagement with people encountered and places en route, as well as at the des-
tination; and an increasing expression of environmental concern by tourists
conscious of a need to reduce their carbon footprint whilst maintaining the ben-
efits of travel. These core elements have been the subject of investigation in the
preceding case study chapters. The potential of slow travel is explored. This is
essentially a discussion focusing on behavioural change, not just of individuals
and groups which make up the market, but also policy-makers and tourism struc-
tures that supply the tourism offering; change is the subject of this final chapter.
Future scenarios
There have been surprisingly few published articles that seek to predict the
future of tourism, but authors who address this topic lend support to the view
