Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
while excluding wider societal structures and the context of consumption. A
social practices approach provides a framework with which to analyse insti-
tutionally embedded tourism practice. The new mobilities paradigm, on the
other hand, provides at least a partial explanation of the increasing demand
for tourism with its reflection on the relationship between mobility and soci-
ety. Chapter 3 also considers the transport experience and insight from work
on the consumption experience. Finally, various studies have alluded to the
importance of identity in the tourism transport decision-making process.
The chapter ends with a section exploring the potential role of self-identity and
the need for further research to develop this area.
Our main thesis, the ingredients of slow travel, is set out in Chapter 4.
The term slow travel has emerged, along with others, in a variety of academic,
industry, media and internet mediated contexts. To set our ideas in context,
the origins of the term are explored, especially in relation to slow food. Then
the core ingredients, low-carbon, mode, travel and destination experience and
environmental concerns are set out. This will not be the final discussion on
slow travel; we propose a description for the purposes of debate. Our analy-
sis has highlighted a number of aspects that we specifically seek to qualify:
car- and water-based travel, distance, time, speed and cost. Finally the chap-
ter sets out how the market for slow travel might be segmented, and explains
how slow travel is different to mainstream tourism.
Having achieved this key aim, the following four chapters provide more
detailed analysis of the primary travel modes which are integral to slow travel.
Chapter 5 focuses on railway travel, Chapter 6 walking, Chapter 7 cycling,
Chapter 8 bus and coach travel, and Chapter 9 water-based travel. Each of
these chapters sets out the background to each form of slow travel, explores
the experience offered, analyses the environmental issues and, in some cases,
the health benefits. Each chapter concludes with a case study which provides
a practical example of slow travel.
The final chapter revisits the current tourism system and the challenges
faced by the tourism sector. It is evident that the 'business as usual' scenario
is threatened, and the development path enjoyed by tourism in previous
decades is no longer viable in its present form. The chapter explores the
signs of transition to slow travel evident in policy, rising travel costs and
changing travel behaviour. Three scenarios for slow travel are apparent:
slow travel as a niche market predominantly focused on the middle class in
western contexts; the emergence of slow travel localities; and slow travel as a
guiding principle for all tourism. Finally we explore the coherence of a tourism
system based on a new paradigm of slow travel.
