Slow tourism: why it’s time to slow down and rethink tourism strategies

Slow tourism is a response to the saturation of fast, quantity-driven tourism that prioritizes ticking off places rather than truly experiencing them. It also addresses the need to create new models for valuing territories. More and more destinations are choosing to invest in soft mobility, local experiences, and longer stays to improve the quality of their offer, better distribute economic benefits, and promote more respectful ways for visitors to connect with places. In this article, we explore what slow tourism really means, why it’s gaining momentum, and how Etifor can support destinations in this transition.

What does slow tourism mean?

Slow tourism is a more mindful approach to travel that encourages people to slow down, engage deeply with places, and build meaningful connections with people, landscapes, and cultures. It emerged as a reaction to the hectic pace of mass tourism, emphasizing quality and awareness.

Traveling slowly means:

• choosing sustainable transport such as trains, bicycles, or walking;
• staying longer in one place, avoiding rushed itineraries;
• opting for local experiences;
• respecting the environment, communities, and traditions.

In essence, slow tourism is the opposite of travel that consumes places and experiences quickly, leaving no real connection or lasting benefit. It fosters a healthier and more enduring relationship between visitors and destinations.

Why is slow tourism becoming more popular?

In recent years, slow tourism has grown in popularity for at least three main reasons:

• Increasing environmental awareness among travelers;
• A desire to slow down and spend more quality time in places and with people;
• A search for experiences perceived as more genuine and away from mainstream tourism circuits.

However, the very idea of “authenticity” deserves closer scrutiny. As Dean MacCannell noted in The Tourist (1976), many experiences marketed as authentic are, in reality, staged for tourists. When authenticity becomes something to sell, it risks losing its connection to local communities and the complexity of place.

If designed carefully, slow tourism can avoid this pitfall. It doesn’t sell authenticity—it creates the time and space for more respectful and conscious relationships between visitors and hosts.

The benefits (and responsibilities) of slow tourism for destinations

Developing slow tourism as a strategic offering is not just about diversifying products. It’s about rethinking the relationship between tourism, territory, and communities. When done well, the benefits can be significant:

• It highlights local heritage—natural, cultural, and social—often overlooked by mass tourism;
• It extends the average stay and helps spread economic benefits more evenly across the territory, reducing the carbon footprint of long-distance travelers;
• It reduces pressure on overcrowded sites and fragile infrastructure, helping tackle overtourism;
• It encourages year-round tourism flows, reducing seasonal imbalances;
• It actively involves local communities—not just as a backdrop but as key players in the tourism experience.

But these benefits are not automatic. If slow tourism simply promotes a “slower aesthetic” or repackages local experiences for consumption, it risks reproducing the same imbalances as traditional tourism—just under a new label.

True territorial enhancement requires long-term, participatory, and coherent processes that genuinely prioritize community well-being, ecological balance, and the quality of relationships between hosts and visitors. Only in this way can slow tourism become a tool for territorial regeneration rather than just a passing trend.

Examples of slow tourism: walking routes, cycleways, rural areas

Examples of slow tourism are multiplying, especially in Italy. Some notable cases include:

• Pilgrimage and walking routes like the Via Francigena, the Via degli Dei, and the Cammino di San Benedetto;
• Cycleways like the Treviso-Ostiglia Greenway, for which Etifor coordinated a participatory management plan → discover the project;
• Rural areas offering alternatives to mass tourism destinations;
• Food and wine tourism rooted in Slow Food principles that celebrate local, seasonal, and sustainable cuisine.

All of these support a slower, more place-based way of traveling.

Differences between slow tourism, sustainable tourism, and regenerative tourism

Although often used interchangeably, these concepts have distinct meanings:

• Sustainable tourism: aims to reduce the negative impacts of tourism → learn more;
  
• Regenerative tourism: seeks to generate positive impacts by restoring ecosystems, empowering communities, and rethinking tourism mindsets → discover more;
  
• Slow tourism: is a specific type of tourism, with its own practices, target audience, and distribution channels. Unlike sustainability and regeneration—which are cross-cutting approaches applicable to any tourism type (seaside, cultural, adventure)—slow tourism is defined by certain features: longer stays, gentle mobility, and place-based experiences. By its nature, it embodies the principles of sustainability and regeneration and can act as a concrete tool to implement them on the ground.

Destinations that want to innovate their tourism strategies should see these three concepts as complementary and mutually reinforcing.

Slow tourism in Italy: an opportunity for destinations

Italy is one of the most promising countries for slow tourism, thanks to its extensive networks of trails, cycleways, natural parks, and rural landscapes. Destinations that succeed in embracing this model will be those able to:

• offer new opportunities to under-visited and inland areas;
• strengthen local identity;
• attract more conscious travelers.

Investing in slow tourism is not just an ethical choice—it’s a smart strategy for building more resilient destinations.

Our contribution: cycleways, walking routes, and slow tourism strategies

Like all tourism models, slow tourism requires proper planning and management. This is even more true given that it often involves marginal areas without a strong tourism background. Etifor supports public bodies, DMOs (destination management organizations), parks, and local stakeholders in designing slow, sustainable, and regenerative tourism experiences. We do this through:

• strategic plans for cycleways and walking routes;
• tourism impact assessments;
• participatory processes with communities;
• tools for valuing ecosystem services linked to tourism.

Discover all our services for slow tourism. With Etifor, destinations can shape tourism offers that are better aligned with community needs, traveler expectations, and environmental and social goals.