Slow travel: issues for tourism and climate change

Abstract

This paper analyses the eclectic evolution of slow travel, examines key features and interpretations, and develops a slow travel framework as an alternative way of conceptualising holidays in the future. The paper focuses on slow travel's potential to respond to the challenges of climatic change: travel currently accounts for 50–97.5% of the overall emissions impact of most tourism trips. In-depth interviews with self-identified slow travellers illustrate and underpin the concept and note that slow travellers form a continuum from “soft” to “hard” slow travellers. The paper explores time as a social institution, timeless time and fragmented time, travel as an integral part of the tourist experience, and the links between tourism and the travellers’ self-identity and lifestyles. Special attention is given to people and place engagement, to behavioural choice and decision-making psychology, and to the role and growth of web communities. Slow travel is shown to require both holiday type/style choices and travel mode choices. Walking, cycling, travel using bus, coach and train all facilitate slow travel, while air and car travel do not. Slow travel prompts a reassessment of how tourism interfaces with transport.

缓慢型旅行：关于旅游和气候变化的一些问题

该文章分析了缓慢型旅行的各种发展进程，检测了其主要的解释和特征，并且还建议了一个作为给将来的度假形式概念化的缓慢型旅行模式。该文章看重讨论缓慢型旅行对全球气候变化的潜在影响。缓慢型旅行中的污气排放量现在在所有旅游形式中占50%到97.5%。该研究对自我定义是缓慢型旅游者的人进行深度采访。采访结果显示缓慢型旅游者形成一种从“软”到“硬”的持续性。文章探讨时间的社会实体性，无限时间和时间的分化性，旅行作为旅游者经历的一部分，还有旅游和旅行者自我认识和生活方式的关系。文章着重讨论了人和地方的紧密联系，行为选择和决策心理的关系，还有网络社区的重要任务和影响。缓慢型旅游要求同时有假期形式方式选择和旅行方式的选择。走路，骑车，公交车旅行，大巴和火车旅行都属于缓慢型旅行，而飞机和自驾车则不算。缓慢型旅行促使我们对旅游和交通的关联作一个重要评估。

Keywords:

• slow travel
• discourse
• identity
• climate change

Keywords:

• 缓慢型旅游
• 讨论
• 身份
• 气候变化

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by a grant from the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and EPSRC.