Why Slow Tourism Is Here to Stay

World Tourism Day is often a celebration of where we travel. This year, perhaps it's worth thinking about how we travel too.

Over the last few years, the idea of slow tourism has gathered real momentum. While the concept itself isn't new, its roots can be traced back to Italy's Slow Food movement, which emerged in the 1980s before inspiring a wider movement focused on quality, connection and experiences over speed.

Its popularity has grown significantly in recent years. Many travellers emerged from the pandemic with a different perspective on life and travel. Human connection and the opportunity to experience places so different from our everyday surroundings suddenly felt more important than ever. At the same time, growing awareness of sustainability and a desire to support local communities have encouraged travellers to take a more considered approach to exploring the world.

At its heart, slow tourism isn't really about travelling slowly; it's about travelling more thoughtfully. It's the difference between rushing through a destination and truly experiencing it. And for walkers, it's a philosophy that feels very familiar indeed

Walking has a remarkable ability to slow us down

Modern life isn't exactly designed for lingering. Many of us spend our days moving from one commitment to the next, with calendars full, inboxes overflowing and phones constantly demanding our attention. Travel can sometimes feel no different, becoming another list of things to tick off rather than an opportunity to pause and reconnect.

Walking holidays like ours offer something different. Exploring on foot naturally encourages a slower pace. You spend less time looking at a screen and more time looking around you, or engaged in conversation with your holiday companion. When you're not rushing between attractions, you'll find that you have much more time to immerse yourself in a landscape. After all, it's quite difficult to hurry when there's a view worth stopping for every few minutes.

The joy of noticing the little things

One of the greatest rewards of slow tourism is that it helps us notice details we'd otherwise miss. It's often not the headline-grabbing moments that stay with us. Instead, it's the small things. The sound of a curlew calling across a quiet Cumbrian valley. Morning mist slowly lifting from the Yorkshire Dales. The reflection of a fell in a perfectly still tarn before the breeze arrives. The first signs of autumn colour appearing on a hillside. The scent of pine trees after a shower of rain.

These aren't always the moments that make it onto postcards or social media feeds and yet, they're often the memories that stay with us longest. There's something wonderfully satisfying about discovering that some of the best parts of a holiday weren't on the itinerary at all.

Landscapes are only half the story

One of the criticisms often levelled at modern tourism is that it's possible to visit a destination without really experiencing it. Slow tourism encourages the opposite, creating opportunities for conversations, local recommendations and insights that bring a place to life.

This is particularly true in the Canary Islands, where every Ramble Worldwide walking holiday is now accompanied by a local guide. Beyond leading the route, local guides share stories, traditions, food, history and the hidden corners that many visitors would otherwise miss. They allow our walkers to experience a side to the Canary Islands that very few visitors see: a truly local way of life.

Shared experiences matter

Slow tourism isn't only about destinations, it's also about people and shared connection. One of the pleasures of a walking holiday is the opportunity to share experiences with others. We often find that the deepest conversations can happen as you walk side by side, sharing new views and experiences as you go. By dinner time, you'll find that you'll have a whole host of stories to share with your holiday companions.

While many holidays are about isolation (to a certain extent), our holidays are all about camaraderie and the sense of achieving something together. This is something that is much easier to achieve when you're travelling through a landscape together, slowly.