Slow travel: the future of tourism? 🐌

Is slow travel the future of tourism? 🐌

In this episode of Sustainable Today, Successful Tomorrow, we explore one of the biggest shifts in how people travel: slowing down.

• 🐇 Are travellers tired of rushing from highlight to highlight?
• 🚂 Is slow travel about sustainability, or just a better experience?
• 💭 What challenges stand in the way of making slow travel mainstream?

From personal stories of staying longer in one place to insights from Paul Conroy at Byway. 

We unpack what makes slow travel appealing and how it connects to sustainability. 🙌

You’ll hear why travellers crave deeper connections, how slow travel can reduce pressure on crowded destinations, and why it might create the most memorable trips of all. 

If you’re curious about whether slow travel is the next big chapter in sustainable tourism, this episode is for you. 🎧

How well are you communicating sustainability? Apply for our free Sustainable Marketing Scan 👇
https://goodtourisminstitute.com/scan/

Transcript

Anne: [00:00:00] travelers are tired of following crowds, from highlight to highlight. And this is where, slow travel comes in. Because it allows travelers to, take it slower, go after beaten track, have different experiences, and yeah, just be in the moment.

Anne: Yeah. And to have time to wander To, 

Rik: explore. 

Anne: To explore and to make real connections.

Rik: Welcome back to Sustainable. Today's Successful tomorrow, where we explore real world sustainable tourism stories that actually work. Today we're slowing things down. We're asking the slow travel, the future of sustainable tourism. To help us explore that idea, we've spoken to Paul Conroy from Byway who create personalized flight free holidays. Today we'll share a few short clips from that interview, and we'll release the full conversation next week.

Rik: Kick things off. [00:01:00] And why do you think people are drawn to the idea of slow travel and is it as sustainable as people seem to think it is? 

Anne: I think overall people are just tired to follow the crowds from highlight to highlight, and they have busy demanding lives than the jobs. And I think that's increasing more and more.

Anne: So when they travel, they're really looking for. Well, they're looking for, uh, a place to relax, to rein slow down. So I think there's an increase in that if it's more sustainable. I think it depends on what kind of decisions you make. if you decide to slow down by taking the bus or the train, staying longer in a certain place, then yes, absolutely.

Anne: but you can also travel slower, in a private vehicle. And same at luxurious villas so it's definitely a way of sustainable travel if you make the sustainable decisions.

Rik: Yeah. So different ways of slow traveling. 

Anne: Absolutely. 

Rik: interesting. We'll dive a little deeper into that later on. But first, what are your personal experiences with slow travel? 

Anne: Oh, I love it. I've always been [00:02:00] more of a slow traveler in a way that. I just really like,staying and it plays a bit longer.

Anne: It a really get to know the area and to discover and explore what's around. And I also remember that, we had a lot of conversation also with friends when we were like sharing our travel plans and we always very surprised why we would, for example, stay in a certain place for five nights versus one or two.

Anne: What they would do, and they would always tell us like. We feel you're going to miss out. what are you about to do, for so many days? but I always felt like they were missing out. I really need just the time to, to actually relax and to think about what I wanna do that day, if I wanna do a proper hike, for example, I also need to calculate in the time that I need to recover, from that.

Anne: So I feel, because I'm slowing down, I experience it. Better. Mm-hmm. It makes sense. 

Rik: yeah, it does. Although I do think that taking it slow [00:03:00] for you is still not that slow because your schedule is always quite packed. 

Anne: Yeah. But can you imagine how fast it would go if you would not stay in a destination tour like five nights or longer?

Anne: I 

Rik: guess that's fair. 

Anne: So I think we've slowed down in a way to not move around.As much. And of course you can have like full day ary, but still, I don't like the rush of having to relocate every Yeah, exactly. Every few days. So in that way yes. Workflow travelers. 

Rik: Yeah. And speaking about slow travel in that manner, it always makes me think back to our time in Tsavo National Park in Kenya.

Rik: And we were staying at Salt Lake Lodge, which I would highly recommend. Absolutely. Usually people just stay there for one night. They arrive in the afternoon, grab a quick dinner, hop on a safari vehicle, Spend the night, have breakfast. before that they actually do another safari.

Rik: And after breakfast they move out. Yeah. 

Anne: Sometimes they don't even do breakfast. They have it on the road. So it's literally [00:04:00] just the night that they spent. 

Rik: So we really took our time. We stayed there for three nights actually, and. To me that was absolutely amazing because, salt Lake Lodge has these amazing like Lion King kind of views.

Rik: Yeah. They actually have a waterhole, which the animals come to visit, like at sundown. So sitting on the terrace at sundown watching the giraffe and the zebras, and actually a herd of like 20 elephant come in. that's just really amazing and you can only experience that when you take your time because I'm quite sure none of the other guests we met there have actually had that experience. And to me that was hands down the most. Special wildlife experience I've ever had, and it stopped every safari I've ever done.

Anne: No, absolutely. I think it's the same for me. And I also remember that for this specific state, that I kind of had to defend my [00:05:00] decision for staying there for three nights. Also of friends who we were in the same area, who didn't really understand why we would give up a sundown drive. Yeah. For example. but I feel like in the end we had a much more.

Anne: Relaxed, travel experience. And also we just had the time to make a few jokes with the bar, staff and to really, I don't know, just experience the place rather than visit 

Rik: and the, yeah, these lodges are expensive, but I think we kind of made up for that by not doing two safaris in a day.

Anne: Yeah. I think so too.

 How well are you actually communicating sustainability? We see many travel businesses and destinations working hard, yet they still struggle to talk about it, 

Anne: and maybe you feel the same. You're afraid of being seen as greenwashing, unsure what to share, or just not really connecting with your travelers.

Anne: We've been there with a lot of travel brands and we get how frustrating it is. So with years of experience in [00:06:00] sustainable tourism and marketing, we've created something simple to get you started. 

Rik: It's called the Sustainable Marketing Scan. You just answer a few quick questions. We'll take a look, and if it's a good fit, we'll invite you for a short call to go through your opportunities.

Anne: You can start today@goodtourisminstitute.com slash scam and turn uncertainty into a clear, compelling story.

 Yeah. So before we go any further, let's. Begin by defining what we actually mean with slow travel. Is it about pace, intention, carbon footprint, or is it something else? 

Anne: I think it's all of that. I think slow travel is really about.

Anne: Literally slowing down in the way that we move to a destination, but also decisions that we make when we're in, a destination. but at the same time, it's about, taking slower, mindful, travel. Taking the train, the bus, going on more hikes or bikes rather than always taking the car. [00:07:00] And it's also about creating, or having meaningful connections.

Anne: Second is also about connecting with a place and to really connect with the locals and to, get in touch with them. And that's connected to, uh, wellbeing, mindfulness, to really literally experiencing a place. And this is also where community-based tourism comes in.

Anne: Mm-hmm. And overall, I think. That's what I said earlier is that I feel travelers are tired of following crowds, from highlight to highlight. And this is where, slow travel comes in. Because it allows travelers to, take it slower, go after beaten track, have different experiences, and yeah, just be in the moment.

Anne: Yeah. And to have time to wander To, 

Rik: explore. 

Anne: To explore and to make real connections. And that can be like a proper conversation with a rice farmer, but also just a short conversation with, with a bartender. Like it's about just taking the time to get to know the people. I think 

Rik: a deeper connection. I guess that's an interesting point because I [00:08:00] feel that when people, well, at least travelers talk about slow travel day. Generally just picture taking a train or a bus or maybe staying in one place for a longer period of time. but I guess it's about much more.

Rik: So is it more of a sustainable transportation mode or is it more of an experience . Let's listen to how Paul from Byway explains this and why he feels that more and more people are enjoying flight free holidays. 

Anne: Let's do it.

Paul: We thought everybody who walks by from us would be interested in the sustainability aspect of their trip, and it's certainly part of it. We do have conversations with customers where they talk about sustainability, but much more common is people being in love with traits, people being in love with traveling slowly.

Paul: People may be outta love with the experience of flying rather than the sustainability [00:09:00] impact. I think there's a real market of people who are really interested in the connectedness

Paul: you get when you travel by train. 

Anne: I think he's very clear that it's about the experience rather than transport. And I have to say, I'm not really surprised because I think travelers have kind of proven that they will book for their best experience.

Anne: Sustainability is not a priority for them in, making a booking. So it's always been about the experience. It's not surprising that they're choosing the experience, when they travel by train. 

Rik: Yeah. Like the first priority is experience and if sustainability comes with that, it's, it's a plus.

Anne: Yeah, exactly. It's just a bonus that if they are, sustainable. and I think. Slow travel is the experience and train is a really good example. at the same time, it's also transport, like for example in Europe or Japan, traveling by train is a very reliable trunk mode, where you can easily if explore a country, [00:10:00] traveling by train.

Anne: but I feel that in other destinations it's more. Just an experience. So for example, Sri Lanka, you have the scenic train ride from, candy to Ella. where you go through the tea plantations. it's a beautiful train journey. Yeah. And a lot of people want to do it, but in a lot of travel itineraries.

Anne: It's included, even when people travel, with a car and a driver. Or you also have travelers that travel with a tuk tuk, where they drive themselves. It's like a whole, round trip of Sri Lanka with your own tuk tuk. But even that, company has the service that if you wanna take the train ride, you park your tuk tuk in candy, you take the train.

Anne: Because it's a great experience. Mm-hmm. And then someone else drives you, took, took to Ella. Where you can pick it up and continue your journey. So it is not really a transport mode there anymore. 

Rik: No, that's definitely an experience. That's 

Anne: really the experience and I think it's an experience and transport at the same time.

Anne: And [00:11:00] what's also. Quite a funny development in which is in Japan. Japan has a very reliable, tray, 

Rik: very reliable, 

Anne: uh, experienced it. Yeah. And where I also love that they kind of apologized for we being one minute late. 

Anne: Yeah. 

Anne: I guess Europe can learn from that. But what's interesting in Japan is that it was always recommended to travel by train and to.

Anne: Explore, the cities by going on, hin canen train. But what's actually happening now is a lot of travelers are going with the camper van. 

Anne: Yeah. 

Anne: To go off the beaten track in Japan like the places where you can't get to with the train. 

Rik: Yeah. We've actually. Talked about it ourselves. 

Anne: yeah, exactly.

Anne: And also there were, national parks, in the south of Japan. I really wanted to visit, but it was also not really a good way, of going there, especially because we might stay for certain, amount of days. Yeah. It just didn't fit in our five week as February. 

Rik: Well, I do think like. Beginner's trip to Japan 

Anne: is a [00:12:00] train, 

Rik: is train, and it was our first time in Japan, so I guess it made sense.

Rik: But if we would go back, I think we would, 

Anne: yeah. 

Rik: Either rent a car or a camper van. 

Anne: I don't think I can get you into a camper van. 

Rik: Well, yeah, I, I guess that's true. So a car. 

Anne: No, but I think a conclusion is it's an experience and or transport, depending on where you are. I think that's, if that makes sense.

Rik: It does make sense. And I think train is just really one way of taking it slow. I mean, yeah, there's the bus of course, and walking. We actually traveled in Sri Lanka quite a few years ago and what we did is we mostly took the bus, 

Anne: would not recommend that 

Rik: it is an experience Imagine a bus in Sri Lanka has 50 seats.

Rik: It's easily packed with 200 people, 50 chickens, and a occasional goat. It's proper chaos. It's chaos. Uh, [00:13:00] I wouldn't really recommend it for travelers who are a bit older or want to experience a bit more luxury, but it is an experience, I mean. We still talk about it from time to time, and it's been like nine years ago.

Rik: But yeah, that said, I really like the idea that, there's a whole niche of people actively looking for slower travel and doing that by train or bus or ferry.

Rik: Yeah. And from a marketing point of view, I think Byway is doing really well. They have this clear niche and they really speak to their target group, but we'll. Go a little deeper into that later on into the marketing perspective of things. let's move on to the challenges of slow travel. personally I think it sounds great, but let's be honest, there can be some challenges and just from the top of my mind, I can imagine it'd be more expensive.

Rik: [00:14:00] it's definitely not for everyone and I think it. It can also be a logistical nightmare, to be honest. 

Anne: Yeah. Think about the Boston in Sri Lanka. 

Rik: Yeah, for sure. So let's hear what Paul has to say about the challenges that they are facing at byway.

Paul: Two things. So one is our Mitch, the technology, the fragmentary nature of European rail. It technically is hot. You know, I do say this quite regular, I should say, but I been, been worked here for Byway for five years and I can see why Novi created the Byway before. The technology side of it is really hard, and even five years down the line, we have, we've done really well and we've got loads of stuff done.

Paul: Got loads of stuff to do. The other thing is cost price, so pound for pound, traveling by train is not cheaper than traveling. It's not,

Rik: yeah. The tech behind it is really impressive, and I [00:15:00] can't imagine how complex their code must be, but to be honest. For businesses who aren't solely focused on train travel, it's probably not feasible to build something like this.

Rik: It's just too complex and it's going to be too expensive. But it's definitely a great selling point for buy way and a big part of why they're doing so well. Although I think it'll always be somewhat of a challenge. 

Anne: Yeah, no, I think this, cross border technology that they have for the Trade departure times.

Anne: And also, like what he's told me is that if there are any delays that kind of, cause issues for, layoffs or getting the next training time, they actually already, they get a notification of that, that, okay, this traveler go to, Mr. Connection and then they actually already reach out to, yeah.

Anne: the traveler, like this is, there's a delay. It will be like, either they're booked another train already or they say, okay, there's gonna be a delay, but you're going to make it like they really keep in conversation. Yeah. [00:16:00] With the traveler. They keep them posted and I think that's really what's and I'm not sure how other companies do that, that offer train travel, but I think what I would be missing if I was traveling by train is kind of this reassurance.

Anne: Mm-hmm. I've been, A lot of trains also with, connections, for example, in Germany, then it's quite stressful to be on a train that's delayed and not having any clue what to do next. 

Rik: Yeah, that's true. But if you're booking with a tour operator, that kind of guarantees that they'll take care of it. 

Anne: Yeah.

Anne: But the thing is if they don't have such technology I'm not sure if they can. 

Rik: No, they can't. But if you. Book with with someone that does have that, 

Anne: and that's the unique selling point that really well, and I think like this cross border technology works well if you're on the same. Yeah.

Anne: Or if you've automated, things. 

Anne: Yeah. 

Anne: But for example, in, let's take Sri Lanka again as example. I don't think there is a timetable that's online or that's updated online. So there's [00:17:00] no AI tool or no. Something that you can actually connect to it. So I think this is also why, travel, businesses struggle with all very public transport, to their travelers.

Anne: Yep. and kind of stick to just the experiences. because it's well organized. And I think this is also why marketplaces are becoming more, popular for travelers to book. you book with a marketplace in your own country, in your own language.

Anne: You're actually booking the trip with a local agent, who is there onsite to help you with these points. Yeah, so I guess it's kind of the same thing, but not automated. but yeah, I do think that's also why, I. Yeah, they're throwing in interest. 

Rik: Yeah, definitely. And I think support is one of the most important things in these cases.

Rik: And support in your own language is a big plus. Yeah. And aside from that, Paul also mentioned pricing, which is a big one, right? Yeah. 

Anne: Yeah. And I still feel it's so ridiculous that flights are so cheap compared to how expensive trains are. it's a whole different, discussion, but [00:18:00] for shorter, lag.

Anne: In Europe, for example, you know, kind of adds up. if you wanna take the train over a flight. People usually talk about that. It only takes longer. But if you, for example, take the example traveling from Amsterdam or London to Barcelona in Spain, that, um, they say it's only like.

Anne: 11 to 12 hours by train versus it's your three hour flight. Flight. But then at the same time, these people also always talk about, yeah, but we did, a layover in Paris because cars nice. And then you don't have the stress of a full travel day. you can miss a train, because you just go on the next day.

Anne: But then staying there, booking a night in Paris, going out to eat in Paris, I mean that all adds up to. 

Rik: But then again, it's an experience, 

Anne: but then it's experience. Yeah. But then it's not a transport mode. No, but it really starts right at home. 

Rik: Still, like taking a simple leg from Amsterdam to London or Amsterdam to Paris is expensive.

Rik: More expensive than flying. Yeah. I remember us [00:19:00] booking a trip on a Eurostar from accident to London, which was like. 300 euros per person, and I think you can fly for 50 to a hundred. 

Anne: Yeah. But at the same time, for the leg from Amsterdam to London, I actually like a train much better because it's just a lot more comfortable.

Anne: So for that part, yes. More expensive. Yeah. It doesn't take longer, 

Rik: but I do think it's four times the price at least. 

Anne: Yeah. But I also like it better, but then that's experience. Yeah. But for, I think for the shorter legs, like under four hours. Mm-hmm. It's the transport mode. 

Anne: Yeah. 

Anne: More than an experience.

Anne: yeah, so I think we're going back and forth and what, to what extent it's actually transporter experience, but I think it really depends on the distance and the country. 

Rik: Well, if it's a holiday, it's an experience. If you just have to travel to, I don't know, London or Paris or whatever. For business, it's a transport mode.

Anne: I think in the end it's all about the willingness of [00:20:00] the traveler to, to make a decision to take longer on the trip and to, travel a different way. Yeah, I think it 

Rik: it's a bit more adventurous, I'd say. 

Anne: It's a bit more adventurous, but at the same time, people kind of complain like, I don't have time to travel. Mm-hmm. Um, this long or, but then you can also choose to stay close to home and I think also what Europe did quite well is to promote the inter real, pass.

Anne: especially in the summer months, where you can travel with unlimited, travel days in Europe, which actually made some very affordable. 

Rik: I completely forgot about the integral, and I actually would've loved to have been able to do that when I was younger. Unfortunately, I never did. And I do feel that I'm a bit too old to do it now because it's more of a backpacker thing.

Anne: I'm not sure about that. That's also what, what Paul said Is that his clientele is actually a bit older. Yeah. And they also take the It's a real past, it's just because it's cheaper because you buy a bundle of train trips. 

Anne: Yeah. 

Anne: So you [00:21:00] can go on a train, stay in a five star hotel if you want to, and then take another train.

Rik: I agree. But it's, I'd like to go off beaten path a bit more, and I think if you have these interra tickets. Playing 

Anne: the highlights. It is. Yeah. And that's the same what's happening in Japan. Where people are now going with a car or a camper van to go off the beaten track 

Anne: Yeah. But anyway, all challenges aside, I do think that. Slow travel is becoming more popular and it is more sustainable and in more than one way. Which brings us to something that we can't really skip, which is carbon emissions. Yes. And let's hear what Paul has to say about this.

Paul: What we do is we tell our customers the carbon emission trip is. We can work that out. But each leg in our database, having some carbon inre, each leg in our data is tagged by a operator. Most operators, juice per kilometer, how much [00:22:00] their carbon emissions are. So we're able to state customers this trip is costing this much carbon, you emitting dispatch carbon by During this trip, we also able to calculate what it would have cost if they'd either driven or if they'd have flown.

Paul: You take the furthest place they're gonna, and we work out what it would cost in terms of emissions to apply to that price or drive to that price. And then we're able to say to customers, if you had flow or you've driven, this is how much carbon you'll use, and therefore this is how much carbon you've saved by traveling on train or variable on bus.

Anne: Yeah, I think it's a very important aspect of slow travel, that taking the train, means less carbon emissions. Yeah. but of course, so does, taking the bus or, going on a walking or biking, trip. but I think it's really interesting how by way, always communicates and calculates, uh, well, calculates first communicates second, the emissions, and then especially the difference.

Anne: And even though [00:23:00] Travelers might book with them because of the train experience, I do feel they care about both. So they also care about, having less emissions when they travel. And I think the combination is really unique, in a way that.

Anne: By way just makes it part of the conversation. Yeah. by default. and then raises awareness about their impact, automatically if they're asking about it or not. 

Rik: Yeah. I guess that's true. It's about raising awareness and they do this really well. And again, this is part of the great technology that they use.

Rik: Absolutely. Um, what I would actually love to know, and I'm not sure if you've talked about this with him, if. They've done some AB testing on their website as well, so showing, their website with or without carbon calculations and see what that does to the bookings. 

Anne: I didn't know what AB testing was, so I did not ask that.

Rik: Oh, okay. So [00:24:00] AB testing is basically creating two different versions of a landing page or a booking page or whatever. In this example, you could say that, let's take the booking page. And they present a thousand visitors with a booking page that, doesn't include any information about, carbon emissions.

Rik: And they take another thousand, visitors, where it says on their, booking page, you are saving, this much carbon, by booking this trip and. That's a really easy way to actually measure what it does to your bookings. Does it increase or maybe it even decreases, which wouldn't be good because raising awareness is important.

Rik: But I do think it's important to know. 

Anne: Yeah. Yeah. Sounds very interesting. And I think, well, I have no idea if they did that. I think for Byway Travel. Maybe it doesn't really make a difference for them. 

Rik: I do think it might [00:25:00] convince some people to book.

Rik: I mean there's always dropout percentage on, on websites. People who intend to book but for whatever reason, refrain from actually booking. And I think it might push them over the edge to actually make a booking, but. That would be really interesting use case. Yeah. But aside from that, how important do you feel that this kind of transparency is for travel businesses?

Anne: I think it's really important and also kind of essential, especially moving forward with the, consumer empowerment, directive. And, it's the. sidetrack of, the Green Claims directive where the Green claims directive was more focused on the certification schemes and travel businesses.

Anne: This one's really focused on,ensuring travelers book something that is actually sustainable. and with this directive that is going ahead, is really important that communication is transparent, truthful, and that no misleading claims [00:26:00] about sustainability are made. So the more data you have, the more well transparency, the more, yeah, the more opens you can offer on the differences and the actual emissions that you have, while traveling by frame.

Anne: I think they have a huge advantage, in consumer, trust. 

Rik: And do you think they should be included in communication by default? 

Anne: Yes, I kind of do. but it's a tricky part because I feel, I've also heard, um, stories from travel businesses that received, the question from do you have this data available?

Anne: and that they didn't. Mm-hmm. Um.you're kind of being punished for not having it. 

Anne: But at the same time, you also have a lot of travel businesses that offer all this data, but feel no one cares about it. 

Anne: But then you're also not really rewarded for having this data. So on the one hand, you're being punished for not having it, but you're not necessarily being rewarded, or at least not that we can prove for having it.

Anne: I think in the end [00:27:00] what you said, it can push someone over the edge in making a certain decision, but there's no clear data on if it's actually making a difference. 

Rik: they could collect data, but again, this comes down to technology and knowledge about specific technology, and I don't think every travel business has that in-house.

Anne: No. No, but even though if you don't have all the data, I think transparency is still key. Yeah. You can still be open about what you do have, what you do, or, where you try to limit, your emissions. And I think if you find a way, to communicate that in a repeating way, yeah. You can make a lot of impact.

Anne: And then this is exactly where marketing comes in. Yeah. To do that. 

Rik: Yeah. Let's talk about the marketing side of things a bit more, and then especially, marketing slowed travel. I touched on this. Earlier by saying that by way has stepped into a clear niche and that they resonate with their target [00:28:00] audience really well.

Anne: Of course not all travel businesses will focus solely on slow travel, but do you think it's something we'll see more in future? Um,yeah. No, I think absolutely. And I think slow travel is not necessarily a new trend among travelers because I feel a lot of travelers were traveling the way. we're describing slow travel at the moment.

Anne: But I do feel that it's kind of a new development among travel businesses where they feel the traveler isn't interested anymore in just the highlines and where, they can package that as slow travel. 'cause you need, yeah, you need something. You need to package, yeah. a new concept and slow travel really sells.

Anne: And I think you can really see this shift because like. 10 years ago, when looking at itineraries from travel businesses online, I feel you would have, Attend day, highlight trip, Sri Lanka or experience Costa Rica. 15 days, highlights. [00:29:00] And I feel that now if you're going to look at Sri Lanka itineraries, you'll feel like, Sri Lanka after the beaten track or hidden Gem, Sri Lanka.

Anne: And I think that shift is a marketing shift. and I think slow travel just. I mean it sells. so it's definitely a trend, in the travel industry.

Rik: So that's pretty interesting, the travel industry actually pushing it, and I think this has a lot to do with people wanting to have that unique experience.

Rik: Yeah. Even though they probably have the same experience a lot of other travelers do. They want to feel that their experience is unique. Yeah. And from a sustainable marketing perspective. Salt travel is interesting. I think there's a couple of clear wins out there, and one is transparency and like,Bioway does calculating carbon winds versus.

Rik: flying. That's a direct link from Slow Travel to Sustainability. [00:30:00] And the other thing, to keep in mind is talking about sustainability. Without talking about sustainability, we've said this before and we'll say it again. It's a simple way of highlighting what is so special about. Slow travel and you can think about, spending, more time in one place so you have a deeper connection, not missing out on hidden gems that you would otherwise miss out on.

Rik: if you have more time, you can stumble upon special places that you wouldn't really experience when you just travel by in a short period. Yeah, absolutely. And last. It's stories, people want to experience things and have stories to tell. And what was the last time that you heard someone tell a story about a big chain hotel?

Rik: They stayed in,in a major city. I mean, that never happens. And like we said before, the story about the bus in Sri Lanka, although it wasn't the best experience. 

Anne: That's a good story. It's 

Rik: a good story. [00:31:00] 

Anne: And a good experience, Yeah. 

Rik: And I kind of laugh about it now at the moment it wasn't that much fun, but nothing really bad happened.

Rik: It started 

Anne: off fun. 

Rik: Yeah. 

Anne: First few hours were fun. We laugh about the chicken in the bus. 

Rik: Yeah. 

Anne: But then, 

Rik: after a few days you forget about it. 

Rik: True.Well, I, I have to correct that. I guess you, you don't really forget about it. You forget about the discomfort.

Anne: Yes. But I think that's to say with like long distance flights. Yeah. You forget about how much you don't like it. Yeah. Until you're back on the plane. 

Rik: Yeah, definitely. So let's get back to the main question is slow travel, the future of sustainable tourism? 

Anne: I think it's part of it. I think it's really important that more people start to travel more.

Anne: Consciously, to connect with people, to connect with places to actually, contribute to benefit locals. To talk to them, yeah. cultural exchange, and to read and lead time for spontaneous [00:32:00] things,so travel is really like the way, how you can, how you can do that.

Anne: and it's with a reduced carbon footprint. Yeah. If you take, the train or the bus or et cetera. and sometimes you can also, reduce pressure on over tourism sites. Um, but like talking about the transport part of slow travel, I guess accessibility is still, um, an issue because it takes more time.

Anne: Yeah. 

Anne: And it depends on the traveler if they are willing to choose that type of travel. 

Rik: Yeah. And take the time to use transportation because I mean, taking like the more local train rides or bus rides, it does take time from your main. Trip. 

Anne: Yeah. But then if it's a great experience, 

Anne: yeah, it's fine.

Anne: But if it's not a good experience, yeah, then it's becoming more of like a hassle or something that it's part of it we don't really wanna do. so I think it really depends on destination, the length, and I guess also the type of traveler. 

Rik: Yeah. And do you feel that slow travel has [00:33:00] a place in every business model?

Anne: I guess so. like it doesn't mean that every travel business, every destination has to only focus on slow travel, but even if you have travelers that are not necessarily interested in slow travel, you could still, as a travel business add, A train ride, right? Add, to extra accommodation and, book, another, Viking tour, for example.

Anne: So you can add certain elements of slow travel, to slow down the pace and to make sure that they have the opportunity to connect in a certain destination. and I think for destinations it's really important that they focus on. Offering a wider range of experiences because what they need to do is to facilitate, the travelers that they want to stay longer.

Anne: 'cause we have the same issue, when working with the local agent here on, Bali, is that we were talking about staying, longer in a certain destination. and then they said yeah, but we don't wanna do more than two knives, in that region [00:34:00] because there's nothing to do for the travelers.

Anne: And as a destination you can change that. So if you want spread more impact, to that area should make sure that there is. That there are more activities to do, more experiences, so that travel businesses can, book, uh, longer stays. Yeah. And then it's a ripple effect. So it's a combination I think, but it's no travel parts of it.

Anne: Can definitely be implemented everywhere. 

Rik: I guess it's true, it's a combination of destinations doing their job and travel businesses doing their job and travelers. Yeah. I feel that. Not every traveler might want to adopt slow travel, but I do feel that when they do, it might be one of the holidays they would remember most.

Anne: Yeah. Absolutely. 

Rik: Okay, great.

Rik: Let's leave it at that. Okay, let's leave it at that.

Anne: Thank you so much for listening, and we're very curious to hear how you feel about slow travel. Stay tuned for next week's episode where we release a [00:35:00] full interview with Paul From Byway Travel.

Anne: And if you enjoyed this episode, like and share, and don't forget to subscribe to our channel to not miss any future episodes. Thank you again for listening, and we hope to see you next time.