PROMOTING SLOW TOURISM TO WRESTLE THE CHALLENGES OF SHORTER LENGTH OF TOURIST STAY: IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Abstract

Slow tourism is an eminent concept that aims to embolden extended tourist stay within a destination. The current study adopts qualitative research approach and extracts data from purposefully selected tourism professionals. The researcher employed both interview and focus group discussion to collect data required for this study. Findings of the current study unfold that slow tourism as a unique approach augments the overall tourism activities, mainly within emerging destinations. Even though slow tourism has received limited attention in Bahir Dar and its surroundings, it is quite substantive to discourage the negative economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts of tourism. However, absence of developed tourism infrastructures and limited understanding of stakeholders restrain the practice and development of slow tourism in the study area. In terms of policy references, the present study suggests that there is a need to develop a practical guideline to inculcate the fundamental concepts related to the practical applications of slow tourism in emerging destinations.

Keywords

• bahir dar
• emerging destination
• slow tourism
• slow travel
• sustainable tourism