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IN BRIEF
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Faced with the acceleration of life rhythms and the excesses of mass tourism, slow tourism offers to rediscover travel differently: take time, prioritize decarbonized mobility, reconnect with territories and oneself. At a time when France remains the world’s top destination and international tourism grows by an average of +5 % per year (outside the Covid period), this approach outlines a profound transformation of the experience, between pause, disconnection, and sobriety.
As the surge in travel is at its peak — France welcomes nearly 100 million international visitors — a desire for slowing down is developing. Slow tourism, heir to the Slow movement that emerged in Italy in the 1980s around local productions, rehabilitates chosen slowness: staying longer, moving more gently, and paying increased attention to ecosystems as well as local cultures.
This “tourism by choice” is recognized by four interlocking dimensions: mode of transport, relationship to territory, relationship to time, and relationship to oneself. Far from the obsession of “always faster,” the journey becomes an experience in itself: hiking, river navigation, train, bicycle… so many ways to travel while emitting less CO2 and cultivating serenity.
In the same movement, destinations and operators adjust their offers: sailing cruises, multimodal itineraries without planes, simple or immersive accommodations. In contrast to the “all-infrastructure” approach, the value of the stay lies more in the experience than in the consumption of standardized attractions.
Slow Down to Feel Better: Tourism by Choice
Slow tourism responds to a need for deceleration that permeates our lives filled with demands. In the mountains, on a canal, along a path, or aboard a train, the clock relaxes: we walk, we pedal, we contemplate, we breathe. The journey matters as much as the arrival, providing a beneficial disconnection from screens, noise, and efficiency mandates.
Decarbonized Mobilities That Create Journeys
The train, walking, cycling, and river navigation form the grammar of soft mobility. In France, the number of passenger trains reached a record in 2024, up 6 % compared to 2023, while the Camino de Santiago paths are seeing a resurgence of interest. Public authorities are investing in Bicycle Routes and reviving night trains, while community networks maintain paths and shelters.
Another Relationship to Territory
Slowing down also means gauging the impact of one’s presence: favoring human-scale accommodations, meeting producers, discovering local heritages away from the crowds. Overtourism — from Barcelona to Lisbon, from Naples to certain alpine or lakeside towns like Annecy — underscores how tourism pressure can weaken natural environments and residents. In contrast, slow tourism values the density of meetings and the quality of experiences more than their accumulation.
Another Relationship to Time
The time of slow travel is experienced without haste: one accepts detours, waits, and the unexpected. Walking or navigating sets a regular, almost meditative rhythm conducive to letting go. Far from routine, one savors simplicity — eating, sleeping, moving on — and rediscovers the pleasure of being present in the world.
Another Relationship to Oneself
Physical and sensory, wandering engages the body: walking, pedaling, rowing, sometimes camping. It opens a space for introspection where boredom — rare — becomes fruitful. One reexamines what it means to “leave,” reconfigures priorities, and places self-listening at the heart of the journey.
Cyclotourism: Movement in Travel
Cyclotourism powerfully embodies this art of travel. Valued at approximately 7.9 billion dollars in 2024 in the French market, it shows an expected growth of more than 11 % per year by 2033. Regular effort, freedom of itinerary, continuous immersion: the bicycle makes the journey an existential experience. Many travelers describe this feeling of radical autonomy — leaving the main road, improvising, letting oneself be guided by the topography and the wind — and this “magic of the journey” that comes from slowness, silence, and nature.
Inspiring Territories for Alternative Travel
France is full of landscapes conducive to slow travel. From plains’ canals to alpine passes, from the countryside to vineyards, each territory offers a unique tone. In inland Brittany, discreet routes and wooded valleys create an ideal canvas for eco-responsible tourism, as shown in this survey about Centre Brittany, a haven of peace for eco-responsible tourism.
Further east, the softness of a Jura village, a peaceful haven, invites contemplation and cycling or walking itineraries between cliffs and forests. In the south of the Massif Central, the preserved atmosphere of an Auvergne hamlet, a peaceful haven, encourages unhurried stays, rhythmically matched with markets and strolls through the pastures. And in the wine hills, contemplating the future of tourism in Beaujolais allows imagining experiences that respect the ecosystem, seasons, and know-how.
In this vein, analyses focused on slow travel as a key trend in ethical tourism shed light on emerging expectations: more proximity, sobriety, authenticity, and increased attention to social and environmental impact.
Practices and Public Policies: A Dynamic in Motion
Infrastructures evolve at the pace of use. Cycling networks expand, European itineraries are densifying, while night trains are returning to connect the major corridors. Associations maintain trails and shelters, enhancing the attractiveness of close-up slow tourism. Onboard trains, the record rise in attendance in 2024 confirms this appetite for low-carbon mobility.
Professionals are also embracing the shift: multimodal offers without planes, sailing cruises, committed accommodations, or small-scale nature or cultural experiences. By prioritizing long time and measure, these proposals reconcile the desire for discovery and responsibility toward host territories.
Beyond Transport: A Culture of Presence
Slow tourism is neither reduced to a label nor a simple mode of transport: it is a way of inhabiting the world while traveling, through an ethic of time and relationship. In times of eco-anxiety, it resonates with its promise of presence and meaning: accepting slowness, welcoming the unexpected, and weaving more respectful links between oneself, others, and the places traversed.
