Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Slow Food Tourism and Quality of Life: The Social Capital Perspective

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research II

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

Slow food tourism has emerged as a popular micro trend within the slow crusade expediting the concept of slow foods, slow cities, slow adventures and slow travel. This study explores the extent to which a suburban town (Gilbert, Arizona) in the United States holds potential to embrace slow tourism, based on an important pillar of slow tourism, and enhance quality of life of host communities. Multiple dimensions of social capital are identified from a purposeful sample of iconic food venues in Gilbert. The results of this study show that Gilbert holds potential to become a popular slow food tourism destination. This study can be used as a stepping stone to test the feasibility of slow food tourism from the perspective of social capital in similar suburban towns in the United States and other parts of the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acedo, A., Painho, M., & Casteleyn, S. (2017). Place and city: Operationalizing sense of place and social capital in the urban context. Transactions in GIS, 21(3), 503–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amsden, B., Stedman, R., & Kruger, L. E. (2010). The creation and maintenance of sense of place in a tourism-dependent community. Leisure Sciences, 33(1), 32–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atanda, J. (2019). Developing a social sustainability assessment framework. Sustainable Cities and Society, 44, 237–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babou, I., & Callot, P. (2009). Slow tourism, slow (r)evolution? Nouvelles mobilities touristiques. Cahier Espaces, 100(56), 48–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baimoratova, S., & Chhabra, D. (2021). Planning a slow food tourism corridor in a suburban town of United States. Travel and Tourism Research Association Conference, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blewitt, J. (2014). Public libraries, citizens and the democracy. Power and Education, 6(1), 84–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrasco, J., & Cid-Aguayo, B. (2012). Network capital, social networks, and travel: An empirical illustration from concepción, Chile. Environment and Planning A, 44(5), 1066–1084.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, L., Yu, P., & Jeng, M. (2015). Effects of leisure education on self-rated health among older adults. Psychology Health and Medicine, 20, 34–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cittaslow International. (n.d.). Cittaslow international. How to become. Retrieved December 30, 2020, from https://www.cittaslow.org/content/how-become.

  • Coleman, J. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95–S120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, D., & Timms, B. F. (2010). Re-branding alternative tourism in the Caribbean: The case for ‘slow tourism’. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 10(4), pp. 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickinson, J., & Lumsdon, L. (2010). Slow travel and tourism. Earthscan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Farkić, J., Filep, S., & Taylor, S. (2020). Shaping tourists’ wellbeing through guided slow adventures. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(12), 2064–2080.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fusté-Forné, F., & Jamal, T. (2020). Slow food tourism: An ethical microtrend for the Anthropocene. Journal of Tourism Futures, 6, 227–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, H., Walker, M., Thapa, B., Kaplanidou, K., Geldenhuys, S., & Coetzee, W. (2014). Psychic income and social capital among host nation residents: A pre–post analysis of the 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa. Tourism Management, 44, 113–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ioannides, D., & Gyimóthy, S. (2020). The COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity for escaping the unsustainable global tourism path. Tourism Geographies, 22(3), 624–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irving, J. (2008). Welcome to our world: Companion slow food. Slow Food International. Accessed August 31, 2009, from http://www.slowfoodeastbay.com/pdf/Companion08_ENG.pdf.

  • Jermsittiparsert, K., Joemsittiprasert, W., & Phonwattana, S. (2019). Mediating role of sustainability capability in determining sustainable supply chain management in tourism industry of Thailand. International Journal of Supply Chain Management, 8(3), 47–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Julien, C. (2015). Bourdieu, social capital and online interaction. Sociology (Oxford), 49(2), 356–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kianicka, S., Buchecker, M., Hunziker, M., & Müller-Böker, U. (2006). Locals’ and tourists’ sense of place. Mountain Research and Development, 26(1), 55–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowry, L., & Lee, M. (2016). CittaSlow, slow cities, slow food: Searching for a model for the development of slow tourism. Retrieved from: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/ttra/2011/Visual/40/.

  • Miele, M. (2008). Cittáslow: Producing slowness against the fast life. Space and Polity, 12(1), 135–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mihaylov, N. L., & Perkins, D. D. (2015). Local environmental grassroots activism: Contributions from environmental psychology, sociology and politics. Behavioral Sciences, 5(1), 121–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Misener, L., & Mason, D. (2006). Creating community networks: Can sporting events offer meaningful sources of social capital? Managing Leisure, 11, 39–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moscardo, G. (2009). Tourism and quality of life: Towards a more critical approach. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 9(2), 159–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moscardo, G., Konovalov, E., Murphy, L., McGehee, N. G., & Schurmann, A. (2017). Linking tourism to social capital in destination communities. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 6(4), 286–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moscardo, G., Schurmann, A., Konovalov, E., & McGehee, N. G. (2013). Using tourism to build social capital in communities: New pathways to sustainable tourism futures.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2005). Glossary of statistics terms. [WWW Document] Accessed April 2022, from http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=2218.

  • Oh, H., Assaf, A. G., & Baloglu, S. (2016). Motivations and goals of slow tourism. Journal of Travel Research, 55(2), 205–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rantala, O., Rokenes, A., & Valkonen, J. (2018). Is adventure tourism a coherent concept? A review of research approaches on adventure tourism. Annals of Leisure Research, 21(5), 539–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivadeneira, A., Gruen, D., Muller, M., & Millen, D. (2007). Getting our head in the clouds: Toward evaluation studies of tagclouds. In Paper presented at CHI 2007 proceedings: Tags, Tagging & Notetaking. ACM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, P., Jalal, K., & Boyd, J. (2007). An introduction to sustainable development (1st ed.). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutten, R., Westlund, H., & Boekema, F. (2010). The spatial dimension of social capital. European Planning Studies, 18(6), 863–871.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scannell, L., & Gifford, R. (2010). Defining place attachment: A tripartite organizing frame work. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serdane, Z., Maccarrone-Eaglen, A., & Sharifi, S. (2020). Conceptualising slow tourism: A perspective from Latvia. Tourism Recreation Research, 45(3), 337–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shang, W., Yuan, Q., & Chen, N. (2020). Examining structural relationships among brand experience, existential authenticity, and place attachment in slow tourism destinations. Sustainability, 12(7), 2784.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigala, M. (2014). Customer involvement in sustainable supply chain management: A research framework and implications in tourism. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 55(1), 76–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. K., & Diekmann, A. (2017). Tourism and wellbeing. Annals of Tourism Research, 66, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, N. (2020). The contribution of community events to social sustainability in local neighbourhoods. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timms, B., & Conway, D. (2012). Slow tourism at the Caribbean’s geographical margins. Tourism Geographies, 14(3), 396–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varley, P., & Semple, T. (2015). Nordic slow adventure: Explorations in time and nature. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 15(1–2), 73–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, T. (2020). A review of sustainability, tourism, and the marketing opportunity for adopting the Cittaslow model in Pacific Small Islands. Tourism Review International, 23(3–4), 99–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, E. V. (2021). Urban mobile food truck policies: Reducing disparities and building a culture of health in the United States. Journal of Public Health Policy, 42(2), 271–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, J., Zhao, J., Guo, S., North, C., & Ramakrishnan, N. (2014). ReCloud: Semantics-based word cloud visualization of user reviews. In: Proceedings of the 2014 Graphics Interface Conference, Toronto, Ont., Canada, Canada, pp. 151–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westlund, H., Rutten, R., & Boekema, F. (2010). Social capital, distance, borders and levels of space: Conclusions and further issues. European Planning Studies, 18(6), 965–970.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woehler, K. (2004). The rediscovery of slowness, or leisure time as one’s own and as self-aggrandizement? In K. Weiermair & C. Mathies (Eds.), The tourism and leisure industry: Shaping the future (pp. 83–92). The Haworth Hospitality Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolcock, M. (1998). Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework. Theory & Society, 27, 151–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeoman, I., McMahon-Beattie, U., Findlay, K., Goh, S., Tieng, S., & Nhem, S. (2021). Future proofing the success of food festivals through determining the drivers of change: A case study of Wellington on a plate. Tourism Analysis, 26(2–3), 167–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, Q., Sarkis, J., & Lai, K. (2013). Institutional-based antecedents and performance outcomes of internal and external green supply chain management practices. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 19, 106–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arizona State University-Downtown Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Saule Baimuratova & Deepak Chhabra

Authors
  1. Saule Baimuratova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Deepak Chhabra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saule Baimuratova .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

    Muzaffer Uysal

  2. Department of Marketing, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    M. Joseph Sirgy

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Baimuratova, S., Chhabra, D. (2023). Slow Food Tourism and Quality of Life: The Social Capital Perspective. In: Uysal, M., Sirgy, M.J. (eds) Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research II. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31513-8_26

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31513-8_26

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-31512-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-31513-8

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation