Zsuzsa Deli-Gray (ed.)

Cases in Tourism Marketing III

The Dilemma of Joining a Slow Tourism Cooperation

Mónika Tünde Szőke

On a calm summer morning, Gellért Póka, the mayor of a small town in a peaceful Hungarian county, received a phone call. It was Anna Németh, a staff member of the Alföld Slow Egyesület (Alföld Slow Association), asking whether the town would consider joining their organisation.

Anna briefly outlined the Association’s mission and objectives – namely, their efforts to promote slow tourism and the principles of the slow movement, and to support their implementation and lived experience in Hungary. They now wished to raise awareness of this topic among Hungarian settlements and to highlight the importance of embracing moments and cultivating mindfulness in this rapidly accelerating world, both in lifestyle and consumption – something that, not least, is also fundamental to wellbeing.

Since all this requires the support and strengthening of local and domestic producers, as well as the involvement of tourism enterprises, the association also organises conferences, meetings, and training programmes (Alföld Slow Egyesület, 2018).

During the conversation, Gellért suddenly recalled that he himself had attended conferences organised by this association – not once, but three times. He remembered that on each occasion he had wondered whether it would be worthwhile for his town to join, but he always talked himself out of it, thinking: there is no value here, and no tourism either.

Now, however, the staff member had planted a seed in his mind. In recent years, several development projects had taken place in the small town, so perhaps this concept could be integrated more easily now. It also became clear that the association’s vision was not only about attracting tourists from afar, but also about local residents: improving their quality of life, protecting local values, and jointly developing them. At this point, his face brightened – this could be a collaborative project in which he would not have to think alone, but could build plans collectively.

Gellért kept thinking. Why shouldn’t the town join? The membership fee was not high – 10 forints per resident. With only 10,000 inhabitants, that meant an annual cost of 100,000 forints, which could easily fit into the municipal budget. Of course, he would have to convince the town council, since a shared decision was needed… Gellért smiled as he remembered that the association was going to hold a conference soon. He quickly decided he would definitely attend.

Then, a moment later, his expression darkened. That word “slow” felt strange. Why didn’t they give it a Hungarian name? What does “Alföld Slow” even mean? Of course, he understood that slow meant lassú, but what exactly made the Alföld “slow”? Or was the association “slow”? “I must figure this out,” he thought, “because without understanding it, I can’t move forward either!”

So he searched the internet and found several interesting pieces of information about slow tourism. The first source that appeared offered a detailed overview of the concept:

According to Pécsek (2019 ), “Slow tourism emerged from the foundations of slow movements that developed as a response to an accelerated society – such as slow food and slow cities. Its advantage, on the one hand, is that as an alternative tourism development approach it can be applied in any setting, whether in an urban or rural environment. Furthermore, its application can easily bring the interests of tourists and local residents onto a shared platform ( Pécsek, 2019 , p. 148).”

The model of slow tourism rests on four fundamental pillars, according to Pécsek (2014 ) ( Figure 1 ):

Locality: local gastronomy, local businesses, local workforce, local culture.
Experience focus: non-standardised supply, selective attractions, active programmes, collective experiences.
Sustainability: profitability, no leakage, environmentally friendly investments, small ecological footprint, longer length of stay.
Social well-being: consensual decision-making, population retention, growing well-being, community cohesion ( Pécsek, 2014 , pp. 3–9).

In this model, the tourist and the local community appear on the same platform ( Pécsek, 2014 ).

Gellért then recalled that at the last conference he had attended, he had received a summary of the presentations. He remembered putting it aside at the time, as he did not consider it important to immerse himself more deeply in the topic. Now, however, it suddenly became essential that he find the document. After a long search, he finally discovered the material in his secretary’s office and quickly flipped through it. There he read that Balaban and Keller (2023), in their work (A Literature Review of Slow Tourism), analysed publications that had appeared in international journals on the topic over the past decade. They examined 63 studies.

According to Szőke (2024), slow tourism is grounded in the principles and philosophy of the slow movements; it is therefore an attitude or mindset that permeates the entire tourism system and creates a human-scale, ethical form of tourism. The concept harmonises well with health tourism, cultural tourism, green tourism, rural tourism, and gastronomic tourism – and even with some elements of active tourism (Szőke, 2024).

During lunch, Gellért met with his colleagues and shared his plans with them. It turned out that Zsolt knew a great deal about slow food – that is, leisurely dining – and Città Slow, meaning liveable cities, because he had spent a short period of his life in Italy, where these movements originated. He enthusiastically began to explain:

“Imagine this,” his colleague began, “the slow movements appeared in Italy in the 1980s, when Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist, together with a group of activists, organised a protest in Rome against fast-food restaurants, in defence of Italian eateries (Slow Food International, 2025). Three years later, Slow Food International was founded as a grassroots organisation with the mission of preventing the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, thereby counterbalancing the expansion of fast-paced lifestyles.”

Zsolt raised his voice slightly here to emphasise the point: “It is crucial that people understand where the food they consume comes from and know exactly what it contains. Additionally, it is important to recognise that their food choices have an impact on the world around them.”

Today, we speak of a global movement involving millions of people in more than 160 countries, with 700 convivia (local chapters) and 1,272 communities, affecting thousands of projects. The organisation works to ensure for all people around the world:

Good: high-quality, flavourful, and healthy food;
Clean: an unpolluted environment and products resulting from production practices that do not harm nature; and
Fair: accessible prices for consumers, and fair conditions and wages for producers (Slow Food International, 2025).

Gellért exclaimed in surprise, “I had no idea that such a long-established organisation was working on this issue!”

“And in addition to that,” Zsolt continued, “there is another movement that began ten years later, also in Italy: the Città Slow (liveable city) movement. It was launched by Paolo Saturnini, the mayor of Greve in Chianti (Tuscany), with the aim of extending the philosophy of Slow Food to local communities and municipal governments, in order to improve residents’ quality of life. One of his key objectives was to spread this movement across the entire country” (Città Slow, 2024).

“You should know,” Zsolt said, turning to Gellért, “that towns wishing to join must accept the principles of Slow Food and work on developing hospitality and protecting the local environment. The liveable city movement targets towns with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, is subject to strict requirements, and a city must meet half of the 72 criteria. Currently (2025), it has 307 members in 33 countries.”

“Is there a Hungarian member as well?” asked Peti, who had been quietly listening until then.

“Yes, Hódmezővásárhely.” Zsolt nodded seriously.

“Another town in the Great Plain!” Gellért remarked in surprise. “And I didn’t even know about it. What do you think, Zsolt, can we convince the town council to join the Alföld Slow Association?”

“In my opinion, yes! I’m with you,” Zsolt responded, demonstratively stepping to stand beside Gellért.

“I’m beginning to feel much closer to this topic,” Gellért thought as he returned to his office. “Our town has a manor house, although it is in a ruined state, we have beautifully renovated its garden. We also have a local history collection that preserves both Hungarian and Slovak traditions. We organise a gastronomy festival every year, as well as several cycling routes. I believe that together, these could form a basis for developing something meaningful,” he continued to ponder.

Later, he visited the association’s website, reviewed it, printed out the list of designated tasks, and added his own comments:

Strengthening cooperation at local and regional levels. Excellent! This has been my vision for years.
Organising conferences, events, and programmes on the topic of slow living (slow). Yes, I have attended these, and by re-watching the presentations I was able to recall the discussions.
Developing a certification system with its own logo. I would be happy to take part in this.
Providing local-level training for businesses. Our town’s businesses could truly benefit from this.
Carrying out marketing tasks for the members. Wonderful – one less thing for me to worry about!
Producing and distributing publications. How great it would be to appear in a tourism publication!
Strengthening liveable settlements. This is also one of my goals!
Presenting local specialities, collections, museums, and cultural assets. We also have a local collection!
Supporting the reduction of the ecological footprint of settlements, businesses, and individuals. I saw a new page about this on their website – surely that will be the solution!
Promoting awareness and mindfulness. This is something I also strive for.
Preserving traditions and collecting, protecting national, ethnic, and local values. Slovaks also live in our town!
Operating a website (www.alfoldslow.hu). Yes, I have checked that!
Cooperation with other slow movements and associations. I noticed that there are two other such organisations in the country.
Creating joint projects (Alföld Slow Egyesület, 2018). I would be happy to participate in these as well.

With this wealth of information, he finally felt prepared to convince the town council to join the association. He designated this as the central topic for the next council meeting.

“Honourable Council Members,” Gellért began at the meeting, “we have received an inquiry from the Alföld Slow Association, inviting us to join. I have researched the topic, and I am firmly convinced that our place is within this Association. This is not only about tourism – it also aims to improve the interests and quality of life of our local residents.”

“We don’t even have tourism here!” Géza snorted.

“Yes, I know,” replied Gellért, “but we have developed and beautified the town; we have values worth presenting to the world – or at least to domestic visitors or residents of neighbouring settlements!”

“And what is this S-L-O-W?” Géza spelled it out loudly. “I can’t even pronounce it! Why don’t they call the association by a Hungarian name?” he continued to argue.

“‘Slow’ means lassú, leisurely. I didn’t know the exact meaning at first either – I had to look it up. But the Hungarian word lassú doesn’t fully capture what slow stands for. I suppose that’s why they kept the English expression,” said Gellért.

“Yes, I believe that may be the reason,” Zsolt supported him.

“So… slow! Should we slow down? In this fast-paced world? It sounds absurd! And anyway, everything moves slowly enough here in the countryside. Should we slow it down even more?” Géza continued his argument.

“That’s not what this is about,” Gellért concluded firmly. “We want to present our local values – things you cannot just rush through. They have stories, they have a past, and we hope they have a future as well.”

Tartalomjegyzék

Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2026

ISBN: 978 963 664 217 4

Marketing Turizmus

The publication of the third volume of Cases in Tourism Marketing is truly welcome news from both an educational and a professional perspective. Through real-world, timely, and thought-provoking cases, this collection helps readers – students and practitioners alike – gain a deeper understanding of the complex world of decision-making in tourism marketing. The case studies not only convey professional knowledge but also develop analytical skills, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking. One of the volume’s key strengths is its focus on issues that define contemporary tourism, including the role of digitalization, artificial intelligence, destination branding, and stakeholder collaboration in tourism marketing. Long-awaited and highly relevant, this third volume is a worthy continuation of the previous collections and will undoubtedly serve as a valuable resource in higher education in tourism, while also being highly recommended to professionals who enjoy reflecting on challenges and opportunities beyond their own immediate field of expertise.

Tamara Ratz PhD

Director, Centre for International Relations, Kodolányi János University

Head of Tourism Department, Professor of Tourism

It is an honor for me to recommend this volume to everyone who wishes to understand tourism marketing not only in theory, but also through its real business and human dimensions. The worlds of tourism and hospitality have undergone fundamental changes in recent years, which makes case studies based on real market situations, decision-making dilemmas and current challenges especially valuable in supporting both learning and critical thinking. This book provides not only professional knowledge, but also encourages a complex mindset, creative problem-solving and the ability to think in connections — exactly the skills today’s tourism professionals need most. I wholeheartedly recommend this volume to students, educators and tourism professionals alike.

Judit Fodor (Liptai)

Group Director of Sales and Marketing, Danubius Hotels

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/deli-gray-cases-in-toursim-marketing-iii//

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