Successful integration of slow and sustainable tourism: A case study of food tourism in the alpine region of Algovia, Germany

Tourism is an important economic sector that has a complex relationship with the environment, society and culture. Many studies have investigated the relationship between sustainability – divided into the economic, environmental and sociocultural pillars – and tourism. Although challenging (Cooper, 2012a; UNEP, 2014), the recent trend within the tourism industry has beenthe rise of new, particularly sustainable forms, such as the development of theslow tourism approach (Matos, 2004). This can be considered a reaction to the broader Western way of life, and it takes the form of tourism that operates at a more leisurely pace, respecting nature and human beings. Starting from a brief description of this approach in tourism, we will present a specific case based on food tourism in Germany. Specifically, it deals with Algovian Emmentaler tourism and is based on data derived from 12 in-depth interviewswith different participants (producers, policy-makers, etc.) from the AlgovianAlps. Results provide evidence on how food tourism can be considered a bestpractice within slow and sustainable tourism. The remainder of the paper isstructured as follows. We first discuss the three pillars of sustainability in tourism. Following that, we offer a brief description of slow and food tourism andwe present the results of the qualitative case study on Algovian Emmentaler. Finally, we draw some conclusions.