Slow travel is a relatively new concept. Originally this was a grass root movement, which now is becoming an interest area for scholars. The first organised networks and forums started to emerge approximately a decade ago. A slow travel website was founded in 2000 by Pauline Kelly (Dickinson et al., 2011). This site is an inspiration to those who have an interest in travelling slowly, comprising travel tips, reviews, diaries from people who have gone on trips and several chat forums.

Attempts to define slow travel and categorise it has been made by several scholars in the last years (Dickinson & Lumsdon, 2010; Lumsdon & McGrath, 2011; Dickinson et al., 2011). The results so far have identified the following components of slow travel: Local travel and staying at one place rather than packing a lot of destinations into the itinerary is encouraged (Molz, 2010); motorised transportation is mainly discouraged, unless this is in the form of public mass transportation such as trains and coaches, and the experience of the total journey is emphasised, where the traveller should be engaged with and enjoy all the components making up his/her trip - be it accommodation, transportation or activities (Dickinson & Lumsdon, 2010). Environmental concern has also been mentioned as a principal component for slow travel; however this has yet to be confirmed by research (Lumsdon & McGrath, 2011).