Slow tourism: the relationship between tourists' slow food experiences and their quality of life

Purpose This study aims to define the concept of slow tourism, describe tourists' slow food experiences and examine the relationship between the tourists' slow food experience and their quality of life (QOL). Design/methodology/approach An online survey distributed through the Amazon MTurk platform yields 453 valid questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis and structure equational modeling are used to analyze the data. Findings The results reveal that authenticity and slowness significantly affect tourists' slow food experience, while environmental consciousness does not influence tourists' slow food experiences. Further, the slow food experience elicits a positive impact on the tourists' QOL. Originality/value This study contributes to delineating the scope of slow food experiences, which remains unexplored in previous studies and gives further insight into how they impact life quality. This paper expands the body of knowledge by establishing three factors influencing slow food experiences and further provides valuable advice for tourism marketers at slow destinations.