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

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.