Slow tourism and digital disconnection: a study of place, atmosphere and norms in pilgrim and mountain walking destinations

Abstract

This article investigates manifestations of slow travel in destinations catering to multi-day walkers. The study explores the relationship between ideas of slow travel and slow media, examining how digitalisation creates on-site ambiguity and dilemmas. It deploys a comparative design across Norwegian mountain huts and pilgrim hostels in Camino de Santiago in Portugal, investigating material and moral similarities and differences through observations and interviews. Material, verbal, cultural and atmospheric cues are explored to reveal how destinations encourage a slow immersion in the place and how destinations and managers aim to facilitate presence, co-creation, conviviality and communitas as vital elements. However, even if limiting digital media use is often perceived as critical for the experience, both in Norway and Portugal, explicit prompts for disconnection are rare. The study’s main contribution is added knowledge of leisure destinations’ complex and multidimensional nature and how cues may be ambiguous, inviting different interpretations.