Embedding Slow Tourism and the ‘Slow Phases’ framework: the case of Cambridge, UK

This chapter addresses current and future tourism opportunities and challenges for Cambridge (UK) and illustrates the potential role of ‘slow’ tourism as an antidote to what the authors previously referred to as the ‘one day tourist’ problematic (see Wilbert and Duignan, 2015). It outlines how the historic and internationally famous city of Cambridge is considering a reworking of its perspective on tourism management and the development of its destination experience. This process is currently underway with the 2016 introduction of Cambridge’s new regional Destination Management Organisation (DMO): ‘Visit Cambridge and Beyond’ (VCB). Decisions that regional tourism policy makers take will partly determine how visitors better engage with the city. Current policy now includes seeking tourists whom: i) stay longer, ii) increase tourist spending in the region, and more importantly iii) encourage tourists to visit a wider area than the main city centre where the current main tourist attractions are located. The new DMO and Wilbert and Duignan (2015) argue that it is through connecting up spaces and places that currently sit in individualised silos out of view by ‘normal’ visitor streams that a ‘slow tourism’ approach can be sought.