At the start of the new year Tourism Ireland decided that June should be known as ‘Slow Tourism Month’. With the hopes of making June and slow tourism synonymous for years to come, the entire nation is promoting lingering and exploring instead of racing between landmarks for its 70 million annual visitors from places such as the US, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands.  

Tourism Ireland’s Slow Tourism Month reached its multi-million-person audience through video platforms and enticed overseas partners with a toolkit to help them succeed in the run-up to June, but behind the imagery of mist-framed hills and village lanes was also a strategic ambition. 

A Tourism Ireland spokesperson told Hotel Owner that the country benefits from an abundance of sustainable accommodation and experiences such as hiking, cycling, kayaking, star gazing and farm-to-fork experiences, which is what pushed the tourism body to showcase them all in one dedicated month. 

Overseas visitors’ spending touched €7.3bn (£6.2bn) in 2024, after a nearly 16% jump year-on-year, and Tourism Ireland is aiming to push that figure to €9bn (£7.7bn) by 2030. But in order to grow these numbers the tourism body realised it needed to grow its impact – and the solution was simple: encourage long stays, drive regional jobs, and embed sustainability into every trip. 

June became the test. Instead of emphasising Dublin or the Cliffs of Moher alone, the ‘Ireland Unrushed’ campaign – a facet of Slow Tourism Month – highlighted 10 hero routes spanning hidden rail connections, coastal buses, inland waterways, greenways, and villages off the tourist map. “You may find, when you slow down, you feel more,” the campaign reminds travellers. That call resonated not only with would-be visitors but with a travel industry already rebalancing from years of post-pandemic recalibration.

“We support our hotel partners on the ground by arranging media and content creator visits to shine a light on their properties, and where we can, incorporate them into our marketing campaigns,” the Tourism Ireland spokesperson adds. “We have lots of industry opportunities posted on our website encouraging industry to be involved in our market plans.”

It’s not entirely marketing fluff; around half of overseas visitors don’t use a car, a signal that demand already existed for car-free travel. Fáilte Ireland and regional authorities were ready because greenways stretched over 900 km with another 1,500 km in development through EU and national funding. At Dublin Airport, capacity limits forces focus not just on flights, but on modal diversity. Trains, buses, walking trails – suddenly the alternatives weren’t fringe.

Within that context, Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh embodies Slow Tourism Month. Its ‘Move To Our Rhythm’ package was built around replacing haste with attention.

Tourism Ireland noted that 80% of those selecting non-sun holidays look to explore such things as nature, communities and culture, while 50% say they’d spend more on sustainable experiences. The tourism body’s Business Plan 2025 also enshrines sustainability and “value-adding tourism traits”, meaning travellers who “see more, do more, enjoy more, and therefore, spend more.”

Within that context, Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh embodies Slow Tourism Month. Its ‘Move To Our Rhythm’ package – which includes lakeside breakfasts, Thai Spa time, tours of the Marble Arch Caves, Belleek Pottery, Enniskillen Castle or Florence Court Estates – was built around replacing haste with attention. A resort spokesperson said they want guests “not simply to switch off, but to switch on to nature, people and place”.

Julian Hirst, regional director of EMEA at online travel platform Busbud, sees infrastructure and marketing aligning in favour of Slow Tourism Month, and it’s likely this was entirely what Tourism Ireland intended. 

“Slow tourism goes hand in hand with sustainable travel. Choosing ground transport like buses or trains significantly lowers your carbon footprint compared to flying, especially on shorter journeys. Slow travel encourages people to stay longer, explore local spots, and support smaller, often family-run businesses,” Hirst says. “This kind of tourism helps spread economic benefits more evenly, rather than concentrating them in major tourist hubs, which can be hugely important for regional development and preserving local culture.”

For Hirst, slow tourism is not nostalgia alone, adding, “More and more, travellers are prioritising sustainability and seeking experiences that feel more intentional and authentic. These aren’t just preferences anymore; they’re becoming core expectations.”

This isn’t limited to countryside or boutique escapes. In London, Simon Hall, general manager of The Welbeck Hotel, is watching urban travel slow down too.

Rebecca Masri, founder and CEO of luxury travel booking platform Little Emperors, echoes the shift in how tourists travel and what they expect from their visits. “Consumers are choosing to take less frequent trips or opt for trains over planes to minimise environmental impact and are also curating itineraries focused on local exploration,” she says. “Post-pandemic consumers are seeking restorative trips over busy and rushed itineraries. An increased demand for wellness focused travel has also driven a rise in slow tourism, with the two providing travellers the chance to relax, reconnect with themselves or travelling partners and enjoy restorative experiences.”

In light of this, Masri sees slow tourism becoming a long-term strategic push, rather than just a seasonal one, due to “its ability to bring longer stays and increased, more consistent spending periods to local areas”. 

Louise Truman, founder of Plotpackers, views this immersion as a fundamental aspect, no longer an added luxury but rather the product itself. “Slow tourism fits perfectly with sustainable travel because it encourages visitors to spend more time in one place. It shifts the focus from quantity to quality,” she says. “Campaigns like Tourism Ireland’s Slow Tourism Month highlight the value of taking time to explore a region’s unique stories, food, and landscapes. This approach helps destinations balance growth with preservation, making tourism a positive force rather than a strain.”

Plotpackers, which helps travel operators embed agritourism and craft culture into bespoke packages, is seeing steady demand from small group providers. “We’re working with guides and properties who want to build tours around slowness – learning from a baker, tracing a river by foot. You can’t do that with a four-city sprint itinerary,” Truman adds.

This isn’t limited to countryside or boutique escapes. In London, Simon Hall, general manager of The Welbeck Hotel, is watching urban travel slow down too. “Our guests often tell us they value time to ‘settle in’ to a neighbourhood and enjoy a sense of place,” he says. “It’s no longer about squeezing in a checklist of landmarks. People want to live where they stay.”

To help guests do just that, Hall created the Welbeck Wanderer, a walking map featuring local stories and independent partner offers. “It’s been one of our most popular tools,” he adds. “Guests say it lets them feel part of the city, not just visitors.”

“Slow travel is more sustainable because it reduces the carbon footprint. It encourages travellers to stay longer, spend more locally, and engage more deeply.”

That ethos of embedding travellers into the rhythm of local life is central to the slow movement. For James Lund, director and co-founder of Luxury Coastal, it’s also a formula for resilience. “We believe that communities thrive and grow sustainably with the right support,” he says. “We champion the best of our region, shining a light on local independent businesses.”

Lund has also seen it play out in visitor behaviour: “Guests are favouring longer, more meaningful stays. They want experiences that tell a story and give back – things that create lasting memories rather than quick photos.

In the airport lounges and transport hubs where many journeys begin, the shift is visible too. Andrew Harrison-Chinn, chief marketing officer of Dragonpass, notes, “Slow travel is more sustainable because it reduces the carbon footprint. It encourages travellers to stay longer, spend more locally, and engage more deeply. This has a positive ripple effect across the entire ecosystem.”

That ripple touches not only tourism operators and destinations, but the long tail of cafes, museums, transport providers, and guides. “Tourism Ireland has a commitment to sustainable tourism, actively promoting practices that protect our natural landscapes, heritage, and communities, encouraging longer stays, supporting low-impact activities and encouraging off-season travel,” the tourism body spokesperson adds, “as well as helping to grow visitation to Ireland’s lesser-visited regions, rural and coastal areas.”

In light of this, Lucinda Faucheux, founder of Travel Support Circle, declares that slow tourism is here to stay. “People think it’s a trend because we’ve given it a name, but it’s literally just taking your time and fully enjoying your experience, which more and more people want to do. It’s more than a marketing push.”

These perspectives align with Tourism Ireland’s logic: infrastructure follows marketing. And as its spokesperson confirms, Slow Tourism Month is likely to return again next year as “promoting longer length stays is a key part of [its] messaging”. 

This inaugural Slow Tourism Month is already proving popular with crowds, as Tourism Ireland’s videos hit 90% persuasion during testing

Still, challenges remain. Higher energy and labour costs weigh on rural and boutique operators. Dublin Airport caps capacity. Dependence on the US market is being monitored amid economic uncertainty. And domestic travellers sometimes balk at prices for international-style slow experiences.

Lorena Basualdo, travel agent and founder of Italian Tourism, believes economic factors are playing a contributing role in the slow tourism trend’s growth, saying that with travel costs rising, “many are choosing to spend longer in one place”. She adds: “Generational attitudes matter too. Younger travellers especially value authenticity and connection over convenience, while older generations often appreciate the slower pace for relaxation.” 

But if Ireland nails a template for slow tourism – part of national identity, backed by transport, packaged by operators, embraced by visitors – that could be transformational. After all, Lund points out that culture is shifting toward valuing quality, communities, and subtle experiences. 

This inaugural Slow Tourism Month is already proving popular with crowds, as Tourism Ireland’s videos hit 90% persuasion during testing; autumn walk bookings are rising; greenway stays in small towns are climbing. In the years to come Masri sees the wellness category expanding beyond spas to include stillness, silence, story, while Truman sees more co-creation between locals and visitors.

By next year, the question may not be “Did Slow Tourism Month work?” but “How far did Ireland slow, and what did we all learn along the way?”

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