RESCHEDULED EVENT
North Pennines Tourism Forum 2020: The North Pennines – a slow tourism destination?
Tuesday 20 October 2020: 10am to 12noon (please join online from 9.45 am)
Virtual, via Zoom
Advance booking essential
Our theme this year is ‘slow tourism’ and we’ll be exploring whether this approach fits with what we have to offer to visitors to the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and UNESCO Global Geopark. We will also see what the concept of ‘slow’ has to offer the North Pennines as we look to recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
You have probably heard about slow food (local, quality, fresh) but what images are conjured up when you think about slow tourism or slow travel? Perhaps there was an unconscious negative association… fast = success, right? Is taking things more slowly a good thing?
“We have lost our sense of time. We believe that we can add meaning to life by making things go fast. We have an idea that life is short – and that we must go faster to fit everything in… the problem is that we don’t know how to spend our time wisely.”
- Carlo Petrini, Founder of the Slow Food Movement
Slow tourism is all about slowing down to take time to enjoy more. It is being concerned about the environment and taking the time to immerse yourself in a destination. Above all it is about the quality of experience and not about the quantity.
Keynote speaker
We are delighted that our keynote speaker is Davina Stanford – Course Director for Responsible Tourism Management at Leeds Beckett University. She will be exploring the concept of slow tourism, drawing on her extensive experience working as a tourism consultant, and how it can be applied to emerging rural destinations, such as the North Pennines.
Business perspectives
Next we will hear from Daniel Holder from the award-winning Quiet Site, Ullswater. Daniel will be looking at the future of slow in the new COVID-19 normal. Michelle Gorman, Managing Director of Visit County Durham, will share a Destination Management Organisation perspective. Michelle will be speaking about the Northern Saints Trails and will reflect on the role of slow in building back better.
Fellfoot Forward and the Geotours app
We’ll wrap up with two presentations from the AONB Partnership. Firstly, Fiona Knox will look at the recently launched Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme project and how we’ll be embracing slow tourism. Secondly, Naomi Foster will take a look at the new Geotours app and the international collaboration which has developed the European Atlantic Geotourism Route.
Q&A
After the presentations delegates will be invited to put their thoughts and questions to the speakers – providing an opportunity to explore what the concept of ‘slow’ could bring to developing and marketing the North Pennines as a tourism destination.
Get involved
Shane Harris, Responsible Tourism Lead for the North Pennines AONB Partnership, said: “It’s a challenging time to be involved in tourism in the AONB. The pandemic and all the associated restrictions have been a huge burden for all visitor economy businesses operating in the area. The 2020 North Pennines Tourism Forum will explore the concept of ‘slow tourism’ and how the approach might complement the area’s special qualities. We will also explore how looking at the visitor economy through the prism of ‘slow’ may help us to craft the area’s visitor offer, as we move towards recovery after the pandemic.”
