Old Kids on the New Block: Engaging Civil Society in Tourism Degrowth

Abstract

Despite general support for economic growth, the benefit of continued expansion of tourism is being increasingly questioned in favor of more inclusive forms of tourism development. Degrowth can be politicized if public opinion becomes skeptical about tourism development. The slow city international network, which provides a transnational sphere for politicizing tourism degrowth, has connections to local slow cities to enable politicization at the regional and national level. The present study focused on the first slow city in Turkey, namely Seferihisar in the city of Izmir. It is an exploratory research with the qualitative research design based on semi-structured interviews. By adapting the domestic politicization model to tourism growth and drawing on the case of slow city of Seferihisar, this study shows how a mismatch between expectations and existing conditions can activate the public policy sphere, while the logics of distribution and identity can be articulated in line with the slow city cultural model.