Package cycle tourists′ relationship to time and pace

Abstract

For its slow mobility, cycle tourism has been linked to slow travel. Yet, few tourism scholars have studied the meaning of the pace at which cycle tourists move. This study seeks to shed some light on cycle tourists' relationship to time and pace. For that purpose, mobile ethnography through participant observation and interviews was employed to explore how western tourists experience a package cycling holiday in Vietnam. The cyclists' notion of subjective pace was found to be unconnected from actual velocity or form of travel. Some of the tourists sought speed and closely monitored time as ways to achieve their cycling performance goals. None of the cyclists expressed concerns with the high carbon footprint of their air travel to Vietnam. Furthermore, contrary to the slow travel literature, the cycle tourists did not prioritise social encounters. The findings of this study, therefore, question whether package cycle tourists can be considered to be slow travellers. We thus suggest that the experience of pace as controlled by the traveller her or himself is central to being a slow traveller.