Slow tourism is a community centred, low carbon approach to destination development that prioritises longer stays, meaningful engagement with place, environmental stewardship, and the retention of local economic value, ensuring that tourism enhances quality of life for residents while improving the quality of experience for visitors.
- What is SLOWTOUR Project?
- Welcome to the SLOWTOUR Food Festival
- Why This Matters for Limerick
- Project at a Glance
- What is Interreg North-West Europe?
- Project Objectives
- Project Partners
- Limerick SLOWTOUR Food Festival Pilot
What is SLOWTOUR Project?
SLOWTOUR - Unlocking Heritage Opportunities for Slow Tourism is a European cooperation project funded through the Interreg North-West Europe Programme.
The project brings together cities, tourism organisations, universities and regional development agencies from Ireland, France, Belgium and Germany to explore how slow tourism can support regeneration, sustainability and community development.
At its core, slow tourism focuses on quality over quantity, encouraging visitors to spend more time in one place and engage more deeply with local culture, communities and heritage. Rather than rushing between destinations, it promotes a more meaningful and sustainable way of experiencing place.
SLOWTOUR applies these principles to industrial heritage areas and emerging neighbourhoods that are often overlooked by traditional tourism. While rich in identity and culture, these places frequently face challenges such as underused heritage assets, fragmented tourism activity and limited economic opportunities.
The project aims to address these challenges by using slow tourism as a tool for community regeneration, social inclusion, sustainable tourism development, local economic growth and the activation of cultural heritage assets.
A key feature of SLOWTOUR is its strong emphasis on community participation and co-creation. Citizens are active contributors to tourism development, acting as storytellers, ambassadors and co-creators of authentic local experiences.
Across the project, partners will test a range of pilot initiatives, including food heritage festivals, walking and cycling routes, immersive cultural experiences, the creative reuse of public and industrial spaces, and community-led tourism initiatives.
These pilot activities will contribute to the development of a Slow Tourism Blueprint and a final Slow Tourism Playbook, providing practical guidance for other regions across Europe.
This approach aligns strongly with national and regional priorities around sustainable tourism, regional development and community wellbeing.
Welcome to the SLOWTOUR Food Festival
Limerick City and County Council is proud to be a partner in SLOWTOUR, an EU-funded project exploring how slow tourism, food heritage, culture and community participation can support more sustainable and inclusive tourism development.
As part of this project, Limerick will design and pilot a new community-led food festival that celebrates local identity, heritage, creativity and food culture. The initiative will encourage visitors to spend more time discovering Limerick city and engaging with the destination at a slower, more meaningful pace.
The festival will focus on authentic local experiences, fostering connections between people and place, and the creative use of heritage and underutilised spaces.
Why This Matters for Limerick
Tourism plays an important role in Limerick’s economic, social and cultural development. However, like many European destinations, Limerick faces challenges including seasonality, short visitor stays and the concentration of tourism activity in limited areas.
The SLOWTOUR project provides an opportunity to:
- Develop tourism experiences rooted in local culture and food heritage
- Encourage longer visitor stays and deeper engagement
- Support local businesses, producers, creatives and communities
- Activate industrial and heritage spaces in new ways
- Strengthen community participation in tourism development
- Position Limerick as a leader in sustainable, experience led tourism
- Contribute to shared learning and knowledge exchange across European partner regions
Project at a Glance
Project Name
SLOWTOUR - Unlocking Heritage Opportunities for Slow Tourism
Programme
Interreg North-West Europe Programme 2021–2027
EU Priority
Inclusive Society - Sustainable Tourism and Culture
Lead Partner
City of Roubaix (France)
Project Duration
2025-2029 (43 months)
Total Project Budget
€5.13 million
EU Funding
€3.08 million (European Regional Development Fund – ERDF)
Limerick Pilot
Community-led SLOWTOUR Food Festival
What is Interreg North-West Europe?
The Interreg North-West Europe Programme supports cooperation between regions and cities to address shared environmental, economic and societal challenges.
For Limerick, this programme enables the Council to:
- Collaborate with European partners and tourism experts
- Test innovative ideas through pilot projects
- Build long-term international partnerships
- Invest in community engagement and cultural programming
- Develop sustainable tourism approaches tailored to local needs
- Position Limerick within a wider European innovation network
Project Objectives
The SLOWTOUR project aims to:
- Reimagine industrial and heritage areas as tourism destinations
- Use slow tourism to support regeneration and economic development
- Place communities at the centre of tourism development
- Develop visitor experiences rooted in local identity and culture
- Strengthen collaboration and learning across Europe
- Create a transferable “Slow Tourism Playbook”
A key principle of the project is co-creation, with citizens acting as storytellers, ambassadors and contributors to tourism development.
Project Partners
The SLOWTOUR partnership includes a diverse range of European organisations:
- City of Roubaix (France) Ville de Roubaix
- Regional Development Agency IDETA (Belgium) IDETA - Agence de Développement Territorial - Wallonie picarde
- City of Roeselare (Belgium)
- Galway City Council (Ireland) Welcome to Galway City Council
- Atlantic Technological University (Ireland) Homepage - Atlantic Technological University
- Limerick City and County Council (Ireland)
- NECSTouR – Network of European Regions for Sustainable Tourism Home | NECSTouR
- City of Pirmasens (Germany) Stadt Pirmasens | Stadt Pirmasens
Limerick SLOWTOUR Food Festival Pilot
Limerick’s pilot project will explore how food, heritage, creativity and communities can come together to deliver a new type of tourism experience. It will involve community engagement and co-creation workshops, collaboration with local producers, creatives and community groups, and the use of industrial and heritage spaces as festival venues. The pilot will also support the development of new food and cultural experiences and test approaches that encourage visitors to stay longer and engage more deeply with Limerick. The learnings from this work will feed into the wider European SLOWTOUR Playbook, supporting other cities and regions to develop similar initiatives.
More information about the SLOWTOUR project: Home | SLOWTOUR
