Kayakers skirt along the foot of the impressive sandstone cliffs at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along the Hiawatha Water Trail. (Jude Holloway photo)

MUNISING — Pure Michigan is encouraging travelers to stop and smell the tulips this year through its promotion of slow tourism practices.

The Pure Michigan campaign predicts that the slow travel trend will surge in popularity in 2025 as people seek ways to unwind from “years of ratcheting national stress.”

“We’ve seen an increased trend of people wanting to just relax and unwind on their vacation,” said Kelly Wolgamott, the vice president of Pure Michigan, the state’s official travel and tourism promotion agency.

Kelly Wolgamott, is the vice president of Pure Michigan.Credit: Pure Michigan

“Vacation is a huge priority for travelers, even in inflationary times where we’re making cutbacks on our home budgets. People are still allocating funds for travel,” Wolgamott said.

Slow tourism is defined as travel that “counteracts the prevailing trend to travel further, faster and more often, encouraging an increased consciousness of tourism’s impact on social, cultural and environmental aspects.”

That’s according to a 2021 international study from Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel in Germany.

Wolgamott said, “This is really the basis of the Pure Michigan campaign. Going to these authentic destinations that we have in the state, and being able to just be in those destinations. To enjoy what it has to bring from the standpoint of invoking your senses.”

“Really having the ability to connect with those loved ones that you’re traveling with, your friends and family, but also yourself,” she said.

The concept of slow travel originated from the slow food and slow cities movements in Italy. Those movements started in the 1980s in response to the increasing number of fast food restaurants in that country, and have since gained global popularity.

One of Pure Michigan’s goals in promoting slow tourism is to emphasize the culinary experiences offered in some of Michigan’s major cities, like Detroit, Traverse City and Ann Arbor.

“We have incredible culinary experiences across the state that we’re working very hard to get recognized because we are a true agricultural state,” Wolgamott said.

“A lot of the chefs across the state are using quintessential farm-to-table opportunities. From Marquette to Detroit, Traverse City to Ann Arbor – there’s so many great places from a culinary standpoint to evoke the senses and have a great meal,” she said.

According to a study from the United Kingdom’s University of Wolverhampton, slow tourism should “be developed carefully and in a coordinated way, as expanding it rapidly might lead to adverse impacts on the environment or society.”

Pure Michigan has worked with agencies in areas of concern, like Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Leelanau and Benzie counties and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising and Grand Marais, to ensure that tourists are mindful of their travel habits.

“Marquette and the Keweenaw area have instituted ‘before you go’ types of information, so that when travelers come to these destinations, they understand their responsibilities as a traveler to ensure that we’re taking care of our natural resources,” Wolgamott said.

While Pure Michigan encourages travelers to tour the entire state, there are some areas its campaign emphasizes, including Traverse City wineries, the Empire Bluff Trail in Leelanau County, Tulip Time in Holland, the Lilac Festival on Mackinac Island and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula.

“Slow travel is not just for the great outdoors that we have across the state. It’s also something that you experience in a city like Detroit, Flint or Grand Rapids. There are great opportunities to just relax, enjoy, live like a local and walk through the city,” Wolgamott said.