Between slow tourists and operators: expectations and implications of a strategic cross-border proposal

The paper analyzes the results achieved by the European project of cross-border cooperation Slowtourism for the implementation and valorization of slow itineraries between Italy and Slovenia. A significant natural, historical and cultural heritage characterize the area and a wide range of tourism products and services reflect and enhance this heritage. Notably, through interviews with the operators who have joined the network Slowtourism and slow tourists, the paper highlights the system of expectations that both have had towards the project, services and territorial development, with attention to the minor localities. Furthermore, attention is given to the links with other cross-border projects that enhance the offers typically slow (cycling, walking, food and wine, fishing, etc.) highlighting how the spatial planning of the Upper Adriatic has identified, in supporting an offer based on sustainability, authenticity, specificity and contamination, the keys for its economic development. The project has seen the participation of thirty institutional partners and it has been an opportunity to build relevant cross-border partnerships in an area historically characterized by cultural complexity and cohabitation of different ethnic groups.