Across NWE, many small and medium-sized cities possess rich industrial heritage but face shared challenges: socio-economic decline, abandoned or underutilised heritage sites, fragmented visitor flows, and citizens who often feel disconnected from their cultural identity. SLOWTOUR positions slow tourism as a catalyst for:

• Urban regeneration
• Community inclusion
• Cultural pride and identity-building
• Local economic revitalisation

The project will reimagine neglected industrial areas as dynamic destinations where citizens become storytellers, co-creators and ambassadors, ensuring tourism development is rooted in shared values and creates tangible benefits for local communities. Over its 3.5-year lifetime, SLOWTOUR will:

1. Develop a Slow Tourism Blueprint

A strategic framework co-created by local authorities, experts, and communities, offering:

• Methodologies for citizen engagement
• Best practices for reusing industrial heritage
• Policy recommendations for urban slow tourism development

This blueprint will guide the project’s pilot cities and provide a scalable model for others.

2. Test and Refine Approaches in Six Pilot Cities

Six pilot actions in Galway (IE), Roubaix (FR), Roeselare (BE), Tournai (BE), Limerick (IE), and Pirmasens (DE) will explore:

• Immersive heritage routes
• Walking and cycling itineraries
• Food and craft festivals
• Creative reuse of public spaces
• Community-led storytelling initiatives

These pilots will directly involve 500 citizens and result in 24 new slow tourism experiences, expected to attract 2,000 visitors to emerging neighbourhoods.

3. Produce a Transferable Slow Tourism Playbook

The project’s final output, a Slow Tourism Playbook will provide cities and regions with a practical toolkit for implementing slow tourism within heritage-led regeneration strategies.

It will inspire 20 additional NWE cities to take up the model, supported by:

• Transnational peer-learning
• Joint workshops
• Continuous feedback loops
• Engagement with 12 universities and 40 SMEs

SLOWTOUR is coordinated by the City of Roubaix (France) and brings together a diverse partnership of municipalities, academic institutions, regional development agencies, and tourism networks:

• City of Roeselare (Belgium)
• Galway City Council (Ireland)
• City of Pirmasens (Germany)
• Limerick City and County Council (Ireland)
• Atlantic Technological University (Ireland)
• NECSTouR, Network of European Regions for a Sustainable and Competitive Tourism (Belgium)
• IDETA Regional Development Agency (Belgium)

Supported by associated partners, the consortium combines strong territorial knowledge with expertise in heritage, tourism, and citizen engagement.

The project’s official kick-off meeting will take place from 13-15 April 2026 in Roeselare  and then setting the roadmap for pilot activities, capacity-building sessions, and development of the SLOWTOUR Blueprint. Pilot projects will begin later in 2026, and the first version of the Blueprint is expected by mid-2027.