A scale proposal for sustainable tourism in Cittaslows

The number of slow cities has reached 266 as of August 2021 throughout the world, and 18 of these cities are located in Turkey. The total number has been increasing over the years. Considering this growth, revealing the impacts of Cittaslow Movement in terms of sustainable development becomes more important. The research problem is the need for a measurement tool that would reveal the thoughts and opinions of local people living in slow cities in order to determine the economic, social, and environmental impacts. Within this context, the purpose of this study is to develop a scale to measure environmental, social, and economic impacts of Cittaslow Movement on local people. Accordingly, the exploratory sequential design, one of the mixed methods is used, where qualitative and quantitative research processes are conducted, respectively. Therefore, in-depth interviews were conducted with 8 participants in the qualitative phase of this study. Data were collected from 9 different slow cities via the scale form developed based on the codes obtained at the qualitative phase. The data were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, respectively. At the end of this study, a scale containing 40 statements and 8-factor structure, was developed.