Slowing Down to Move Forward? Minimalist Slow Travel as a Pathway to Resilience and Growth

ABSTRACT This study examines how slowness in travel influences travelers' self‐transcendence, resilience, and post‐traumatic growth through the mediating role of flow experience, and whether minimalism in travel conditions these relationships. Using an exploratory sequential mixed‐methods design, Study 1 interviews ( N = 32) informed the conceptual model, tested in Study 2 with survey data ( N = 521, Credamo) and analyzed via AMOS 24. The results indicate that slowness in travel positively predicts flow experience, which in turn enhances multiple dimensions of psychological growth. Moreover, minimalism strengthens both the direct and indirect effects of slowness on flow and growth‐related outcomes. The findings reconceptualize slowness as a psychological gateway to flow and identify minimalism as a critical boundary condition. Practically, the study shifts wellness tourism design beyond time deceleration toward cultivating attentional stability and low‐friction experiential contexts that support recovery and sustainable well‐being.