Agritourism—A Business Reality of the Moment for Romanian Rural Area’s Sustainability

Ramona Ciolac,Ioan Brad,Tiberiu Iancu,Nicoleta Mateoc-Sîrb,Tabita Adamov

doi:10.3390/su13116313

Ramona Ciolac, Ioan Brad + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116313

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Abstract

The agritourism activity can be a characteristic reality of the present, considering rural area’s sustainability, being at the same time a business reality for rural entrepreneurs and a “must have” for rural communities that have tourism potential. It is a form of tourism, through which the tourist can receive a qualitative product at a reasonable price, but also a field that can ensure sustainable development over time, being at the same time environmentally friendly. The purpose of this scientific paper is to identify the aspects that make agritourism “a possible business reality of the moment”, for Romanian rural area’s sustainability. We take into account the following areas: Bran-Moieciu area—considered “the oldest” in terms of agritourism experience, and Apuseni Mountains area, with a great inclination and potential for this activity. The study conducted for these two areas is focused on several aspects: the degree of involvement in agritourism activities, considering the number of years and managerial experience, the analysis of the types of activities/experiences offered by agritourism structures, the identification of the main reasons/motivations for the orientation towards agritourism and the manner in which this field is perceived. Aspects related to the marketing-finance part of the agritourism business are also taken into account: customers, distribution channels, financial sources, shortcomings observed by agritourism business owners and possible action directions so as to improve the activity/agritourism product. Agritourism may be “a possible business reality of the moment” for the studied areas and not only, but in the future, the entrepreneur/farmer must be constantly updated because of the changing situations that appear on the market, be able to make sustainable decisions for his/her own business, which in the future will ensure its viability and obviously its long-term profitability and development, and in the same time rural area’s sustainability.

Highlights

In European countries, agritourism appeared in Europe around the 1960s, as a tourism offer and it became a priority in the last decades of this century, in local development policies, as an activity that links the economic components of sustainability with local communities
In order to demonstrate that the agritourism activity can be considered “a possible business reality of the moment”, we studied two areas from the Romanian rural environment:
The period of time in which the Romanian agritourism activity, was officially organized and supported, did not last long, it did not support much the development of rural areas, but even so it was a beginning that enabled the owners of rural structures to get acquainted in some extent with the principles of this activity

Summary

Introduction

In European countries, agritourism appeared in Europe around the 1960s, as a tourism offer and it became a priority in the last decades of this century, in local development policies, as an activity that links the economic components of sustainability with local communities. The awareness regarding the significance of rural areas comes primarily from the European authorities, based on the fact that rural and intermediate areas represent 88% of the EU territory, and they are inhabited by 55% of its total population, producing 43% of the Gross Value Added of EU and accounting for 56% of all jobs from the Union [5]. They are very important when it comes to supporting rural development. We refer here to the fact that the public awareness about the significance of rural areas is based on several aspects from which the concern has started to begun [6]:

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