Abstract
The knowledge acquired by studying different aspects that can influence agritourism provide for adequate guidelines to carry out this rural activity, leading to greater sustainability and higher chances of success. This study was developed to identify the more important aspects that can improve or limit agritourism and, accordingly, analyse the potential and the limitations for agritourism development in two municipalities of Southeast Brazil. The municipalities are Venda Nova do Imigrante in the state of Espírito Santo, where the agritourism is successfully consolidated and Cachoeiras de Macacu in Rio de Janeiro state, where it is not very significant. This comparison was based on secondary and primary data – the latter were collected during field trips in these municipalities and by getting in touch with representatives of institutions and other local stakeholders. The results showed that the main similarities between the municipalities, which promote agritourism, are environmental, historic and cultural aspects; the presence of family farming with diversified production; and small rural industries. The main differences are the aspects related to land use, tourism management and agritourism infrastructure. An aspect that limits the activity in both municipalities is the lack of specific norms and legislation to guide and organize agritourism.
Highlights
The concepts which define types of tourism in rural environment are broad and often overlap, this study considered the agritourism activity in the rural tourism context, which is more comprehensive and encompasses various types of tourism (Sznajder, Przezborska & Scrimgeour, 2009)
The aspects that influence agritourism and should be considered to compare both municipalities were gathered in a bibliographic survey (AIAB, 2000; Lacche, 2000; Toresan et al, 2002; Tulik, 2003; Complexo Petroquímico do Rio de Janeiro [COMPERJ], 2011; Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas-Rio de Janeiro [SEBRAE-RJ], 2011; Szmulewicz, Gutiérrez & Winkler, 2012; Moraes, Ribeiro & Emmendoerfer, 2013, Aranha & Guerra, 2014; Rincón, Santos & Villegas, 2015)
Municipalities and surrounding region have natural environmental attributes that are favorable to rural tourism and to compose agritourism circuits
Summary
The concepts which define types of tourism in rural environment are broad and often overlap, this study considered the agritourism activity in the rural tourism context, which is more comprehensive and encompasses various types of tourism (Sznajder, Przezborska & Scrimgeour, 2009). Considering the concept of agritourism adopted by Associazione Italiana per l’Agricoltura Biologica [AIAB], (2000), the activity’s main characteristics include the producers’ hospitality as they use their lands in an integrated and complementary way to agricultural, forestry and livestock production. The latter remain the producers’ main sources of income. According to Tulik (2003), in addition to the essential characteristics of agritourism, in Italy this activity includes natural landscape, historical and architectural heritage, regional cuisine, local sports and culture
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