Geographic differentiation of agritourism activities in Poland vs. cultural and natural attractiveness of destinations at district level.

Arkadiusz Sadowski,Monika Małgorzata Wojcieszak,Andrea Antonio Guido Caragliu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0222576

Arkadiusz Sadowski, Monika Małgorzata Wojcieszak + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222576

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Sep 20, 2019
Citations: 34	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Life Sciences in Poznań

Abstract

One of the trends in today’s tourism sector is the development of environmentally-friendly tourism activities which rely on natural resources of cultural heritage and on biodiversity. This is definitely the case for agritourism, a form of rural tourism. The purpose of this paper is to identify the development aspects of Polish agritourism with particular emphasis on natural and cultural attractiveness. To demonstrate the relationship between agritourism activities of Polish farms and the cultural and natural attractiveness, the Hellwig’s synthetic development indicator was used. As shown by research, the cultural and natural attractiveness of a destination is an important exogenous development factor. Another finding was that the intensified efforts undertaken by the farmers to access EU funds were not focused on areas with valuable natural or cultural resources and an untapped agritourism potential; instead, they were oriented at regions dominated by semi-subsistence or family farms. For a large part of farmers, the new form of support is about to become a source of additional incomes.

Highlights

Agritourism is a form of tourism which emerged in the last century to become an increasingly important sector of the tourism industry around the world
This opinion is shared by [99], [100] and [101], who emphasize that agritourism plays an important role as it ensures contact between humans and nature. [100] indicates that Italian tourists who stay in agritourism farms appreciate the natural values [usually, vineyards] surrounding the farm while trying local products
As emphasized by American scientists, staying at a farm continues to be popular in the US and in many European countries, and the attractions located in agritourism facilities provide a great incentive for engaging in a broad range of tourist activities

Summary

Introduction

Agritourism is a form of tourism which emerged in the last century to become an increasingly important sector of the tourism industry around the world. The changing lifestyles and tourist behaviors and preferences, combined with concern for the cultural heritage, natural environment and sustainable development, led to the establishment of agritourism as a separate sector. As emphasized by many researchers (the list of individual items in Table 1), the common characteristic of these trends is that agritourism activities contribute to preservation of regional (and family) heritage and represent an additional non-farming income for the farmers.

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