Impacts of value co-creation in rural tourism services: the case of a Santa Catarina farm hotel

Abstract

Rural tourism constitutes an alternative for Brazilian socioeconomic development, as well as implies the mitigation exodus rural and is a strategy for regional development. In this perspective, value co-creation among rural environment players allows access to knowledge, information, and technologies through resources complementary, which bolster tourist activity development. Given the above, this study sought to diagnose, by means of a case study, the impacts of value co-creation in a farm hotel. To do so, two on-site visits were conduct at the farm hotel, in which participants provided interviews and document analysis. Data were then investigated by content analysis based on Bardin (2011). Based on the findings, a series of contributions arise from value co-creation in the surroundings of the Hotel Fazenda, as well as barriers, which presented themselves as hinderers of the value co-creation in rural service context. Value co-creation for the surrounding community allows to provide new experiences to the tourist, so that regional and cultural aspects, and typical food aspects of the region are disseminated. Value co-creation has proven to be a way to stimulate collaborative competitiveness, by sharing and complementing resources. On the other hand, the fragility of the adopted management and selection methods of actors for cooperation has been shown to be a risk, which can result in value co-destruction.