Agritourism Farms Research Articles

Comparative analysis of alpine agritourism in Trentino, Tyrol, and South Tyrol: Regional variations and prospects

Abstract Agritourism is an increasingly popular form of tourism that entails visiting farms to engage in activities and gain insights into the farming way of life. This research explores the economic, social, and environmental dynamics of agritourism in the Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino Euroregion with a specific emphasis on the three distinct regional entities in Austria and Italy: the Austrian state of Tyrol (comprising North and East Tyrol) and the Italian autonomous provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino. It addresses two key research aims: uncovering regional distinctions among these Alpine provinces and understanding the motivations, challenges, and future plans of agritourism operators. A comprehensive review of existing literature frames the study, while data collection involves an online survey of agritourism farms in the region. Distinctive characteristics emerge, with Trentino emphasizing restaurant services, sustainability, and community engagement. South Tyrol prioritizes quality accommodations and work–life balance, while Tyrol aligns closer with South Tyrol’s focus. Notably, economic factors exert a substantial influence on their motivations to embrace agritourism, underscoring their pivotal role in this context. Despite facing challenges such as “time management and labour,” “meeting visitors’ expectations,” and “local permits and taxes,” most agritourism operators across the region display willingness to expand their activity in the future. Overall, agritourism in the study area is characterized by significant structural and operational differences resulting in different future public support and regulatory needs.

The Recognition, Measurement and Disclosure of Biological Assets of Selected Agritourism Farms in Region IV-A, Philippines

The accounting standard for agriculture was introduced to harmonize the accounting procedures of entities engaged in agricultural production. This accounting standard for agriculture specifies the accounting treatment for biological assets and their biological transformation as well as how it must be reflected in the financial statement. However, there has been little awareness of applying the standard, especially in the agritourism industry. Agritourism is a young industry in the Philippines and is seen as a profitable revenue-generating investment. Therefore, education on financial management and recordkeeping must be given importance. This study assessed the accounting practices of selected agritourism farms in Region IV-A, Philippines, in accordance with the Accounting Standard for Agriculture, 41. The International Accounting Standard 41 and Philippine Accounting Standard 41 cover the recognition and measurements of biological assets and the presentation and disclosure of biological transformation. Interviews were conducted with 17 farms and their financial records were reviewed. The results show that most farms do not recognize and measure their biological assets per accounting standards. The recognition and measurement of biological assets are based on their current practices and are not influenced by the provision of the standards. Moreover, the type of business registration, i.e., corporation or sole proprietorship, affects the accounting practice of the farm. Their records do not accurately reflect the presentation and disclosure of biological assets and biological transformation. Thus, it is recommended that training, seminars, and workshops on IAS/PAS 41 must be conducted, and an application guideline must be developed to improve the accounting practices of agritourism farms and their compliance with the accounting standard.

RESEARCH ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE MAIN CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CHROMIC LUVISOLS FROM FARMS/HOUSEHOLDS AGRITOURISTIC IN DOLJ, IN THE PERIOD 1995-2021

The research addresses an original and complex topic concerning the evolution of the main chemical properties of the chromic luvisols in the southwestern part of Romania, in Dolj County, exploited under the specific cultivation conditions of agritourist farms. The novelty of this research consists in the multidisciplinary interpretation of the analyses on chemical properties and their influence on the quality and quantity of agricultural productions. In the second part, the main chemical properties of the chromic luvisols were analysed, both for the soil developed under woody vegetation, and both for the cultivated soils. Comparing the results of the analyses, we found that the natural fertility of the cultivated soil decreased considerably, which led to a significant deterioration of the main chemical properties, precisely due to cultivation. In the third part, a study was carried out on the presence and concentration of heavy metals in this type of soil, finding from the interpretation of the analyses that the values of all the studied elements fall below the alert threshold. he recommendation on the researched aspects is that in order to limit the degradation and even improve the main chemical properties of chromic luvisols, in the agritourism farms, an ecological agriculture must be practiced.

CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS OF AGRITOURISM OFFERINGS

Agritourism is a subject of growing interest among consumers, therefore, the key to the success of agritourism activities is to know the expectations and preferences of customers. The purpose of the study was to present the expectations of consumers of agritourism services, including the factors and elements of choosing this form of recreation, and what additional services and attractions would be most desirable. The empirical material was collected through desk research and a diagnostic survey using the CAWI technique. The surveys were conducted in March 2023 and the research sample consisted of 200 people. They showed that among the most important reasons for choosing an agritourism farm as a place to relax were the opportunity to spend more time with the family, the attractive price of services, and the possibility of taking advantage of the food offered by the host. On the other hand, respondents indicated a desire to rest in a peaceful environment and direct contact with nature as the main elements for choosing agritourism farms. In addition, the survey showed that the attractive price of the agritourism offer is a significant factor in encouraging people to take advantage of their stay on agritourism farms.

Logotype as a Tool in Marketing Communication: An Analysisof Websites of Agritourism Farms

A logotype can have a considerable impact on the customers’ perception of a given business, generate experiences and become a basis for assigning specific associations to the brand (positive, negative, promotional). The aim of the present study is to verify the function of logotypes of selected agritourism establishments, especially in view of the rationale for placing them on home pages of websites, and the marketing function they fulfill. Homepages (the main web pages) of websites of 10 agritourism farms with the dimensions of 1,245 × 570 pixels (and 24 -bit color depth) were analyzed. The study involved 170 respondents ( n = 170), whose task was to indicate a single element they perceive as positive, negative, and one that in their opinion best serves the promotional goal in each of the 10 homepages. Statistical analyses were performed using the R-CRAN software version 4.0.2. The study confirmed that there are both differences and similarities in the responses regarding logotypes of the agritourism farms studied. The perception of the logotype depends strongly on the education level and age of respondents. The analyses also confirmed that there is no linear relationship between the size of the logo and the frequency at which it is indicated as a promotional element. The use of a detailed factor analysis of logotypes (with the use of the click-tracking technique) on the websites of agritourism farms is an innovative approach and allows for a relatively comprehensive assessment of the perception of logotypes by potential consumers of offers available on the market.

Spending on farms ripples into the region: agritourism impacts

Introduction/PurposeAgritourism is gaining popularity throughout the United States and is an important part of rural and regional development. However, the economic contributions of agritourism, the interface of agriculture and tourism, has received limited attention in regional impact estimation studies. This study was purposed to estimates the regional economic impact of visitor spending in agritourism farms in Tennessee.MethodsPrimary survey data was used from sampled farms in Tennessee and secondary industry-level data. Economic impacts—direct, indirect, and induced—are estimated based on the economic input-output modeling application (IMPLAN) and the social accounting matrix framework.Result and discussionWe found that an estimated $65 million from visitors' direct spending in agritourism farms contributes to the total industry output of $118.54 million in Tennessee. Additionally, we presented total value added, jobs created, labor incomes, and taxes generated through direct, indirect, and induced effects attributable to visitors' spending in agritourism farms. Our findings indicate that the expansion of agritourism could bring economic development at both the farm and state level, particularly in states like Tennessee, where agriculture is an important industry and tourism is expanding.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN RURAL AREAS: EDUCATIONAL HOMESTEADS AND AGRITOURISM FARMS

The aim of this article is to characterise two forms of entrepreneurship in rural areas that are an alternative to agricultural activity and an additional source of income: educational homesteads and agri-tourism farms. The main research question was what are the reasons for using the offer of educational homesteads and agrotourism farms. A total of 158 respondents took part in the survey. The research was conducted in August-September 2021. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s Chi2 and Mann-Whitney U tests of the STATISTICA 13.1 PL programme were used to compile the results. Among the respondents surveyed, more than half of the respondents use the leisure offer at least once a year, more than one-fifth of the men and one-third of the women surveyed try to visit agro-tourism farms or educational homesteads several times a year. Among the most important reasons for choosing the offer of rural enterprises are: „peace and quiet” offered by the rural enterprises’ offers, followed by „rural scenery”, „opportunity to learn about local culture” and „family atmosphere”. Respondents spoke highly of the level of service provided in the enterprises they used, but in their free opinions suggested that it would be good to establish cooperation between agritourism farms and educational homesteads: combining relaxation in a rural setting with education in order to benefit as much as possible from their stay in rural areas.

Exploring New Opportunities for Agritourism in the Post-COVID-19 Era

COVID-19 has exerted a tremendous impact on tourism and hospitality businesses. Agritourism is no exception, and the impacts have been both negative and positive concerning the activity of agricultural production. Online direct selling of farm products is a good example of a positive outcome and has contributed to the resilience of agritourism, compensating for the revenue drop from tourism activity. This aspect is unique to agritourism farms. Since COVID-19 stimulated new activity, it is necessary to nurture skills that take advantage of these emerging opportunities in the post-COVID-19 era. Further, we must explore innovative avenues, such as rural e-hospitality, preventive medical effects, and compatible entrepreneurship between those engaged in individual agritourism and community-based tourism. For this purpose, we need to accumulate empirical evidence on these preventive medical effects provided by agritourism in the future.

Promoting Agritourism in Poland with Ready-Made Digital Components and Rustic Cyberfolklore

Online content can have unique cultural value. It is certainly the case for digital representations of folklore found on websites related to rural tourism, including agritourism. It is true for both archaic websites, copies of which are found in digital archives, and modern websites. The purpose of this paper is to assess the frequency of ready-made digital components and rustic folklore on agritourism farms’ websites. The exploration and comparative analysis involved 866 websites from two independent sets: (1) archaic websites, copies of which are available in the Internet Archive and (2) currently operational websites published in the Polish ccTLD (country code top-level domain). We employed HTML code exploration to verify the websites’ development technique and their selected characteristics, including content management systems (CMSs) and responsiveness. In the set of the ccTLD websites, we recorded such design attributes as the type of graphic layout, hero image, and parallax scrolling. The research demonstrated that ready-made folklore graphics were relatively rare among the investigated websites. Elements of rustic cyberfolklore were found only on 17 archaic websites (approx. 4%) and 52 ccTLD websites (approx. 12%). They were most often Kashubian patterns. The research suggests that rustic cyberfolklore is most often found on websites of agritourism farms in areas where local communities and ethnic groups are particularly active and strongly identify with regional traditions.

The Covid 19 pandemic and the attitudes of consumers of agritourism farms towards health and physical activity

The Covid 19 pandemic had a negative impact on various spheres of human life and the economy. Among them, tourism is mentioned, and mass tourism in particular. However, agritourism activity as a branch of the tourism sector is specific. Therefore, from the scientific and practical point of view, it turned out to be important to examine its impact on the behavior of consumers of agritourism services. From the point of view of tourists, agritourism has become an alternative to large clusters of people in popular, well-known, crowded destinations. Therefore, the following research questions arose: have the preferences of tourists regarding the place of rest changed under the influence of the Covid 19 pandemic and have the behavior of consumers of agritourism services changed in the context of physical activity and approach to health? The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of Covid 19 pandemic on consumers of agricultural farms in the context of health and physical activity in the hosts opinion. Research using the diagnostic survey method was carried out among the hosts of 60 agritourism farms in the Greater Poland Voivodeship in 2022. The results showed that although the hosts noticed a greater interest in agritourism and leisure in rural areas, they did not notice an increase in interest in physical activity and care for the health of their guests in connection with the Covid 19 pandemic.

FACTORS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGROTOURISM IN THE OPINION OF TOURISTS ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE LUBELSKIE VOIVODESHIP

The aim of the article is to define the factors that influence the choice of agritourism as a form of recreation. One of these factors may be the natural environment and its surroundings, which constitute an important element in the development of individual territorial areas. They also create opportunities for the development of individual forms of agricultural and non-agricultural activity in individual regions. The Lubelskie Voivodeship is a particularly interesting area for research related to the development of agritourism and analyzes related to this issue, both due to its territorial location and values ​​related to its individual areas, resulting from much less industrialization, as well as significant agricultural areas. In order to achieve the set goal, a questionnaire study was used with the use of the proprietary questionnaire. The research sample consisted of the inhabitants of the Lubelskie Voivodeship, who used agritourism services in the voivodeship in the last five years. The research was carried out in the period from March to May 2022 using the CAWI method. The obtained empirical material was developed using statistical methods with the use of the STATISTICA package for this purpose. The obtained research results indicated that one of the factors influencing decisions related to the form of activity are environmental values. A number of other important conditions include sanitary conditions and leisure infrastructure (e.g. access to a barbecue, sports equipment). The analysis of the results shows that agritourism farms do not fully use the opportunities created by their environmental surroundings and their resources.

The assessment of locavorism through the lens of agritourism: the pursuit of tourist’s ethereal experience

The popularity of local foods is increasing among the masses, especially tourists, and this has led to the inception of ‘locavorism’ where the consumers – termed locavores – look for sustainable local foods. We gauge tourists’ ideology of locavorism through the lens of agritourism in India as we found it crucial to highlight and enhance local foods as an addition to the tourists’ palate. A pre- and post-survey was conducted using repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to empirically assess 8 Agritourism farms’ tourists’ behaviour towards locavorism. Data was collected among tourists by using a self-report questionnaire during two phases (check-in and check-out; n = 344). Findings underscore that tourists’ intention to buy local food increases considerably after experiencing Agritourism. This study is the first of its kind to understand the perception of tourists towards India’s ethnic cuisine, its role in augmenting tourist experience, and in figuring out better ways to sustain local foods. The impact that Agritourism has on tourists’ behaviour towards locavorism and its continuing effects on the local economy needs to be studied by researchers. Future research can extend the concept of locavorism to service providers by understanding their perception of producing and marketing sustainable local foods.

Research on the Use of Aerial Scanning and Gis in the Design of Sustainable Agricultural Production Extension Works in an Agritourist Farm in Romania

The use of scanning technologies and digital photogrammetry with the help of drones in the field of agritourism activities in Romania is a topic of novelty, because all the data necessary for the implementation or development of such research can be collected very quickly and with maximum efficiency. The classic methods are cumbersome and with a high consumption of inputs, and human and financial resources. The case study presents a practical method of applying this technology in the case of the agritourist farm REMMAR, from Vâlcea county, Romania, which wants to expand its agricultural production capacity with ecological products. Graphic support was obtained by scanning or digitizing existing maps in the physical/printed format and by acquiring data of interest in the digital format by photogrammetric methods and aerial field scanning of the studied area. The original elements of the topic are: how to obtain images by using photogrammetric methods; developing the methodology of the research and the actual development, from setting the basic objectives to obtaining and presenting the final results; elaboration of the methodology of the needs analysis and designing the specific data model; designing and the practical implementation of the geographic information system in terms of structure, methods, and means of software implementation. The successful implementation of the system was achieved only under the conditions of the existence of a data model specific to the field of action, and first realizing the conceptual foundation of the applicable data model, which would allow the registration, storage, extraction, processing, and effective analysis of the data of interest. From a theoretical and practical point of view, the research has a unique character in Romania, because it presents for the first time the development of a standard methodology for the design, expansion, and promotion of agritourism farms. The built geographic information system (GIS) is an effective tool for the management and control of the quality and efficiency of works specific to sustainable agricultural production.

Agritourism Farms: A Great Way to Promote Local Products

Online communication (Web 2.0) is an important tool that can assist consumers in choosing a service and/or buying a product and, if used effectively, can help businesses to improve organizational performance. This is a study of the websites of a sample of 4,080 Italian agritourism farms, which focuses on the construction, utility, and relative maturity of these businesses. The study entails an exploration of how and where the organization of websites is effective for the promotion of the features of agritourism farms and is therefore essential for providing recommendations for decisionmakers in the Italian agritourism sector. To test the study hypotheses, an extended model of internet commerce adoption (eMICA) is used, which is adapted to include the information reported on each agritourism farm website. Chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) helps to analyze the differences in website design and vacation types on offer at the provincial level. The eMICA highlights the utility of using interactivity to measure the relative maturity of agritourism farm websites. In contrast, the CHAID decision tree shows how the diversification of vacation types is an important strategy for selling local agrifood products, especially to farm accommodation guests.

Parameterization in the Analysis of Changes in the Rural Landscape on the Example of Agritourism Farms in Kłodzko District (Poland)

The European Landscape Convention (2006) indicates that landscape conservation is as important as the protection of the overall environment. Although the boundaries between urban and rural areas in many countries are blurring, the rural landscape is still perceived as a valuable landscape artefact. Traditional rural landscapes have undergone significant transformations over the past few decades. The authors attempt to analyze factors causing apparent changes in the rural landscape, based on the example of agritourism farms in Kłodzko District, Lower Silesia. The changes taking place in Poland after 1989 resulted in reduced profitability of agricultural production. This was why small farms stopped using land for agricultural production. Agritourism has become one of the forms of business activity. Therefore, it became necessary to adapt farms to a new function. The 37 agritourism farms registered in rural and rural-urban municipalities of Kłodzko District have been randomly selected for the survey. The research has shown the extent of changes related to the transformation of agricultural farms into agritourism ones. Six areas (categories) where changes took place have been identified based on the analysis of collected data. The authors have included the collected data in the parameterization of surveyed agritourism farms, taking into account: the condition of the agricultural farm before introducing its new role (0) and the present condition, with an agritourism function (1). The complete linkage clustering (the maximum distance) known as cluster analysis was used to examine the variables in terms of farm change. The aim was to select outstanding units from the research sample for further research as case studies.

The contributions of agritourism to the local food system

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the contributions of agritourism towards the local food system (LFS) by studying three small-scale agritourism farms in Brunei. More specifically, it looks at the role of farm agribusinesses and heritagisation efforts of indigenous farmers.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to collect data. This method is widely seen as more suitable to gain the unexplored perspectives of the agriculture community at the three agritourism farms.FindingsThe results suggest that the agritourism farms contribute to mild local food activism through their small-scale production of sustainable food products. Another significant finding affirms that these farms also contribute to preserving ethno-culinary heritage through heritagisation of indigenous food and their ancestral agriculture knowledge. The farms’ involvement in agribusiness and efforts in food heritagisation contributes towards a more sustainable LFS and stimulates the rural area as a reinvigorated space for agritourism transactions.Originality/valueThere are lack of research on the contributions of agritourism towards the LFS, especially in Brunei. This study will provide evidence of the overlooked significance of agribusiness and heritagisation efforts conducted by the local farms.

A Study on Customers Preferences towards Landscape Features of Agri-tourism in Tamil Nadu

The agricultural landscape is the base for agri-tourism development. This paper focuses on customer preferences for agricultural landscape features when participating in agri-tourism. The prime objective of the study includes identifying the attractive features of agricultural landscapes and comparing those features across a category of customer's annual family income, family size, tour frequency and levels of farming and linkage. Data were collected in farm resorts located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Forty customers were randomly selected as respondents in ten resorts with total arrival of 400 sample customers using a well-developed questionnaire. General characteristics of respondents and customers preferences towards landscape features were collected. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) were conducted to know about the comparison of selected variables with landscape features in agri-tourism. Results show that customers liked mostly natural features followed by agricultural and cultural features. MANOVA shows significant differences across selected segments such as annual family income, family size, tour frequency and levels of farming and linkage. Imparting customer-preferred features like more natural features will increase the customer visit to agri-tourism. By this study, agri-tourism farms can increase their customer level of satisfaction by knowing the desired needs of the customer.

Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Agritourism Farm Stays and Their Safety during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Poland

The article presents reasons for the choices and opinions of tourists regarding rest and its safety in agritourism farms in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. We used the diagnostic survey method. We distributed the questionnaire via the Internet on Facebook in thematic groups related to tourism. Facebook respondents were also asked to provide a link to the questionnaire to their tourism-active friends (snowball sampling). We conducted the survey in January 2021. Research has shown that well-educated and well-off residents of cities most often chose agritourism. The main reason for the choice is the possibility of rest in peace and quiet, natural values, and an attractive price. Notably, during the pandemic, an important reason for choosing agritourism was to convince tourists that the risk of coronavirus infection was relatively low. This is also evidenced by the fact that most of them visited an agritourism farm for the first time during the pandemic. The attractiveness of staying on an agritourism farm was assessed highly (almost all respondents expressed their willingness to take advantage of this form of leisure again). This is due to the high evaluation of the quality of services provided, the offer’s attractiveness, and price competitiveness.

The role of origin products and networking on agritourism performance: The case of Tuscany

Recently agritourism has been strongly argued as a tool for rural development and investigating determinants that boost its performance is of paramount importance for policy design. This study examined the impact on agritourism performance of origin products (i.e. products whose specific quality is essentially attributable to geographical origin) and of participation in networks.Quantitative data from a sample of 292 agritourism farms in Tuscany, Italy, together with qualitative information gathered from personal interviews, are considered. To analyse quantitative data, the structural equation modeling methodology is implemented.The core contribution of this study is an empirical examination of the interplay effects of origin products, networking and agritourism performance. The expected positive effects of origin products on agritourism performance are significantly supported by our analysis. Results highlight that those agritourism farms that participates in networks will experience a positive performance. Networking mediates the relationship between origin products and performance. Research and policy implications from these findings are discussed.

Influencing Factors on Customers’ Decision to Visit Agritourism Farms: A Case Study in Viet Nam

The research analyzes the factors affecting the tourists’ decision to visit agricultural farms in Thai Nguyen province. Three hundred tourists from 10 agritourism farms were surveyed, and the results showed that there are five factors affecting the decision of tourists in order of importance, including: “Motivation to travel” has the greatest influence with the coefficient β = 0.290, followed by “Destination image” with the coefficient β = 0.288, the factor “Destination information” with the coefficient β = 0.247 and the group “Other motives” with the coefficient β = 0.229. The factor group, “Infrastructure of the destination”, has the lowest influence with the coefficient β = 0.166. Therefore, solutions to promote the development of agricultural tourism in Thai Nguyen need to pay attention and guide people to cultivate organically, preserve the environment and natural landscape, and create unique experiences for visitors. Authorities, local people, and travel agencies need to have seminars, develop specific agricultural tourism products, and apply information technology in advertising destination images to tourists.