Three Viewpoints on the Advantages of Agritourism
By Andrew Wilson
Agritourism is a rising star in the tourism industry. It’s a welcome development since, like other industries, tourism needs a shot to boost itself regularly. Without such a boost, it will become jaded in its approaches and marketing. To create this boost and maximize the advantages of agritourism, tourism and farmers have to connect. The merging of the two industries – agriculture and tourism – is a godsend to farm communities because this opens up jobs for the rural youth and the unemployed. Moreover, with agritourism, rural life gets some livening up (which urban tourists provide) and in turn, urbanites find get-away places from stressful city life. It really is a win-win situation.
Several agritourism models have successfully resulted in rural population growth because young residents started going home when job opportunities were hand. The shift or merging, however, is not as seamless as it seems. Just as like any burgeoning industry, agritourism has kinks that need to be ironed out. The following viewpoints may lend clarity on the advantages of agritourism:
Land Heroes
Where would the world be without the farmers? Farming is still the backbone of society; never mind that it is now the 21st century and industrial and technological advances often come too fast for ordinary people to absorb.
To encourage farmers to go into agritourism, there must be a concerted effort to help rural communities bring up to standard the quality of their services and the processing of their goods. This will ensure that their produce and their processed goods can compete in the developing consumer market for agri-based products. The added income from being competitive may be just the necessary incentive to motivate the farmers along this line.
Rural Economies
Pouring all investments into cities is foolhardy since the growing scarcity of resources like water may soon take its toll and harm the urban sustainability. It is far wiser to spread investment to rural areas that have the resource capacity to meet the requirements of big businesses. Furthermore, such diversification will bring trade to local entrepreneurs and encourage the growth of small industries.
Developing rural resources in terms of technology and coupling this with capability enhancement can prepare the locals for financial opportunities that demand new skills. These contribute to the development of a healthy and sustainable rural economy.
Tourism Track
The responsibility of developing the agritourism industry lies with the Tourism Council, Bureau, or concerned line agency. This responsibility includes acting proactively in terms of planning, policy-making, and putting in management systems that will yield advantages for agritourism.
Policies and programs should include facility development, product development and branding, and marketing. Agritourism operators should also be encouraged to organize themselves or even create loose alliances where they can learn from one another. These alliances will allow them to participate in conceptualizing innovative programs, to take part in enacting policies, and support one another.
The Bottom Line
Considering that agritourism is a relatively new industry, farm operators and employees need all the help they can get. Policy makers have to remember that farmers are farmers first, and budding rural business operators second. They may have the land but not the skills to make agribusiness viable.
Because of this, organizational alliances for agritourism are important so that issues and concerns can be discussed, and strategies can be worked on. On the ground, these alliances are really a support group outside of the governmental system and it is beneficial for all parties to have these support systems in place.
Policies and programs should include facility development, product development and branding, and marketing. Agritourism operators should also be encouraged to organize themselves or even create loose alliances where they can learn from one another.
