Rural tourism and agritourism

Scroll down for posts that have been tagged with “rur­al tour­ism and agri­t­our­ism”; travel & tour­ism per­tain­ing to non-urb­an, espe­cially agri­cul­tur­al, areas.

Rur­al tour­ism and agri­t­our­ism are two rap­idly grow­ing seg­ments with­in the tour­ism industry that provide vis­it­ors with the oppor­tun­ity to exper­i­ence authen­t­ic, rur­al life­styles and agri­cul­tur­al activities.

Rur­al tour­ism encom­passes a wide range of activ­it­ies, includ­ing hik­ing, camp­ing, hunt­ing, fish­ing, and sight­see­ing. Agri­t­our­ism, on the oth­er hand, involves vis­it­ing work­ing farms and par­ti­cip­at­ing in farm-related activ­it­ies such as pick­ing fruit, milk­ing cows, and learn­ing about sus­tain­able farm­ing practices.

Both forms of tour­ism offer a unique and reward­ing exper­i­ence for trav­el­lers seek­ing to dis­con­nect from the hustle and bustle of city life and con­nect with nature.

One of the main bene­fits of rur­al tour­ism and agri­t­our­ism is the oppor­tun­ity for vis­it­ors to learn about tra­di­tion­al rur­al and agri­cul­tur­al prac­tices. These activ­it­ies allow trav­el­lers to gain a bet­ter appre­ci­ation of the land and its inhab­it­ants. By inter­act­ing with farm­ers and loc­als, vis­it­ors can gain insights into the chal­lenges and rewards of rur­al life, and learn about the import­ant role agri­cul­ture plays in sus­tain­ing rur­al communities.

In addi­tion to the edu­ca­tion­al value, rur­al tour­ism and agri­t­our­ism can also be an eco­nom­ic boon for rur­al com­munit­ies. By offer­ing these exper­i­ences, farm­ers and oth­er rur­al busi­nesses can diver­si­fy their income streams and pro­mote their products to a wider audi­ence. These activ­it­ies can also help to cre­ate jobs and stim­u­late loc­al eco­nom­ies, par­tic­u­larly in regions that are strug­gling with pop­u­la­tion decline and outmigration.

How­ever, rur­al tour­ism and agri­t­our­ism are not without their chal­lenges. These activ­it­ies must be man­aged care­fully to ensure that they do not neg­at­ively impact the loc­al envir­on­ment, wild­life, or rur­al way of life. Prop­er plan­ning and man­age­ment are essen­tial to ensure that vis­it­ors are respect­ful of loc­al cus­toms and prac­tices, and that the tour­ism activ­it­ies are sus­tain­able and do not harm the nat­ur­al resources of the area.

Tags are inform­al. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog tries not to get bogged down with ter­min­o­logy and defin­i­tions. If you dis­agree with tags applied (or not applied) to a post, feel free to com­ment on it or any post you think has been incor­rectly or insuf­fi­ciently tagged. “GT” encour­ages good-faith debate and discussion.

Why are travel & tourism workers growing mushrooms in rural Sri Lanka?

December 10, 2020
3 Comments

Oyster mushroom abstraction. Image (CC0) via Pikrepo.

Susan Eardly and Dinesh Pathir­ana are empower­ing rur­al Sri Lankan fam­il­ies pre­vi­ously reli­ant on tour­ism income to devel­op sus­tain­able busi­nesses. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Ms Eardly dis­cusses funguses and answers the ques­tion: “Why fungi?”  (Thanks to “GT” Friend Richard Shep­ard for the intro­duc­tion.) Sri Lanka, the trop­ic­al island set like a pearl in the Indian […]

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How will rural tourism in India survive the COVID crisis?

November 17, 2020
One Comment

India tea plantation. By 12019 (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/tea-plantation-landscape-scenic-2220475/

Social entre­pren­eur Kumar Anubhav writes about the exist­en­tial prob­lems facing rur­al tour­ism stake­hold­ers in India, and the sur­viv­al and sus­tain­ab­il­ity solu­tion he and his friends are rolling out as Pro­ject TraViv­al; the sub­ject of this “Good Tour­ism” Insight. COVID-19 has not only changed the way we work, live, and think, but it has also changed […]

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How a small South African backpackers is making a big community-based difference

February 28, 2020
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Elundini Backpackers homestead. Image supplied by author.

The Hogs­back region in the East­ern Cape of South Africa attracts vis­it­ors to its indi­gen­ous forests, lush moun­tain­ous land­scape, and breath­tak­ing hikes. Lieve Claessen and part­ner Elli­ot Son­jani oper­ate Elundini Back­pack­ers in a rur­al com­munity at the edge of Hogs­back. In this won­der-filled “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Lieve shares some of the ongo­ing chal­lenges facing Elundini […]

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How a community-based tourism & homestay network empowers women in Nepal

February 4, 2020

Women who manage the Panauti Community Homestay with some members of the CHN team

Tour­ism impact and sus­tain­ab­il­ity expert Aady­aa Pandey dis­cusses a few of the chal­lenges over­come by Nepal’s Com­munity Homestay Net­work (CHN). And she cel­eb­rates its pos­it­ive impacts. Thanks to “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner Second Look World­wide for invit­ing Aady­aa to con­trib­ute this inspir­ing “GT” Insight about a social enter­prise that arose from a mod­est yet wildly […]

Read More How a community-based tourism & homestay network empowers women in Nepal

How bees, trees, & tourism reduce human-wildlife conflict in Uganda

January 7, 2020

Looking relaxed. Chimp, Kibale, Uganda by Rod Waddington (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/rod_waddington/23355595510/

James Nadi­ope estab­lished the Africa Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Care Found­a­tion to address the prob­lem of human-wild­life con­flicts tak­ing place around Kibale Nation­al Park in west­ern Uganda. AST­CF’s first pro­ject was at Kahangi vil­lage, where com­munity con­sulta­tion led to the emer­gence of both tra­di­tion­al and mod­ern solu­tions to old prob­lems. One of those solu­tions was, of course, […]

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Sustainable rural tourism project in Georgia seeks crowdfunding support

May 21, 2019

A distant view. Kazbegi, Georgia. Photo credit Richard Shepard / SRDI.

With annu­al vis­it­or arrivals to Geor­gia expec­ted to more than double the pop­u­la­tion of the former Soviet repub­lic, “Good Tour­ism” Insights con­trib­ut­or Richard Shep­ard is work­ing to mit­ig­ate the neg­at­ive effects of over­tour­ism in rur­al com­munit­ies. Tour­ism in Geor­gia is approach­ing 8 mil­lion vis­it­ors annu­ally and is pro­jec­ted to reach 11 mil­lion in a few […]

Read More Sustainable rural tourism project in Georgia seeks crowdfunding support