The idea of living sustainably is becoming more popular, and it’s changing how people travel. City folks aren’t just sticking to old-fashioned sightseeing anymore; they’re getting into agritourism.
This change happens because both city life and rural areas need each other. Life in the city can be really hectic and stressful, so people crave a peaceful escape. Agritourism is perfect for this—it lets them get close to nature and really experience what life in the countryside is like.
The meaning of agritourism does not just rely on the shift from mere sightseeing to immersive experiences. This perfec alignment of urban demand with rural supply is driving agritourism from being a niche activity to gradually developing into a new form of tourism with broad prospects.
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What Is the Meaning of Agritourism？
Knowing the meaning of agritourism lets farm owners better manage their farms and increase farm income. Therefore, understanding the definition of agritourism and the innovation it brings before developing farm tourism can help farm owners develop new projects and seek more sources of income.
Definition of Agritourism
Agritourism is a comprehensive tourism form that combines tourism with the agriculture industry. Farm owners can carry out diversified agritourism activities using farm resources to show tourists the agricultural production process, products, and related culture, providing them with services such as sightseeing, experience, education, leisure, accommodation, and catering.
Differences Between Farm Tourism and Traditional Tourism
Traditional tourism mainly focuses on visiting famous urban landmarks like city attractions, historical sites, and museums. These places are more commercialized and crowded compared to rural areas. During the trip, guides explain the history to help tourists understand the city better.
Tourists mainly observe and enjoy the sights, so traditional tourism is more about sightseeing and shopping. The profits mainly go to big hotels, travel agencies, and other businesses involved in tourism.
Unlike its counterpart, farm tourism happens in rural areas or on farms. It offers a quieter and more peaceful environment than cities. Tourists can not only enjoy the natural scenery but also take part in agricultural activities, which helps them learn more about local culture and have a deeper experience.
This kind of tourism allows visitors to learn about agriculture and environmental protection naturally. The money earned from farm tourism mostly goes to local farmers and communities.
Why Modern Rural Tourism Needs Farm Tourism
Developing the modern tourism economy can not only promote ecological protection and sustainable development, but also meet the travel needs of urban residents. For farm owners, operating farm tourism can reduce dependence on traditional agricultural sales and achieve diversified income.
Meeting the Back-to-Nature Needs of Urban Travelers
City noise from cars, phones, and gadgets is always around us, making people feel stressed and uncomfortable. In contrast, the peaceful and slow life in the countryside gives city folks a break and helps them relax.
Being close to nature gives them a full experience with sight, sound, and smell. It helps them move from city life to nature, which can lower stress and help them feel better.
For families, rural trips to a farm are also good for kids to learn biology better through hands-on farming experience. Kids can see how plants grow and animals act up close in nature.
Besides being a great way for city folks to relax, the meaning of agritourism also teaches people about nature, perfect for those who miss the countryside while living in the city.
Promoting the Diversification of the Rural Economy
Farm owners can attract tourists by creating unique attractions. For instance, they can integrate farming with technology in one space for exhibition. Visitors can enter this park, interact with the exhibits, and pay an entry fee, which directly increases the farm’s income.
Through the exhibition, tourists can see the entire process from planting and harvesting crops to turning them into products, from exhibitions to sales, allows tourists to become more interested in agricultural products, boosts sales, and adds more value to the crops.
Additionally, farm owners can organize themed activities based on the family size of tourists, such as parent-child tours and craft courses, which use VR or AR technologies to create simulated scenes of planting and crafting to attract families.
Also, there are some advanced agricultural technologies like using drones for agricultural patrols, which can arouse tourists’ interest and pay the fee for experiencing it personally .
Introducing intelligent farming equipment not only improves the efficiency of rural industry but also promotes the development of rural e-commerce, so that the rural economy doesn’t solely rely on traditional farming.
Agritourism Ideas Feasible Business Models
Good agritourism ideas can attract more urban tourists and directly drive the development of farm economies. Therefore, exploring feasible agritourism business models can affect the growth of farm economies.
Experiential Farming Activities
To help tourists fully enjoy rural life, farm owners can try to organize hands-on farm experiences. With staff guidance, visitors can learn about basic agricultural knowledge such as crop growth cycles, planting techniques, and ecosystems. Then tourists can harvest fruits and vegetables to directly feel the joys and hardships of agricultural production. To make the activity more unforgettable, staff can lead tourists to make this fresh into snacks or juice, adding excitement to the trip.
Learning how to interact with animals is another great option. After being taught by the staff about feeding methods and animal behaviour, tourists can feed animals and take photos during the interaction process.
Each village can host unique events based on local specialties. In wine regions, for instance, the farm can hold a wine recommendation meeting or a wine festival. Visitors can join in the entire winemaking process, which includes picking grapes, sorting, fermenting, aging, and then bottled. This behind-the-scenes of production often sparks citizens’ interest in purchasing these special products.
Direct Marketing of Agricultural Products
Farm-provided natural and organic agricultural products are highly attractive to tourists. The farm can set up a small agricultural product market and stalls, focusing on selling fresh, natural, and organic agricultural products as a specialty. This project meets the needs of tourists who want to cook with their own personally selected natural ingredients during their trip, offering potential profit margins.
For tourists who wish to taste natural ingredients on the spot, it is also possible to collaborate with local restaurants to promote dishes with local characteristics.
Education and Research Cooperation
Farmers can design a tiered membership system based on the local ecological environment and the tourist groups that the agricultural features can attract. Depending on different customer segments, they can categorize members into basic members, advanced members, and VIP members, and offer corresponding discounts, exclusive activities, or entry benefits for each level of membership.
The farm can work with different social groups to hold special talks. It can team up with schools to teach science through hands-on activities, with research centers to give science lectures, and with environmental groups to talk about farm conservation. Members who visit the farm can share their experiences, which helps spread the word and promotes tourism.
Seasonal Thematic Activities
Since the agritourism business is quite dependent on seasonal climate, farm owners can take advantage of this characteristic to set up seasonal themed activities, turning them into limited-time IPs and creating a unique brand identity.
The change of season scenery allows the farm to arrange planting events in spring, fruit and vegetable picking in summer, harvest celebrations in autumn, and ice and snow activities in winter.
In addition, the collaboration between farms and wedding companies can also create a unique wedding photo spot. Based on this IP, corresponding wedding service time-limited packages can be designed, and limited edition souvenirs based on different themed IPs can be launched to leave an unforgettable, exclusive memory for the tourists.
Innovative Practices in the Farm Stay Model
To allow tourists to engage in various project activities on the farm, the farm owners need to consider how to make them stay longer. This comes down to the farm’s accommodation experience.
Innovative farm accommodations can not only attract visitors who come specifically for that reason but also keep them lingering, increasing their stay time and enhancing the farm’s profit potential.
Main Types of Farm Accommodation
Traditional farm stays usually include two types: homestays and eco-cabins.
Homestays are often old farmhouses, barns, or warehouses that have been fixed up to look nice while keeping their traditional style and showing local culture. But since fixing them up costs a lot, they’re usually more expensive and located in remote areas. If the place is hard to get to, it might not be ideal for short trips.
Eco-cabins are made from local natural materials like wood, so they’re good for the environment. Their design fits well with nature, preferring to use sunlight resources and keep indoors with fresh air to adapt to a sustainable standard. But while they look great and blend in with nature, they can age quickly and cost a lot to maintain.
Using Glitzcamp Tents Products as a New Accommodation Option
Besides common accommodation, innovative dome tents are getting popular in agritourism. Glitzcamp’s dome tents are made of waterproof PVC, so visitors can stay at farms even in the rainy seasons. The tent‘s dome design and the steel frames make it strong enough to handle wind well.
These dome tents have a pre-installed modular design, so they are easy and quick to install and remove. They can be set up flexibly according to different farm areas for various themed activities throughout the year.
Glitzcamp can design tent interiors according to the farm’s local geography and weather, add eco-friendly heating or cooling systems if necessary, which match with the natural characteristics of agritourism. This way, visitors can have a nice rural experience with comfortable accommodation.
Final Thoughts
Facing fierce market competition, farm owners seek high-value agritourism business models. Agritourism offers diversified income for farmers and boosts farm profitability, which makes the meaning of agritourism more vital to modern rural tourism.
It is worth mentioning that tent accommodations are playing a key role in boosting the growth of the agritourism business. Glitzcamp has been deeply rooted in the industry for many years and has a professional team.
We have successfully designed customized tents for clients on multiple occasions. If you want to learn more about dome tents, please feel free to let us know what you think and what advice you need from us!
