A new form of tourism with an environmental approach

Agritourism is the launch of activities aiming at the economic and social development of rural and country regions in general. It combines agricultural or rural settings and products within a tourism experience.

In the beginning, agritourism (often found as ecotourism or rural tourism) started to promote rural activities and agricultural practices. In nowadays, it acquires a highly acceptable environmental protection concept. Offering market-linked long-term solutions, ecotourism provides effective economic incentives for conserving and enhancing bio-cultural diversity and helps protect the natural and cultural heritage. One definition of agritourism was given by Weaver and Fennell (1997): “Rural enterprises which incorporate both a working farm environment and a commercial tourism component”.

While ‘nature-based tourism’ is simply described as travel to natural places, ecotourism is a type of nature-based tourism that benefits local communities and destinations environmentally, culturally and economically. It works by promoting small-scale, local production and touristic activities. Agritourism functions as a mechanism against urbanization, spreading the message of environmental protection.

The last three decades have seen a significant increase in the number of farm families diversifying their farm production. Moreover, agritourism is intrinsically connected to sustainable development, hence environmental protection. It offers relevant information and advice on how travelers can minimize their impact on the ecosystem as well as how they can contribute to the protection of fragile ecosystems. This target can be achieved by promoting and supporting:

• moderate and small-scale tourist services,
• local agricultural production,
• the manufacture and trade of traditional products,
• local culture and natural wealth.

In general, human population has lived a rural lifestyle through most of history.  The world’s population, however, is quickly becoming urbanized as people migrate to the cities.

Urbanization and population shifts

Developed nations have a higher percentage of urban residents than less developed countries. Cities are perceived as places with more opportunities, higher salaries, better services and lifestyles. These are the main motives attracting people from rural areas to the cities. This scenario leaves farmers sometimes with no alternative but to sell their land to a foreign investor or a domestic-owned enterprise, and move to the cities, where the farmer hopes to have a better life.

Urbanization is occurring rapidly in many less developed countries, and it is expected that most urban growth will occur in less developed countries during the next decades.

The best current estimate from the United Nations Population Fund indicates that more than 100 million people were living outside their countries of birth or citizenship in 1998. Human health in the cities is strongly dependent on the status of urban soils. “Strong compaction, contamination by wastes and atmospheric depositions, loss of organic matter, changes in soil reaction, structural degradation and infection by pathogenic microorganisms are only a few of the many adverse processes that affect and modify the ecological functions of soils in urban areas”. Some of the major effects of rapid urban growth are the following:

• increase of traffic
• elimination of local resources
• destruction of agricultural land, parks and open space
• air and water pollution

These and other reasons have induced farm families to explore diversification of farm production in order to maintain family farms.  According to some official data, Australia is one of the most urbanized nations of the globe, with the percentage of people living in big cities almost reaching 85%. Pollution rates are increased by the concentration in big cities and adoption of an urban way of living (eg. use of car).