Rural Farms as a Strategy for the Development of Agritourism: A Study in the City of Milagro, Ecuador
Abstract
This article aims to evaluate the current conditions of rural farms located in Milagro-Ecuador to analyze the importance of development of agritourism in this city. The study was carried out through the application of a questionnaire to know the perspectives of the owners of tourist farms. The findings showed that most of the tourist farms in the city are managed by the family, main activity of the farms is still agriculture, however they have decided to invest in tourism as an activity of additional economic income, that indicates that farm-based tourism in farming offers some potential to generate supplemental revenues. This study provides useful information for understand this kind of business and its implications in order to facilitate the integrated and Sustainable Tourism Planning of this city.
References
[2] Budiasa, I. W., and Ambarawati, I. G. A. A. 2014. Community based agro-tourism as an innovative integrated farming system development model towards sustainable agriculture and tourism in Bali. Journal of the International Society for Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences, 20(1), 29-40.
[3] Carvache-Franco, M., et al. 2022. Sociodemographic aspects and their relationship with motivations, satisfaction and loyalty in ecotourism: a study in Costa Rica. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 12(3): 209-224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-12-2020-0184
[4] Carvache-Franco, O., Carvache-Franco, M., Carvache-Franco, W., and Martin-Moreno, O. 2023. Topics and destinations in comments on YouTube tourism videos during the Covid-19 pandemic. Plos one, 18(3), e0281100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281100
[5] Carvache-Franco, W., Carvache-Franco, M., Carvache-Franco, O., and Hernández-Lara, A. B. 2020. Motivation and segmentation of the demand for coastal and marine destinations. Tourism Management Perspectives, 34, 100661. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100661
[6] Choo, H. 2012. Agritourism: Development and research. Journal of Tourism Research & Hospitality, 1(2): 1-2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4172/2324-8807.1000e106
[7] Choo, H., and Jamal, T. 2009. Tourism on organic farms in South Korea: a new form of ecotourism? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 17(4): 431-454. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580802713440
[8] Choo, H., and Park, D. B. 2022. The role of agritourism farms’ characteristics on the performance: A case study of agritourism farm in South Korea. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 23(3): 464-477. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15256480.2020.1769520
[9] Clarke, J. 1999. Marketing structures for farm tourism: beyond the individual provider of rural tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 7(1): 26-47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09669589908667325
[10] De Oliveira Santos, E., de Souza Valentini, A., Scherer, L., Thomé-Ortiz, H., and Spindler, M. M. 2014. El papel del turismo en el espacio rural de São José dos Ausentes, Brasil. El Periplo Sustentable, (27).
[11] Dernoi, L. A. 1983. Farm tourism in Europe. Tourism Management, 4(3): 155-166. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(83)90060-2
[12] Ferniza, H. 2017. Between the Potentials and Constraints in Tourism Development in West Sumatra. Urban and Regional Development, 13(1): 55-66.
[13] Hjalager, A. M. 1996. Agricultural diversification into tourism: Evidence of a European Community development programme. Tourism Management, 17(2): 103-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(95)00113-1
[14] Hossein, G. O., Alipour, H., and Dalir, S. 2014. An entrepreneurial tourism project through agro-tourism farm in Iran. Journal of Sustainable Development Studies, 6(1).
[15] Ilbery, B., et al. 1998. Farm-based tourism as an alternative farm enterprise: A case study from the Northern Pennines, England. Regional Studies, 32(4): 355. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343409850117816
[16] Ismail, A., Nainggolan, M. F., and Turnip, A. 2020. Innovationto speed up the Developmentof Rose Picking Agro-Tourism in Gunung Sari. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 466, No. 1, p. 012035). IOP Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/466/1/012035
[17] Kastenholz, E., and Sparrer, M. 2009. Rural dimensions of the commercial home. In Commercial Homes in Tourism (pp. 158-170). Routledge.
[18] Knowd, I. 2006. Tourism as a mechanism for farm survival. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14(1): 24-42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580608668589
[19] Kubickova, M., and Campbell, J. M. 2020. The role of government in agro-tourism development: a top-down bottom-up approach. Current Issues in Tourism, 23(5): 587-604. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1551338
[20] Lane, B. 1994. What is rural tourism? Journal of sustainable tourism, 2(1-2): 7-21. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/09669589409510680
[21] Likert, R. 1932. A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of psychology.
[22] McGehee, N. G. 2007. An agritourism systems model: A Weberian perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 15(2): 111-124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2167/jost634.0
[23] McGehee, N. G., Kim, K., and Jennings, G. R. 2007. Gender and motivation for agri-tourism entrepreneurship. Tourism Management, 28(1): 280-289. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2005.12.022
[24] Ministry of Tourism 2019. National Tourism Plan 2030. Retrieved on July 13th. Available at: https://www.turismo.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/PLAN-NACIONAL-DE-TURISMO-2030-v.-final-Registro-Oficial-sumillado-comprimido_compressed.pdf
[25] Ministry of Tourism 2020. Agrotourism would benefit the reactivation in Ecuador. Retrieved on July 31th, Available at: https://www.turismo.gob.ec/el-agroturismo-beneficiaria-a-la-reactivacion-en-ecuador/
[26] National Institute of Statistics and Census 2010, Population and demography. Retrieved on June 26th, Available at: http://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/censo-de-poblacion-y-vivienda/
[27] Nematpour, M., and Khodadadi, M. 2021. Farm tourism as a driving force for socioeconomic development: a benefits viewpoint from Iran. Current Issues in Tourism, 24(2): 247-263. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1711712
[28] Ruiz, L. M., Rosales, V. M. G., and Valencia, M. A. A. 2019. ‘Turismo rural’como estrategia para el desarrollo turístico del Valle de Mexicali, Baja California. El Periplo Sustentable, (37): 141-172. Available at: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=193467294006
[29] Saxena, G., Clark, G., Oliver, T., and Ilbery, B. 2007. Conceptualizing integrated rural tourism. Tourism Geographies, 9(4): 347-370. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616680701647527
[30] Sharpley, R., and Jepson, D. 2011. Rural tourism: A spiritual experience? Annals of Tourism Research, 38(1): 52-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.05.002
[31] Sharpley, R., and Vass, A. 2006. Tourism, farming and diversification: An attitudinal study. Tourism Management, 27(5): 1040-1052. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2005.10.025
[32] Veeck, G., Che, D., and Veeck, A. 2006. America's changing farmscape: A study of agricultural tourism in Michigan. The Professional Geographer, 58(3): 235-248. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9272.2006.00565.x
[33] Weaver, D. B., and Fennell, D. A. 1997. The vacation farm sector in Saskatchewan: A profile of operations. Tourism Management, 18(6): 357-365. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(97)00039-3
[34] Weiler, B., and Hall, C. M. 1992. Special interest tourism. Belhaven Press. World Tourism Organization (2020). Rural Tourism. Retrieved on July 13th, from https://www.unwto.org/rural-tourism.
[35] ***World Tourism Organization 2020. Rural Tourism. Retrieved on July 13th, from https://www.unwto.org/rural-tourism
Copyright© 2024 The Author(s). Published by ASERS Publishing 2024. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of CC-BY 4.0 license.