Agrotourism

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term agrotourism or rural tourism refers to a tourist branch with vacation and leisure activities in the rural and rural environment. It is traditional to involve holidaymakers in agricultural operations and to have contact with animals, which particularly addresses families with children. Newer offers include activities such as guided trail riding and simplified golfing , but also alternative small-scale farming.

Basics

Agrotourism is a tourist offer in rural areas, which includes stays with adventure character on or in the vicinity of an agricultural enterprise, is mainly organized by farmers and enables agriculture to earn an additional income. The basic idea is the proximity to the host family, which gives the vacationer personal contact and insight into everyday life in the country.

In Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the Bavarian Alps and other German holiday regions such as the Black Forest, tourism is a central economic factor in rural areas and is traditionally integrated into the agricultural environment. For the full-time farmer in particular, this is a possibility of additional income that can also be realized in a limited household without excessive investment. The advantage is that the typical courtyard of the Central European area was designed not only for the family but also for a few servants, and therefore already has the space necessary to accommodate house guests. The provider should note that this branch of business also requires working hours accordingly. Due to the involvement in the company and the contact with the host's family, the guests need time accordingly.

The division now has its own tourism profile. “Country vacation” increasingly stands for the combination of active relaxation, nature experience and rural culture, as well as wellness in a rural environment. In addition, rural vacations are no longer offered solely by farms, but in tourism regions are carried by a broad segment of the population, increasingly also from lateral entrants to professional providers of the hotel industry .

marketing

The usual marketing names are:

  • Germany: rural vacation , vacation on the farm , vacation on the farm
  • Austria: rural vacation , vacation on the farm , vacation in the country
  • Switzerland: rural holidays , farm holidays , sleep in the straw , rural tourism , agriturismo
  • South Tyrol: Roter Hahn , vacation on the farm
  • Czech Republic: Venkovský cestovní ruch , Venkovská turistika , Agroturistika
  • France: rural tourism , agri-tourisme
  • Italy: agriturismo
  • Poland: Agroturystyka
  • Spain: Agroturismo , Turismo rural
  • Croatia: Agroturizam
  • Moldova: Agripensions
  • Greece: Agrotouristiko + paradosiako katalimata / xenones

“Farm and Country Holidays” in Germany

Advert for Farm Holidays

organization

The Federal Working Group for Farm Holidays and Rural Tourism in Germany e. V. (BAG) is the nationwide central representative and contact person for the farm and rural holiday providers, primarily responsible for quality assurance, marketing and training measures as well as the political representation of interests in the field of rural tourism. Since January 1, 2007, the BAG and its affiliated regional state associations have also been involved with the German Tourism Association e. V. (DTV) has been entrusted with the quality assessment and classification in the field of “farm and country holidays”.

Through Landtourismus Marketing GmbH, founded for this purpose, BAG offers a Germany portal for guests under the name Landsichten. Here you can search across federal states for farms for vacation. The search can be refined according to special requirements using selection criteria.

Classification and seal of approval

The farm and rural holiday can be divided into different categories according to the offers or the orientation of the agricultural branch. As an orientation aid for the guests, the Federal Working Group for Holidays on the Farm and Rural Tourism in Germany (BAG) has developed seven different seals of approval or quality awards, which are awarded on the basis of clearly defined evaluation criteria:

  • Recognized holiday farm
  • Recognized holiday riding stable
  • Recognized holiday winery
  • Recognized holiday fisherman's farm
  • Recognized holiday fruit farm
  • Recognized adventure courtyard
  • Recognized shore leave

The term rural holiday was also established as a term to describe tourist offers in rural areas that are not linked to an active agricultural business or, after the business has been abandoned, aim to acquire a successor in tourism. The BAG is labeled accordingly via the quality label “Recognized rural holiday” and “Recognized adventure farm”.

The German Agricultural Society supports the initiatives of tourist accommodation offers in rural areas by awarding the quality mark "farm holiday" or "rural holiday". Before that, however, an external review committee examines the quality standards of the vacation offers.

Austria: "Holidays on the farm"

Logo vacation on the farm

The agrotourism sector in Austria comprises around 84,500 beds and 4.6 million overnight stays . The industry is divided - in roughly equal parts - into the categories of private accommodation on farms and holiday apartments and houses on farms ( Statistics Austria ), and comprises around 9,000 businesses (2013: private accommodation 4,401, holiday apartments and houses 4,780 - the category private accommodation on farms includes 10 guest beds per company, but not rural businesses and providers of holiday apartments or houses). The sector thus has a share of around 4% of the total volume of overnight stays in tourism in Austria (2007: 121.4 million). The total number of guests on farm holidays is estimated to be around 2 to 2.5 million annually, with between 15 and 20 million overnight stays, and total daily expenditure by farm guests of around € 1 billion.

The number of fully occupied days (how many days or nights in the year the guest beds are occupied) is around 55 d / year (2007: private quarters 52.6, holiday apartments and houses 57.7), and thus far below the Austrian average of 100 d / year - the agrotourism division proves to be a typical sideline to an agricultural and forestry business.

The umbrella brand of the private quarters sector is farm holidays , an association of over 3000 family farms and is accompanied by appropriate quality control. The brand covers the profiles of organic, health, wine, children, riding, cycling, seminar and disabled-friendly holidays .

"Red Rooster" in South Tyrol

The South Tyrolean Farmers Association operates its official portal for farm holidays in South Tyrol under the Roter Hahn brand . This institution also offers a wide range of offers, including for families, allergy sufferers, hikers and the disabled.

literature

  • Tourism policy report of the Federal Government , 16th legislative period, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, 2008
  • Farm Holidays 2008 . DLG-Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 2007, ISBN 978-3-7690-0688-9
  • Thomas Egger: Marketing agrotourism offers together. In: the national economy. the magazine for economic policy , 6-2009, p. 45.
  • Karine Markstein: Are the spatial planning framework for agrotourism in Switzerland too restrictive? - A comparison to the neighboring Alpine region MAS thesis. MAS program spatial planning 2007/09, August 3, 2009; vlp-aspan.ch (PDF) Switzerland, Tyrol, Vorarlberg, South Tyrol.
  • Franz Staudinger: Agriculture and Commerce. Chamber of Agriculture Upper Austria, script 2005.
  • A. Wernisch: Work management task for the special training: Vacation on the farm . Seminar document. Federal Institute for Agricultural Engineering , Wieselburg 1996

Web links

Commons : Agrotourism  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tourism policy report of the Federal Government (PDF; 649 kB), Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology
  2. ↑ Landsichten - Farm Holidays and Country Holidays in Germany. Retrieved November 20, 2011
  3. ↑ German Agricultural Society e. V. ( Memento of October 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), www.dlg.org
  4. ^ Federal Statistical Office Austria (ed.): Standard documentation. Meta information (definitions, explanations, methods, quality) for tourism statistics - monthly overnight statistics . 2003, Figure 1: Definition of accommodation providers, p. 8 ( Accommodation statistics : monthly overnight stays statistics ; annual inventory statistics from 2003 (PDF, 284 kB) , statistik.at - processing status: October 19, 2007).
  5. ↑ a b c Statistics Austria / Holidays on the farm. Quoting from numbers of overnight stays on farms . In: Bundesanstalt für Agrarwirtschaft AWI (Ed.): Data and facts> Green report> 2. Production and markets> 2.6 Secondary agricultural activities and services . 2007 ( Green Report 2014 (PDF) [accessed April 30, 2009]). Green Report 2014 ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) AWI (Ed.): Numbers of overnight stays by type of accommodation . 2007 ( xls [accessed April 30, 2009]).
  6. ↑ Estimates 1995: ÖS 10 - 15 billion Federal Association of Holidays on the Farm in Austria (Ed.): Annual report 1995 . S. 7 . Quoted from Paul Eder: Farm Holidays in Styria . In: Institute for Geography Karl-Franzens University Graz (Hrsg.): Work from the Institute for Geography at Karl Franzens University Graz . tape 35 . Graz March 1997, 2nd extent of rural rental in Austria .
  7. ↑ Austria map / farms of the holiday on the farm brand
  8. ^ Index catalogs ( Memento from January 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), farmholidays.com
  9. ↑ Red Rooster , www.roterhahn.it