BARIERY ROZWOJU AGROTURYSTYKI

Konferencja została zorganizaowana przez International Centre for Research in Events, Tourism and Hospitality (ICRETH), Leeds Metropolitan University, we współpracy z Regional Studies Association, Research Network on Tourism and Regional Development.

Więcej informacji: http://icreth.wix.com/countrysidetourism

Barriers to agritourism development (abstract)
Marek Kozak

There is a widespread conviction that dynamic global urbanization (in particular - metropolization) will lead to increasing demand from urban populations to recreate and spend free time in rural areas. Many believe that agritourism will develop as - on one hand an opportunity for rural populations to get additional income, and – on the other - a chance for city dwellers to find a rescue from the “unhuman” environment of big cities. This notion is based on several (open and quite often hidden) assumptions about both motives and expectations of city inhabitants and capabilities of rural, agricultural areas to develop adequate tourist products. The thesis of this paper says that the notion about the unavoidable development of rural tourism (in particular agritourism) is based on weak assumptions and false. In the long run there are more barriers than drivers. First, there are many dynamically growing forms of tourist activities undertaken by inhabitants of urban space, but rural tourism remains marginal for reasons that I am going to discuss in the presentation. Second, there are serious limits on the side of rural areas to accommodate incoming tourism. For instance rural areas have less developed infrastructure, narrower range of tourist products on offer, less beds, are very weather dependent etc. In the case of agritourism (understood as tourism developed on premises of existing and active farms) the main barrier is a conflict between production function of the farm and needs of tourists, quite often with children. In particular safety (health) may be at stake. For all these reason I am of the opinion that rural tourism and in particular agritourism will remain a marginal tourist activity. In the cities there is less demand 25 for it, and in rural areas less reception capacity than expected by sustainable tourism radical believers.