Agriculture
‘Agritourism offers a variety of experiences’─── 08:24 Tue, 14 Mar 2023
Agritourism is a great way for farmers to offer tourists a variety of experiences.
Whether it is quad biking into the sunset or offering a space of tranquillity – the opportunities are abundant.
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According to Jacqui Taylor of Agritourism SA, agritourism is a concept that focuses on rural development and the development of areas outside of cities.
It focuses mainly on agricultural areas. It also empowers women and the youth by providing alternative sources of income.
"This concept [which] started in 2016, agritourism, was a relatively new concept to South Africa but there was a fair amount of acceptance in the tourism sector in adapting and accepting this form of tourism.
"The tourism players in the industry are focused on promoting tourism in cities and that is where the money has been going from a tourism perspective.
"The Department of Tourism basically spends the money on promoting cities, so it has been really hard to explain that farmers are not benefitting and this is not to enrich them."
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Taylor urges farmers to tap into the agritourism space, which will benefit them immensely.
Farmers could:
- turn a piece of unoccupied land on the farm into a caravan park;
- build some chalets where people could stay and experience the morning sun on the farm;
- have bike and walk trails;
- have farm tours; and
- a petting zoo.
"Agritourism actually provides an opportunity for people who want to interact and be around other people, so that is why I am keen on pushing this because you can’t only have farmers in rural areas.
"We are an agricultural country, we should be embracing this concept."
Taylor further explained that agri-tourism embraces education as one of its pillars, "meaning if I am a smallholder farmer I can actually show and inform or educate people on how to grow the vegetables I have for instance.
"Then also show them how I cook it just to involve the tourist. By doing this, I can charge for the experience ... tourists expect to pay, so you are not just imparting your knowledge for free."
