How guests change farms

Summary of this study:

Agritourism, a growing trend in rural tourism, offers various agricultural activities aimed at attracting visitors to farms. However, the impact that guests have on the farm and farming families is still largely unexplored. This study focuses on the mountainous Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino Euroregion (IT - AT) and aims to explain how agritourism influences the adoption of organic farming and engagement in local farm communities. This is directly linked to environmental and social sustainability.

As part of the study, data was collected from 493 farms with and without agritourism via an online survey. An in-depth analysis of the 229 agritourism operators revealed that agritourism activities promote the adoption of organic farming practices and thus coincide with farming families' preferences for more sustainable production. At the same time, hosting and entertaining vacationers on the farm significantly reduces the family's free time and decreases the family's interactions with the local community.

Our findings shed light on the various indirect ways in which tourists affect farms and their development strategies, and highlight the need for further research to understand the broader and lasting effects of this shift from traditional agriculture to more complex farm environments that include service-oriented rural activities.

Findings of this study:

• Promotion of organic farming: agritourism activities act as a catalyst and favor the adoption of organic farming practices on farms. This change in practice is in line with farming families' preferences for more sustainable production.
• Intrinsic motivation instead of tourist demand: Contrary to the hypothesis put forward, tourists' expectations or requests do not strongly influence the adoption of organic farming by agritourism farms . Instead, the main reasons for converting to organic farming are the potential improvement of the farm's sustainability and the alignment with the family's values and preferences.
• Significant reduction in family free time: Entertaining and hosting vacation guests on the farm significantly reduces the family's free time. This is one of the implications of the conversion to agritourism and organic farming, which affects the family life of farmers.
• Reduced interaction with the local community: Agritourism leads to a decrease in the farmer family's interaction with the local community. This is because the high workload of tourism activities reduces farmers' free time and thus limits their ability to participate in community activities. In addition, the altitude of the farm can exacerbate this reduction in interaction.