The tourist on the farm: A ‘muddled’ image

Charline Dubois, Mary Cawley and Serge Schmitz

Tourism Management, 2017, vol. 59, issue C, 298-311

Abstract: Agritourism is promoted as a method of offsetting decline in farm incomes, and is defined in different ways which creates difficulties in attracting tourists. The present research contributes to a better understanding of agritourism, based on evidence in Wallonia (Belgium) and Luxembourg. It does so by studying the image held by four groups of actors: (i) farmers who provide ‘agritourist’ experiences; (ii) promotional organisations; and tourists who both (iii) have and (iv) have not engaged in agritourism. A mixed method study is based on data collected through 1148 tourist questionnaires and 65 interviews with farmers and representatives of tourism promotional organisations. The results illustrate that there is a lack of congruence between sectoral images with respect to the concept of agritourism and its development. Agritourism is a muddled concept between realities and stakeholder expectations but opportunities exist for targeting particular niche interests.

Keywords: Agritourism; Farm; Representations; Images; Experiences; Tourists; Simulacra (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:touman:v:59:y:2017:i:c:p:298-311

DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2016.08.016

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