Agritourism Activity—A “Smart Chance” for Mountain Rural Environment’s Sustainability

Ramona Ciolac, Tiberiu Iancu, Ioan Brad, Gabriela Popescu, Diana Marin and Tabita Adamov
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Ramona Ciolac: Faculty of Management and Rural Tourism, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of Romania”, Calea Aradului no.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Tiberiu Iancu: Faculty of Management and Rural Tourism, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of Romania”, Calea Aradului no.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Ioan Brad: Faculty of Management and Rural Tourism, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of Romania”, Calea Aradului no.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Gabriela Popescu: Faculty of Management and Rural Tourism, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of Romania”, Calea Aradului no.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Diana Marin: Faculty of Management and Rural Tourism, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of Romania”, Calea Aradului no.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Tabita Adamov: Faculty of Management and Rural Tourism, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of Romania”, Calea Aradului no.119, 300645 Timișoara, Romania

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-26

Abstract: The debates regarding sustaining the rural world by improving the quality of life are numerous; one of the proposals being agritourism activity. This activity can be a “smart chance” for the sustainability of the mountain rural environment, because it has a multiplier effect on some important parts of economic and social life of the community. For instance, it can be an ally of agriculture, ensuring a diversification alternative for farms, an alternative for local guesthouses to capitalize their own local products, while ensuring the opportunity to obtain additional/complementary income, a possibility of adjusting the depopulation phenomenon and the abandonment of old houses and lands, at the same time offering a pleasant activity/alternative, especially for young people. In this context, the purpose followed in the paper is oriented through the transposition of agritourism activity into a “smart chance” for ensuring rural mountain sustainability. Being simultaneously an innovative and diversifying alternative, it is an actual one that starts from the study of two areas which are similar in terms of tourist potential. However, the approach is a different one, especially regarding the combination of agricultural resources with those specific to the rural way of life, and it also follows a different degree of development. Our scientific approach aims to present some aspects from the two areas, to achieve a general image of tourism potential, to identify how the agritourism activity is seen by those directly involved in its implementation, to point out some aspects due to which agritourism activity can be considered as a “smart chance” while bringing multiple benefits, and to ensure the sustainability of rural mountain areas by playing a vital role in the transition towards a more sustainable future.

Keywords: agritourism; “smart chance”; sustainability; mountain rural environment; motivations; possibility of economic growth and development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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