Tourist Imaginary and Rural Values: What Are the Agricultural Perceptions? A Reflection on Crossed Imaginaries

Jacinthe Bessiere and Alexis Annes
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Jacinthe Bessiere: UMR 5311 UTOPI, School of Tourism, Hospitality Management and Food Studies, University of Toulouse Jean Jaures, 31058 Toulouse, France
Alexis Annes: UMR 5193 LISST Dynamiques Rurales, Ecole d’Ingénieurs de PURPAN, Université de Toulouse, 31058 Toulouse, France

Agricultural & Rural Studies, 2026, vol. 4, issue 1

Abstract: This article deciphers tourist imaginary in a transitional context, in its permanence and evolutions, specifically associated with French countryside. Firstly, we question to what extent the rural represents a dreamt, imagined, and chosen place. Secondly, we analyze how the farmers who are visited fit into this surge of tourist imaginary: what rural perceptions emanate from the agricultural populations themselves? To answer our questions, we focus on the on-farm market, an agritourism concept that has been developing for some years in France. We highlight the interpenetration of two perceptive worlds in the same co-construction process. “Purifying,” “socializing,” or “nostalgic,” the countryside produces idealized representations both for the visitor and for the visited, simultaneously causing dissonances and contrasts in the interaction at play.

Keywords: agritourism; rural imaginary; rural France; on-farm market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:sccars:022378

DOI: 10.59978/ar04010006

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