Agritourism

Agritourism brings together two sectors of the world economy: agriculture, one of the oldest industries now declining in terms of employment, and tourism, one of the most rapidly expanding industries. The potential for creating synergistic relationships between the two has been widely recognized by planners and policymakers, but realizing the benefits has proved difficult (Torres and Momsen 2011). Furthermore, there is growing evidence that the two industries often vie for resources such as land, labor, water, and investment. This competition is detrimental to local agriculture and rural communities. Demand for labor may lead to out-migration from the countryside to tourist resorts, leaving behind underutilized farmland in the countryside.

With shifting global consumption patterns and attitudes toward food, the tourism industry has opened up new opportunities for producers in terms of food tourism, wine tourism, and specialized niche market food production for tourist consumption....