Make Way for a New Wave of Agritourism
September 15, 2020 The history of agritourism, as told by the University of Tennessee Extension, is lengthy and comprehensive enough to warrant distinct chapters: Farm-related recreation and tourism can be traced back to the late 1800s, when families visited farming relatives in an attempt to escape from the city’s summer heat.
In the 1920s, visiting the countryside became even more popular with the widespread use of the automobile.
Rural recreation gained interest again in the 1930s and ’40s as folks sought an escape from the stresses of the Great Depression and World War II.
In the 1960s and ’70s, demands for rural recreation led to widespread interest in horseback riding, farm petting zoos, and farm nostalgia.
Then, in the 1980s and ’90s, farm vacations, bed and breakfasts, and commercial farm tours grew in popularity.
Which brings us to 2020, a year that will certainly live in infamy, and one that will likely represent the beginning of a new — but entirely positive — chapter in agritourism.
Put another way: Anybody feel like hanging out downtown these days?
Metropolises such as Paris are out, according to Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb. Petaluma and Pittsburgh, meanwhile, are in, he told Business Insider.
Petaluma, I’m on board with; plenty of vineyards, berry and vegetable farms, olive groves, and dairy farms. Pittsburgh? Beautiful medium-sized city, but I’m thinking bigger by going even smaller. And I’m not alone.
Related Content: U-Pick Farms Growing to Be Great Escape From Pandemic
A survey conducted by travel company Skyscanner found 69% of respondents plan to focus their next vacations on nature and enjoying the outdoors to cure cases of cabin fever. Nearly half of those surveyed said they plan to visit beaches and the countryside once they are able to. And getting more to the point, 42% plan to visit rural towns.
Chesky concurs, having said future tourism “will not be massive but small and intimate.” He hopes this represents a “new golden age of travel,” which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Airbnb in May laid off 25% of its global staff to keep the business afloat.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent stay-at-home orders didn’t treat agritourism much better in the spring, particularly in the areas of on-farm lodging and food services, which dropped off the charts. According to a survey conducted by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) between April 10 and May 5, growers who are reliant on agritourism were some of the hardest hit, with 77% reporting diminished income. Among the 38 farms that rated agritourism as a “very important” market channel, 82% saw total farm revenue fall by more than $1,000 per week.
Depending on the direction things go with the coronavirus, the situation could get worse before it gets better, CFSA warns. But there are upsides, both eventual and even already-existing, starting with pick-your-own farms, which have thrived this summer.
“Allowing U-pick customers with social distancing and sanitation measures in place generally seemed to be viewed as akin to the essential occupation of working agricultural fields by health authorities,” CFSA concluded.
The farms that offer lodging are already seeing that business return because “that experience is perceived as safer than typical hotels,” Annie Baggett, an Agritourism Marketing Specialist with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, told Mountain XPress.
Most notably, growers are quickly adapting to the “new normal.”
“We’re seeing a lot of virtual-tour types of things taking place,” Kelli Hepler, President of the Colorado Agritourism Association, told The Sopris Sun. “We’re seeing a shift in how (people) want to market their businesses, how they’re going to talk to people. It’s been kind of eye opening for them. They’ve been real creative and watching each other, and they’re working together a little more.”
Hepler cited virtual wine tastings, lavender-bunching parties, and a marinara-making class.
“That gets your product still in the mind of individuals,” she said, “(and) those virtual tours can translate into direct sales, kind of like a little wish book.”
Speaking of wishes, nobody knows when this pandemic will end. When it finally does, the question will be: Are you, as an agritourism provider, ready to adapt to the “new golden age of travel?” Better yet, are you ready to take advantage of it?
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