The COVID-19 pandemic has had strong impact on the tourism market. As a result of the lockdown and the closing of borders, tourist traffic came to an abrupt halt. Agritourism is an important way of diversifying agriculture and rural areas. In addition, it is a part of the idea of sustainable and multifunctional agriculture. It makes it possible to use production resources in the countryside and constitutes an additional source of income for both farmers and the local community. The aim of the paper was to present the results of survey research concerning the tourist plans of the Polish people in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular plans to spend holidays on agritourism farms. The study confirmed that according to Polish respondents, holidays in the country, spent on agritourism farms, were a good choice in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents expect agritourism providers to take specific actions, i.e., disinfect communal rooms, make hand sanitizers available, as well as limit the maximum number of people allowed on the farm and in open-access rooms, in order to ensure safety during their stay. The article constitutes a contribution to the evolving literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of the tourism sector.

Agriculture, food and tourism is combined into offering tourist products in rural areas. The development of local activities combining traditional food and tourism becomes an investment for the future with both the concept of sustainable gastronomy and agriculture sustainability, and helps in the development of local entrepreneurship in rural areas. The European Union has introduced provisions for the protection of traditional and regional food that can be used to create a variety of tourist products. Currently, tourists are looking for unique local products. More and more people travel because of culinary motifs, and local products, dishes and local processors can become an attraction in these places. This paper presents the idea of ‘The Best Pork of Wielkopolska’ culinary trail, which is based on a local product from Wielkopolska, in Poland—the native breed of pig—the Złotnicka White pig. The rapid development of culinary tourism means that tourists are looking for offers in this area. There are many cooking-related products available in the tourism market, one of which is the culinary trail. Food becomes one of the advantages of places where tourism related to the culture of the region develops. Based on cultural heritage, a variety of tourist products can be created, e.g., culinary trails combining agriculture and food produced in this area with tourism.

This paper discusses the economic benefits of agritourism development, a topic in need of further research. Understanding the benefits of agritourism is especially important but empirical research on this matter remains limited. The results reported are based on a survey conducted among agritourism providers in Wielkopolskie Voivodeship, Poland. The findings show that agritourism can bring several economic benefits. It was found that the average income from agritourism accounted for about one-third of the overall household income of farmers. Moreover, food service is an important factor in the success of agritourism as it brings extra money to farmers. This research also identified an important relationship between the income obtained from agritourism activities only with the income obtained by providing meals to agritourists.

No abstract

The aim of writing the article was to present a concept of constructing a synthetic measure which defines the attractiveness of rural areas as a place to live, work and run business activities. The proposed measure was also empirically verified in the context of time and space. Material comprised data concerning 2,172 rural and urban-rural municipalities, in 2013, 2014 and 2017, following the territorial division of Poland into voivodeships. The data was obtained from the Local Data Bank at the Central Statistical Office (GUS). In the course of the study, for the purpose of constructing the measure, the author used 15 diagnostic variables, describing various functions of rural areas. The variables underwent normalization in order to make them comparable. The author originally chose five methods of normalization and one for further analysis, which caused the smallest dispersion of results. To select it, a variance analysis was conducted. The resulting synthetic measure of rural area attractiveness was verified empirically, in the context of time and space, which confirmed its diagnostic usability and indicated the temporally changeable diversity of Poland’s territory, as a system of voivodeships with regard to their attractiveness as places to live, work and run business activities.

The aim of the study is to present the tourist plans of the inhabitants of Polish cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey technique was used in the research with a questionnaire being disseminated for Facebook´s tourist thematic groups. Those recruited provided their friends with a link to the questionnaire via social media. Thus a snowball method was used and 402 respondents were obtained. Less than a quarter declared they did not want to go on a tourist trip in 2020 and the main reason was the prevailing pandemic and fear of coronavirus infection. However, the vast majority of respondents planned at least one tourist trip but a significant part abandoned any intention of travelling abroad for a holiday. The respondents mainly declared their willingness to stay in hotels and holiday resorts but assessed these facilities as the least safe in terms of epidemiology. The prevailing pandemic has been a source of much concern but the respondents were also worried about increased prices. Accommodation facilities were expected to undergo some form of disinfection along with the need to comply with social distancing restrictions and the wearing of masks.

The article is a continuation of the authors' research on the relationship between the level of education and perception of agribusiness as an area of ideal employment and career development. The aim of this research part is to analyse the changes in the students' opinions depending on the level of education they have achieved (fist-cycle studies and second-cycle studies). A detailed analysis included 29 descriptors defining ideal work, as well as the perception of work in the agribusiness sector as the target workplace. The factographic material was collected by means of an auditorium survey, which proved effective in the course of earlier studies. The data that was collected underwent factual verification and statistical analysis. Based on the study, it was concluded that in the students' opinion, the qualities of ideal work should include the following: congruity with one's interests, feeling proud to do this work and achieving economic satisfaction. A welcome feature of ideal work is also friendly atmosphere at the workplace and the possibility to use the knowledge gained over the school period. The research indicated a change of career plans related to the agribusiness sector, i.e. a stronger tendency towards perceiving it as a stage in developing further career.

The article presents reasons for the choices and opinions of tourists regarding rest and its safety in agritourism farms in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. We used the diagnostic survey method. We distributed the questionnaire via the Internet on Facebook in thematic groups related to tourism. Facebook respondents were also asked to provide a link to the questionnaire to their tourism-active friends (snowball sampling). We conducted the survey in January 2021. Research has shown that well-educated and well-off residents of cities most often chose agritourism. The main reason for the choice is the possibility of rest in peace and quiet, natural values, and an attractive price. Notably, during the pandemic, an important reason for choosing agritourism was to convince tourists that the risk of coronavirus infection was relatively low. This is also evidenced by the fact that most of them visited an agritourism farm for the first time during the pandemic. The attractiveness of staying on an agritourism farm was assessed highly (almost all respondents expressed their willingness to take advantage of this form of leisure again). This is due to the high evaluation of the quality of services provided, the offer’s attractiveness, and price competitiveness.