Rural Areas Sustainability: Agricultural Diversification and Opportunities for Agri-Tourism Development

Abstract

SUMMARYThe paper analyses socio-demographic and production potentials and opportunities for agri-tourism development. The research was carried out on holdings in the northern regions of Montenegro and Croatia. The focus is placed on family holdings with agriculture being the primary activity. The results show presence of certain production and socio-demographic preconditions for development of agri-tourism as a supplementary activity on holdings. In future, agri-tourism could encourage development of rural communities surveyed. Respondents identify state institutions as the key players in agri-tourism development. Agricultural holdings are not sufficiently networked, either vertically or horizontally, with the state and local institutions. Future agri-tourism development in Montenegro and Croatia should be based on sustainable development principles.

Recreational Opportunities through Agritourism Increases Relationships within Urban and Rural Communities in Western Balkan Societies

“…Other challenges include a high level of VAT and other taxes and a low number of tourists during the winter months (Mahmoodi et al, 2022). Other challenges encountered by agritourism providers include purchasing products, the maintenance of infrastructure, a lack of skilled people, a lack of assistance from local authorities, a convoluted legal framework and regulations, and outof-date infrastructure and equipment, shown on the Table 1 (Despotović et al, 2017). Furthermore, agrotourism continues to be primarily a seasonal business.…”

“…A combination of both has increased interactions and relationships between the people of Balkan countries over the last few years. Urban marketers have introduced social media marketing to the rural agritourism centers that used to depend on word-of-mouth to succeed (Table 3) (Despotović et al, 2017). Rural agritourism offers a great deal of promise to help rural families diversify their income and income diversification sources.…”

Desarrollo sostenible del oleoturismo: Un análisis de la colaboración entre actores

“…En lo que al agroturismo se refiere, dado el papel destacado del sector privado para la implementación de estas actividades (Anuar, et al, 2012), la literatura científica destaca, que la cooperación entre los empresarios de las explotaciones agrícolas es una condición fundamental para la integración del turismo como una actividad complementaria que diversifique sus ingresos (Wilson, et al, 2001), de manera que se lleve a cabo desde una perspectiva de armonía dinámica entre las partes, siendo necesaria la integración vertical, horizontal y territorial de éstas. Despotović, et al (2017), realizan un estudio en explotaciones agrícolas y llegan a concluir que es necesario establecer clústeres en agroturismo para satisfacer los intereses conjuntos y promover las actividades de turismo rural. De este modo, al aunar esfuerzos se contribuye a la mejora de la calidad de los servicios prestados.…”

Oleotourism: Local Actors for Local Tourism Development

“…Similarly, McComb et al [8] stressed the need to define the degree to which stakeholders should be involved to make their participation as effective as possible. Furthermore, in the main domain of agritourism, sustainability was proposed as one of the new challenges, since social, environmental, and economic spheres can benefit from the development of the different forms of agritourism (e.g., [9,10]); one of the recent contributions proposed the sustainable elements and the improvements yet to be achieved in one of the forms of agritourism, namely oleotourism [11,12]; moreover, the expected development of this form of tourism is highlighted since its definition is imbedded in several issues related to sustainability. Indeed, oleotourism has been defined as "a form of domestic tourism (especially in rural areas) related to gastronomy, which allows for the essence of the culture encompassing the world of the olive to be captured while deepening knowledge about everything connected to olive oil" ( [13], p. 180) and it "may be a complementary means of income for the rural population" ( [12], p. 116).…”