Agritourism can fuel rural economic growth

Agricultural tourism is the one that is trending worldwide currently. This makes urban people get out of their daily routine and go back to their rural roots. It would be a very good market for tourists.

Due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy, the WTTC is estimating losses of up to $2.7 trillion, with up to 100 million jobs at risk. The travel and tourism industry in India might see up to 40 million job losses (both direct and indirect) and about $17 billion in revenue losses in the next one year. In order to overcome this, the government, industry and institutions must make joint efforts to create a supportive ecosystem for tourism.

Tourism as an industry originally occurred at destination areas with natural or man-made features to attract tourists for a variety of leisure activities in different environments. Later, tourism evolved into different types and among those, agritourism is a new rising concept. According to the World Tourism Organization, agritourism involves "accommodation being offered at the farmhouse, providing meals, and organising and assisting the participation of tourists in various farming operations".

The global agritourism market size was valued at $42,460.3 million in 2019, and is estimated to reach $62,982.6 million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 13.4 per cent from 2021 to 2027.

Agritourism activities are becoming a vital component of many farm operations. These activities find great potential to increase the revenue of the farmers without hampering the existing farm revenue. Most of the agriculturists are adopting agritourism as an agriculture allied business and increasingly practicing and developing agritourism activities to have a side business along with farm production. Many small and medium farmers are considering agritourism as a great opportunity to increase their farm revenue. This is attributed to a low-investment, low-risk strategy as farms mainly made use of their existing resources. There are various activities involved in agritourism, which attract tourism, activities such as farm food, slow dining, sorghum milling, wineries, straw bale maze, plant a garden, rural music events and rural customs and traditional shows.

Owing to rapid expansion of the urban area, people are increasingly getting trapped in the cement world and want to get rid of their busy lifestyle, hectic time schedules. so people are increasingly searching for short term vacations in between their regular life. Agritourism is one such option, where people can spend days and involve themselves in the farm activities and can have entertainment on the farm. Agriculturista are actively exploring their farm activitiesand looking for an adjacent source of income, for this agritourism is an optimal option, which requires farm landscape and other existing elements. Growth in financial support from the government and rise in demand for farm stay, local food, and rural lifestyle experience are increasingly adding to the growth of the Agritourism market.