Have you ever traveled to the countryside? Go on holiday tasting home-cooked food, buy local handicrafts as souvenirs, or spend the day picking delicious-looking fruit and vegetables from plants?
As consumers, it is important to maintain a healthy relationship with our food and gain knowledge about its sources and history.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Agrotourism is 'A symbiotic relationship between tourism and agriculture.' In a simple context, agrotourism, also known as agritourism, is a form of tourism whose activities are focused directly on agriculture, and exploit the unique offerings of rich rural and agricultural communities.
Agrotourism is a form of tourism that can be used in almost every corner of the world. The world's requirement to have some form of agriculture, animal husbandry, and the resources it provides: food, medicinal plants, milk, wool, meat, etc. are necessary to meet the world's needs. As such, rural areas abound, which brings with them unique opportunities for tourism.
Some examples of agrotourism are:
Connecting local farmers with hotels or restaurants
Sharing agricultural heritage: Visits to old plantations or agricultural museums
Local gastronomic festivals and culinary traditions
Agriculture-based activities: rural bed and breakfast, crop management observation, livestock feeding, milking, and cheese making
Tourist routes that combine natural scenery with the way of life of the people visited
Community-based initiatives: village fairs, traditional markets and culinary trails
Why is agritourism important?
Agritourism is important for many reasons. Agritourism helps generate additional income for producers, creates an atmosphere where people can learn about agriculture and develop a deeper connection with the source of their food, and creates the possibility for visitors to find better sources of food purchases that benefit communities at the local level and not just multinational companies. Plus, spending a day in the countryside under clear blue skies with fresh air and exercising is usually considered a good day!
Agrotourism and ecotourism have several similarities. These points are: contributing to small communities through tourism choices and tourist purchasing decisions, having the opportunity to learn about the history and environmental activities of the places visited, utilizing local guide resources, and implementing rural conservation efforts.
Benefits of agrotourism provides several benefits, such as:
Increasing aesthetic value and natural beauty
Provides recreational value
Increasing scientific activities and development of science
Get economic benefits
Increasing environmental conservation
Principles of agrotourism Reported from the Policy and Strategy of the Bali Regional Government in Tourism Development (2002) by I Gede Pitana, there are several principles that must be considered in agrotourism, including:
Reduce negative impacts on nature and culture that can damage tourist destination areas.
Providing lessons to tourists about the importance of conservation.
Emphasize the importance of responsible business working together with government and community elements to meet the needs of local residents and provide benefits to conservation efforts.
Direct economic benefits directly with the aim of conservation, natural resource management and protected areas.
Putting emphasis on the need for regional tourism zones and the arrangement and management of plants for tourism purposes in areas designated for tourism.
Encourage efforts to increase economic benefits for the state, business people and local communities, especially residents living in protected areas.
The existence of agrotourism then has an important role for a country. So, what aspects and factors can support agrotourism to become more developed?
The quality of human resources is certainly a major factor in the development of agrotourism. It cannot be denied that the ability of good human resources to be able to create, manage, package and present unique and targeted agrotourism areas will be able to take agrotourism in a better direction. Not only managers, but the role of supporting stakeholders such as investors, marketers, tour guides and farmers is also considered very important. To be able to support this, the government needs to provide various learning places related to tourism development, especially agrotourism. So, it is hoped that in the future agrotourism areas will be able to develop which have high competitiveness.
Second, the role of institutions. The institutional roles in question are the government, the private sector, related institutions (travel, hotels, others), universities, and the community. As is known, the government has various authorities that can support the development of a tourist area, one of which is regulatory authority, so it is hoped that this will be able to create quality and competitive agrotourism development. Apart from that, support for good cooperation with other stakeholders who have the potential to develop agrotourism areas is also an important factor.
Support for the 3A aspects (attractions, accessibility, accommodation) which are the basic elements of the availability of tourist destinations certainly needs special attention. The availability of quality and quantity of 3A aspects and their supporting elements will be the key to the level of comfort that a tourist destination can offer to its visitors.
Next is hospitality or friendliness. The entire tourism industry is largely involved in the service sector, so this factor is also one of the keys to the successful development of a tourism area.
The level of uniqueness that can be offered. Visitors to tourist locations tend to like things that are unique and difficult to find in other places. The uniqueness offered by an agrotourism area can be in the form of various things, such as culture, tradition, technology, or the scarcity of the plants provided. The uniqueness of an agrotourism area will be an added value for the area and can become a highly competitive advantage.
Examples of Agrotourism Destinations in Indonesia
The following are several examples of agrotourism in Indonesia.
Bhumi Merapi Agrotourism, Yogyakarta
Kopeng Gunungsari Agrotourism, Semarang
Batu Agrotourism Kusuma, Malang
Suruh Park Agrotourism, Banyuwangi
Narmada Botanic Garden, Lombok
Udjo Ecoland, Bandung
Bagus Agro Pelaga, Bali
Rancabali Tea Garden Agrotourism, Bandung
Permai Indonesian Orchid Park Agrotourism, Jakarta
Ciwidey Strawberry Farm Agrotourism, Bandung
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