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WA 16 Enhancing rural tourism development by producers organisations
Jan 1, 2007-Dec 31, 2010
WA 16 aims to stimulate POs to diversify and integrate in rural non-farm sectors, especially focussing on the agro-tourism sector. Increasingly agro-tourism is conceived and utilized as an instrument to enhance the rural non-farm economy and to increase benefits to the rural poor. Within rural tourism development the role of producers organizations and cooperatives has yet to be recognized, but its encouraging to see that in the last decade several rural tourism initiatives have been started-up and farmers owned successful tourism companies have been set up. The work area aims
to stimulate farmer organizations to become meaningful actors in the field of rural tourism development.
to stimulate economic development, in terms of income and employment.
When rural enterprises both incorporate agricultural activities and a commercial tourism component, there can be spoken of agro-tourism. Agriculture thus remains an important income-generator, tourism is a way to diversify their income. Agri-tourism products developed by farmer organizations aim to give visitors personal contact with, or a taste of, the physical and human environment of the countryside and, as far as possible, allow them to participate in activities, traditions and lifestyles of the local people.
Another option is to integrate rural producers within tourism [...]
