Agro Tourism

Rohana P Mahaliyanaarachchi

Agro Tourism

Rohana P Mahaliyanaarachchi
M.Sc (Plovdiv)
PhD (Peradeniya)
Senior Professor
Department of Agri Business Management
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka

AGRO TOURISM
Copyright c 2014 R P Mahaliyanaarachchi
All rights reserved
First Edition
Februray 2014
ISBN 978-955-644-036-2

Published By:
Department of Agri Business Management
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka

Contents
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Preface
CHAPTER ONE
Overview of Agro Tourism
Tourism Vs Alternative Tourism
Description of Agro Tourism
Benefits of Agro Tourism in development of Tourism and Agriculture
Reasons people go on vacations
CHAPTER TWO
Types of Agro Tourism
Farm Accommodation Services
Farm Catering
Participatory agro tourism
Farm Retailing
Therapy at the farm
Holidaying in a farm
Potential Agro Tourism Activities
CHAPTER THREE
Planning of Agro Tourism Farm
Things to See
Things to Do
Things to Buy
Hospitality
Establishing and Running of an Agro Tourism business
CHAPTER FOUR
Agro Tourism Products
Accommodations
Direct Marketing
Commercial Farm Tours
Packaging the Agro-Tourism Experience
Pricing of Agro Tourism Product
CHAPTER FIVE
Business plan for agro tourism enterprise
CHAPTER SIX
Marketing and Promotion
Marketing mix
Developing a Marketing Plan
Marketing Costs
BIBLIOGRAPHY

PREFACE

I was able to stay in a Farm B & B in the midlands of England in July 2001. It was summer in
England and the climate was perfect with green vegetation. The owner of the Farm B & B
was a lady and she was so kind to explain to me about her farm hospitality business. I was so
fascinated and started to search more information about agro tourism especially through the
internet. I found that it is a fast growing business and an emerging sector in rural tourism.
Since then wherever I visited overseas, one of my itinerary items has been to visit agro
tourism enterprise. With this knowledge and experience, I decided to introduce agro tourism
to my faculty. As an initial step, I planned and implemented constructions of an agro tourism
enterprise in the faculty farm especially for teaching and learning purposes. In the mean time,
I introduced a course unit Agricultural Tourism as an optional course for the final year
students of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri
Lanka. In 2010, the operations of the Agrifac Farm Stay, the farm B & B of the faculty farm
was commenced and the first batch of students for the agricultural tourism course unit was
registered. Already 85 students have passed out from the faculty in three batches who
followed the agricultural tourism course unit.
The main purpose of writing this monograph is to compile the important areas of agro
tourism, enabling interested persons to get a basic knowledge on what is agro tourism, types
of agro tourism, planning and developing agro tourism products and ways of marketing and
promoting them. This monograph is published to coincide with the National Conference on
Development and Promotion of Agritourism Education and Industry in Sri Lanka to be held
from 17th -18th February 2014 in Colombo, Sri Lanka jointly organised by The Department
of Agri Business Management of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Sabaragamuwa
University of Sri Lanka and the National Productivity Secretariat of the Ministry of
Productivity with the sponsorship of Asian Productivity Organization in Tokyo, Japan.
The main aim of the conference is to create greater awareness among policy makers,
economic planners and key stakeholders in the agriculture and tourism sectors on the concept
of agri tourism as a strategy to create alternative income opportunities for farming
communities, develop the alternative tourism sector and as a tool for revitalizing the rural
economy. I hope this monograph will provide necessary information to the participants of this
conference and the rest of the interested persons on agro tourism.
I must thank Mr. Joselito Bernardo, Director in Agriculture of Asian Productivity
Organization for providing funds to publish this monograph, Dr M. Esham Senior Lecturer of
the Department of Agri Business Management for proof reading and giving his valuable
ideas, Mr. Anura Gunaratne for designing an attractive cover page and Mr Prasad
Iddamalgoda for computer page setting of this monograph.
Prof Rohana P Mahaliyanaarachchi
Senior Professor of Agri Business Management
01.02.2014

1.0 Overview of Agro Tourism

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Tourism vs Alternative Tourism

Today, the full package holiday approach of mass tourism is one of the negative factors
affecting the economic survival of local small-scale entrepreneurs through its feature of
leading the tourists stay in the facility during their holiday. Therefore, it leads to specific
tourism development approaches distinct from mass tourism development for developing new
sub-sectors of tourism, which is named as alternative tourism. Some experts in tourism refer
alternative tourism as special interest tourism or responsible tourism. It is usually taken
to mean alternative forms of tourism which give emphasis on the contact and understanding
of the inhabitants way of living and the local natural environment (Smith & Eadington,
1992). As to the specific forms of alternative tourism, Mieczkowski (1995) identifies such
forms as cultural, educational, scientific, adventure, agro, with rural, ranch and farm subsets.
Most of these alternative tourism approaches are closely related with rural economy and
thereby rural development. The main reason for this is the tourist destination of these
alternative tourism approaches are rural areas. The alternative tourism approaches are namely
nature tourism, eco tourism, heritage tourism, cultural tourism, religious tourism, Agro
Tourism and many more. This alternative tourism creates a new economic opportunity in
rural areas. This situation leads to the relationship between socioeconomic development and
tourism in rural areas. Further, this economic relationship causes creating a number of
tourism types in rural areas.
Rural tourism differs from agro-tourism in two ways. First, rural tourism enterprises do not
necessarily occur on a farm or ranch, or at an agricultural plant, they do not generate
supplemental income for the agricultural enterprise. Second, it covers the wider arena, which
includes features of various subsectors of alternative tourism such as heritage tourism,
wildlife tourism, and indigenous community tourism including agro tourism.
Therefore, agro tourism is a type of alternative tourism. It has almost all the characteristics of
alternative tourism, which respects and conserves the social cultural values of communities
and helps to improve their economic standards.
Tourism has various forms. They are categorized as mass tourism (traveling with a group and
passive form of relaxing) and mild tourism (individual, spontaneous, active form of relaxing).
Agro tourism represents the second model that is mild tourism.
Following features of agro tourism can be used to distinguish agro tourism from mass
tourism.
Tourist resting place it is a farm where the tourist gets to know and feel the rhythm
of rural life, contact with domestic animals, fresh food, colourful landscapes, the
sounds of birds and nature, the smell of the non polluted environment.
People associate the direct contact with a farm family, experiencing the customs of a
farm family, hospitability, making contacts with neighbouring farmers
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 Lifestyle experiencing the rural lifestyle, understanding the needs and daily tasks of
farmers, getting to know and experience the culture, customs and traditions of the
rural area, history of the country and of the region, folklore.
Relaxing contact and feel with nature, the freedom in moving around, silence, the
possibility of pursuing sports and possibility of recreation.
This form of tourism includes mostly recreational activities connected with the nature, with
hiking, health tourism, sightseeing tourism, culture tourism and eco tourism. Actually the
agro tourism has some connection with agriculture, breeding, fishing, gardening, most often
with active farm. The remaining forms should be called rural tourism or tourism in the rural
regions.
Description of Agro Tourism
Agro-tourism is the practice of attracting visitors to an area used basically for agricultural
purposes. It attracts tourists to rural communities for a form of relaxation that follows the
growing trend of tourism that is both educational and recreational. Also, it is another option
for farmers/entrepreneurs wanting to diversify their farming / hospitality operations that will
bring more economic activities to rural areas. Generally, the image of tourism stimulates of
mass-produced travel that attracts a large number of travelers. This image of mass tourism
may discourage small entrepreneurs who consider tourism as an alternative option for
enhancing their revenues. However, agro-tourism can be viewed as small-scale, low-impact,
education focused and recreational.
Further, Agro tourism is a direct marketing activity which provides additional opportunities to
farmers to reduce risks involved in farming via diversification in a competing and urbanizing
economic environment.
Farm or ranch recreation refers to activities conducted on state, private or cooperative owned
agricultural lands, which might include farm stays in farm houses, working farms for
pleasure, camping, fishing, educational activities, etc. Agro tourism is a subset of a larger
industry of tourism. Agro-tourism is a commercial enterprise on a working farm, ranch,
or agricultural plant conducted for the enjoyment of visitors that generates supplemental
income for the owner.
Agro tourism enterprises might include outdoor recreation (fishing, hunting, wildlife study,
horseback or pony back riding), educational experiences (cannery tours, cooking classes or
wine tasting), entertainment (harvesting festivals, camping), hospitality services (farm stays,
guided tours, catering) and on-farm direct sales (u-pick operations or roadside stands).
Agro tourism is a subset of a larger industry called rural tourism that includes resorts, off-site
farmers markets, non-profit agricultural tours, and other leisure and hospitality businesses
that attract visitors to the countryside. It is a hybrid concept that merges elements of two
complex industriesagriculture and travel/tourismto open up new profitable markets for
7

farm products and services and provide travel experiences for a large regional market.
Although a single definition of agro tourism is not widely recognized, it is at the intersection
of a number of important marketing and economic development concepts that are circulating
today.
Agro tourism is a part of rural tourism activities. It allows visitors to gain the knowledge of
agriculture and appreciate the unique rural landscapes (Hall and Jenkins, 1998).Currently,
agro tourism is experienced widely in terms of a strategy for the conservation of agricultural
resources (Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996) and the allocation of economic and social benefits to
the farming community (Hron and Srnec, 2004). For instance, agro tourism in Italy conduct
the agricultural and environmental education activities to protect the protected areas from
unacceptable agricultural expansion (Scialabba and Williamson, 2004). Therefore, it has a
relationship to eco tourism too. This is justified by the concept of agro tourism promotion
leads to fulfilling the expectations on tourists increase of knowledge and comprehension in
environmental conservation and agricultural residents quality of life improvement, especially
in developing countries which agriculture is still an important strategy in rural development
(Akpinar et al., 2005).
Agro tourism can be viewed as an integrated system of activities that takes place in rural
areas, activities that are in relationships of independence and which have as their final goal of
regional rural development. Thus defined, the agro touristic activity can be a tool for
measuring the quality of life, the quantification of the standard of living of certain social
groups (Degan, 2011). Finally, through agro tourism, famers as well as small and medium
entrepreneurs (SMEs) in farming drive to increase their income and share the development of
farming especially with habitants in the area and other stakeholders in the business.
Agro tourism experts still may not agree on a single or a unique definition for Agro tourism.
For example, rural tourism is an all-inclusive idea that places any tourism activity in a rural
setting under the same umbrella definition (fishing, hunting, eco-tours, hiking, bird watching,
etc.). Therefore, rural tourism may not be designed to generate a supplemental income for the
farmer, but may be a business venture of travel and tourism professionals.
Farm tourism as a type of agro tourism can be associated directly with agricultural activity on
a farm with the idea of offering products for sale that are produced as a direct result of the
activity. This may include food and lodging as well as on farm activities. Farm tourism could
be actually participating in the agricultural work, farm craft workshops, traditional cooking
workshops, or other farm related educational workshops, with tourism being an adjunct
activity.
Most definitions of agro tourism have a common theme that combines elements of farm life
and elements of the tourism industry. The objective of agro tourism involves having members
of the public come to the farm, with the ultimate goal being to increase farm income by
providing fee-based recreation and education to the clients. With proper planning and
execution, agro tourism is a tool that can have a direct effect on farm income.
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Agro tourism is a subset of a larger industry called rural tourism that includes resorts, off-site
farmers' markets, non-profit agricultural tours, and other leisure and hospitality businesses
that attract visitors to the countryside. It is a hybrid concept that merges elements of two
complex industriesagriculture and travel/tourismto open up new profitable markets
for farm products and services and provide travel experiences for a large regional market.
Although a single definition of agro tourism is not widely recognized, it is at the intersection
of a number of important marketing and economic development concepts that are circulating
today.
Agro tourism enterprises might include outdoor recreation (fishing, hunting, wildlife study,
horseback or pony back riding), educational experiences (cannery tours, cooking classes or
wine tasting), entertainment (harvesting festivals, camping), hospitality services (farm stays,
guided tours, catering) and on-farm direct sales (u-pick operations or roadside stands). It can
be viewed as an integrated system of activities that takes place in rural areas, activities that
are in relationships of independence and which have as their final goal of regional rural
development. Thus defined, the agro touristic activity can be a tool for measuring the quality
of life, the quantification of the standard of living of certain social groups (Degan, 2011).
Benefits of Agro Tourism in development of Tourism and Agriculture
Agro tourism requires minimal additional investment and may utilize the excess capacity of
labor, capital, land, and natural resources. Excess capacity may allow farmers to increase the
scope of activities. Promoting agro tourism in a farm or ranch is a revenue risk management
strategy. Ago tourism attracts customers to farms or ranches s. A pick your-own fruits or
flowers enterprise or a nursery activity will draw families. These activities provide exercise,
lots of fresh air, and something to take home.
Agro tourism may contribute to the stability of the green industry in any country. It may help
to improve farm viability by increasing the commercial possibilities through both direct sales
of crops & livestock products and other business accommodations and by adding value to
regional landscapes.
Agro tourism is an excellent means of supporting rural communities. Tourists bring rupees to
local communities that keep rural communities alive and prosperous. The partnering of
tourism and the green industry will help create and strengthen rural economies. Agro tourism
is an opportunity to increase agricultural awareness among the public and to promote fresh
farm products. It also provides opportunities to increase consumers understanding of the
environmental horticulture industry. The interaction of tourists with nursery or greenhouse
activities or crops carries an educational aspect. Tourists tend to enjoy learning about items
and processes that they will not participate in directly. A guided walking tour of a garden
center or nursery will help children learn the basics of how plants grow, and learn what a
farmers job comprise of. They will start to respect both farmers and farming. They will see
the farm equipment, learn about cultivation & animal rearing and will understand the
importance of preserving farmland as open space for the future.
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Further, low farm gate prices of agricultural commodities along with rising input costs such
as seeds & planting materials, fertilizer, agro chemicals and labour chargers, etc. are
gradually increasing the cost of production of agriculture produce and subsequently decrease
the profit margins of especially in the medium and small scale farms. Further, forces such as
globalization, world trade agreement, agricultural policies in developed countries and
bilateral & multilateral trade agreements are threatening small and medium scale farms in
developing countries like Sri Lanka. As a result, especially young generation of farmer
families is leaving their farms altogether in order to sustain their household incomes. In many
regions in the world, both developed and developing countries, farmers are recognizing the
need and desire to diversifying their farm products and services in order to supplement their
agricultural incomes. Therefore, it is essential to introduce compensating income sources to
enhance the profit margins of farming substantially, without further delays. Travel and
tourism are big businesses across the world. Hence, a hybrid concept that merges elements of
two complex industries travel/tourism and agriculture can be introduced to the medium and
small farming sector/community to open up new profitable markets for their farm products
and services. Agro tourism is the practice of attracting travelers and visitors to an area or
areas used primarily for agricultural purposes. It is a subset of a larger industry of tourism.
Many agro tourism activities require only a small farm crew in order to be successful. For
instance, farm tours, bed and breakfasts, pony rides, u pickups, petting zoos, and many other
activities may be operated with little additional investment in physical and human resources
in an existing farm. Therefore, agro tourism is a successful compensating income source to
rural agro enterprises both in developed and developing countries.

Reasons why people go on vacations

While you are expecting to start or develop an agri tourism enterprise, it is vital to know the
reasons people go on vacations. It will be helpful for the entrepreneur to plan and develop
enterprise. The major reasons people go on vacation are described as follows.

To build and strengthen relationships with the people: One of the main reasons
for going on vacation as a family is to be together as a family unit. Due to todays
busy life in urban life, families have little time to be alone together. They want to get
away from the stress of home and work. They look to travel as an opportunity to
renew relationships within the family members and with the people in the visiting
locations. They also look for social exchanges on trips, and view vacations as a time
for making new friends.

To improve health and happiness: Most of the tourists consider vacations are very
important to regain their family's physical and mental health. They want to refresh and
renew themselves by relaxing and participating in outdoor activities such as fishing,
bird watching, hiking, cycling, milking, etc.

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To rest and relax: Vacations are important for getting away from routine work, stress,
worries, and enables tourists to refresh and refurbish. They are looking for a different
life from existing; a better climate, prettier scenery, slower pace of life, clean air,
quieter surroundings or anything else that is missing or deficient in their lives back
home.

To experience an adventure: Some of the tourists look for vacations for exciting
experiences. Adventure, whether dangerous or romantic, provides the heightened
sensation that these consumers seek.

To acquire new knowledge: Learning and discovery are strong motivators for today's
better-educated travelers. People travel to learn or practice a language, study a culture,
explore local food, explore religions, or a host of other learning pursuits.

To mark a special occasion: Some travelers take vacations to celebrate milestones in

their lives: new relationships, marriages, birthdays, or professional achievements.
Vacations that mark special occasions are usually taken with loved ones and provide
memories that last a lifetime.

To reminisce: Many people travel to experience again loving memories. In the case
of agritourism, some tourists, especially older travelers and urban dwellers, want a
farm visit and stay to reawaken memories of the simple, rural lifestyle they had in the
childhood. Vacationers pay money for food, lodging, transportation, and souvenirs,
but they are really buying a sentimental journey.

2.0 Types of Agro Tourism

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Agro tourism products and services can be divided into different types (Sznajder and
Przezbrska, 2004). Here seven types of agro tourism are considered.
1) Farm accommodation 2) Farm catering 3) Participatory agro tourism 4) Farm Retailing 5)
Therapy at the farm 6) Holidaying in a farm and 7) Farm entertainment
Farm Accommodation Services: Farm accommodation service is a type of rural
accommodation within the various kinds of accommodation in rural areas. Homestead
accommodation, country-stays, rural home-stays, and rural bed and breakfast seem to be most
common and most tied with countryside and rurality. The above accommodation categories
are quite specific to Agro Tourism; however the differences between them are very slight.
Farm Bed and Breakfast in usual is a unique term for a variety of hosted accommodation in
farms that includes a bed for the night and a breakfast in the morning. There are also some
specific Agro-Tourism forms of accommodation such as sleeping on the hay, camping barns
or bunkhouses. However, such accommodation services cannot be offered on a mass scale.
Further, Farm stays are connected with some threats both for the farm (damages by the
visitors, fire) and for visitors (low sanitary condition, low facilities).
Today it is not true that farm accommodations are cheap. However, staying in a farm may be
an advantage for a visitor. It is a different experience with fresh food, water and air.
Farm B & B (Bed and Breakfast)
What is a Farm B &B?
Bed and breakfast businesses provide lodging, breakfast, and hospitality. These businesses
are found on farms and in rural communities as well as in larger cities. All are part of a
private residence, offer short term overnight stays, include breakfast(s) in the room charge,
and are known for the personal services offered. Of course, farm vacation homes usually
provide additional meals and activities for guests. Farm B & Bs and farm vacation homes are
alternatives to other commercial forms of lodging in rural areas and many have become
attractions in themselves. You can decide what the best realistic business option of farm
accommodation service in your farm is: a bed and breakfast or farm vacation home
The most important service that you have to consider in farm B& B is hospitality. It is
intangible and all your visitors expect highest hospitality from you. Some assessment of
personal qualities and entrepreneurial skills is necessary to see if these businesses are a good
match for you and your family. The common factor across the bed and breakfast industry is
hospitality: it is the key ingredient to any successful guest business. You must enjoy meeting
people and welcoming them into your farm on a regular basis.
The feeling of welcome goes beyond a handshake, and there is much you can do to increase
it. The hosts should be personable. It is customary to spend time visiting with the guests upon
arrival and at breakfast. Be prepared to describe points of interest and activities in the
12

community, the background of your business and its location, and information about you and
your family.
Farm Catering: Farm catering is an integral part of Agro Tourism. Tourists staying in the
farm or excursionists visiting to see the farm may like to consume some meals at the farm.
They are willing to buy their meals at a restaurant in the farm. There is a great variety of farm
catering services in agro tourism such as self catering, catered by the restaurant, self
preparation of food, and u pick & cook. The variety is connected with the type of catering,
source of food products, number and time of meals, places of serving meals, etc.
Foods products usually come from the farm as own production. By serving own farm
products, farms can increase their income. Time of serving meals can be in different criteria;
for example, by the time of serving meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea). Also, it can be
varied from the place of serving the meals (indoor catering under candle light, outdoor open
air, or outdoor in the bush, side of a lake, or normal restaurants, etc.). A further type of
preparation (Who cook the food) of food also can give a different experience to the visitors
such as self catering, catered by the restaurant, self preparation of food, and u pick & cook..
The idea of agro tourism lies in varieties that make the meals very special and different from
the meals served by other tourism destinations. Each meal may be identified as an individual
variant of an agro tourism product. Also the unlimited possibility of meals differentiation can
make the farms different from each other (Sznajder and Przezbrska, 2004).
Participatory agro tourism: This is a specific feature of agricultural tourism. The products
and services assigned to it are available on farms exclusively. Products and services of agro
tourism comprise as follows and visitors are guided to experience these products and
services.

Observation of the agricultural production process by the framers, including plant

production, animal production and processing in the farm, including guided or
individual farm tours. This is called as something to see.
Participation in the process of plant production (nursery works, planting, harvesting,
etc.), animal production (feeding, milking, fishing, etc.) and processing (e.g. hay
making, domestic cheese, curd or yogurt making, etc.) by the visitors. This called as
something to do.
Direct contact with domestic animals or the nature of farms in different kinds of
petting-zoo, safaris, horseback or pony back riding, etc.

Farm Retailing: This is called as something to buy at the farm. Tourists watching or
participating in the production process are more willing to buy products that they observed or
produced by themselves. Direct sales is an important agro tourism service. The most often
tourists buy fresh vegetables, fruits, honey, various processed home made products such as
cheese , curd, yougurt, pickles, chutney, and handicrafts of the farm. Therefore agro tourism
enterprises organise open-air markets and road stands or stalls very often by the roads to
advertise their products. Tourists can consume bought products at the farm or they can take
13

them home. U Pick Ups are common in agro tourism connected with picking up of various
farm products, e.g. fruits and vegetables. The most often they can pick up mangos, king
coconuts, veggies, etc. With this aim the farm should be organised with foot paths for visitors
picking up their own fruits and vegetables.
Therapy at the farm (Health Related Products and Services): Agro tourism can be
connected with health services or health-related products (Sznajder and Przezbrska, 2004).
Tourists approaching to the countryside may expect the possibility of a specific therapy, e.g.
special diet therapy, including consumption of healthy products. It can be provided with
organic products if the farm. Also the visitors like to consume food prepared by using
firewood instead of gas or electricity. Not only that they prefer to consume food prepared in
clay pots instead of metal pots. All these are connected with diet therapy. Other than farm
products they like to consume dishes made out of wild crop varieties. There are lot of
medicinal values in these wild crop varieties that cannot be found in urban areas. Also, there
are specific wild crop varieties and food items prepared in different localities. Having fresh
vegetables, fruits, meat and other food items makes a person mentally satisfy and it is a
mental therapy for a person.
Further, in addition to diet therapy, visitors can be arranged with other types of therapy such
as fish therapy, indigenous medicinal (aurvedic) therapy, foot therapy, yoga or meditation,
etc. Fish therapy is very famous within the visitors in countries like Malaysia. In Sri Lanka
also fish therapy can be introduced with agri tourism, especially if you have a stream flows in
the farm or closer to the farm.
However, any kind of therapy should return good value for the expenses made by the visitors.
Also, they must be completely genuine activities.
Holidaying in a farm: Holidaying is a type of agro tourism. People like to go for their
vacations out of the residence area aiming to have special experience. The idea of holidaying
in a farm is spending free time away from home, on a farm or a ranch. This type of agro
tourism is mainly aimed at both local urban dwellers and foreign tourists. As well as staying
in the farm and experiencing farming environment, these visitors use farm stays to visit other
places in the area such as historical places, natural resources, wildlife, beaches, hiking, etc.
The products and services of holidaying in a farm are classified according to the length and
season and purpose of stay in the following way:
Special Holiday packages offered by vacation farms,
Weekend holiday (1-2 days) or longer holiday (during school vacations and longer
weekends)
Holiday packages in a farm stay combined with sightseeing tours
Working in farming during the day time and fun in the evenings
These holidays can be offered as expensive as well as cheaper offers. There are visitors who
like to have very convenient lifestyle in the farm and have a fun. For them accommodation
14

and other facilities should be organised with higher standards. Others who like experience
real farming life with less facility can be organised cheap, but convenient accommodation
and other facilities. Then agro tourism enterprise can attract both types of visitors.
Farm Entertainment: This includes a number of activities directly associated with farms
and rural areas. Farm entertainment includes farm festivals, folk songs and folk dance, etc.
This provides the visitors a quick view of rural culture through festivals, songs, dances and
much more. Every rural area has a specific culture. The idea behind the farm entertainment is
to explore and preserve this culture. This activity provides the opportunity to the local
urbanities and foreigners to get participate and experience the traditional culture of the
country. Here farmers, agro tourism entrepreneurs and the rural artist all can generate
additional income (Sznajder and Przezbrska, 2004).
Potential Agro Tourism Activities
There are number of agro tourism activities that can be practiced at any type of agro tourism
enterprise. Some examples are as follows.
Overnight stays: Lodging and camping
bed and breakfast
camp sites
youth camp
farm vacation (farm stays, feeding animals, picking fruit/vegetables)
receptions, honeymoons
tree houses
Special events and festivals
music festivals
holiday celebrations
harvest festivals
On the farm
pick U own
do your BQ
planting
harvesting
nursery practices
fish therapy
foot therapy
herbal therapy
Off the farm
farmers markets
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 fairs
roadside produce stands

Recreation activities and events

fee fishing
biking
corn maze
Pony back riding
bird watching
hiking
Educational programmes
organized tours: school children groups, officer groups, farmer groups, tour groups
agricultural education programs: how to grow organic products, how to produce
vermin compost
nature education programs: wildlife, natural herbs, bird watching
demonstrations: cheese making, processed food making, honey making, butter
making, heritage hand crafts

03. Planning of Agro Tourism Farm

Starting any new enterprise can be risky. Before investing money, time, human resource and
energy in an unconventional agricultural business as agro tourism, new entrepreneurs should
complete project feasibility and personal, financial & market evaluations.

16

In planning an agro tourism farm, it is compulsory to understand basic principles and

requirements of it. There are three agro-tourism basics: a) Have something for visitors to
see, b) something for them to do, and c) something for them to buy. In planning your agro
tourism farm you have to consider how much variety of things you are going to offer visitors
to see, what type of activities are available for visitors to involve and their attractiveness and
what are the unique things available in your farm for them to buy? From first two things, you
cannot earn much income as other than a reasonable entrance fee. You can make a lot of
money by organising a variety of things to sell to visitors. Research shows that tourists buy
mainly food, beverages, and souvenirs. You can have a restaurant at the farm and a farm shop
which sells fresh and processed food, beverages and souvenirs.
Things to See
Farm Tours
Farm tours are organised as educational tours using cropping systems and patterns and
livestock as the main attraction. The aim of this farm tours is to make awareness to the
visitors about the different types of crops and cultivation practices, harvesting methods and
many more and different types of farm animals and animal husbandry methods as well the
plight of the family farmer and create a positive image of agriculture within the visitors.
Especially farm tours for school children can be organised as a concept of re-invent
agriculture where school children obtain knowledge on real farm life.
Historical re-creations
Agro tourism attraction on your farm can be created by displaying real or models of
traditional agricultural implements, techniques and technologies. Some attractions grow out
of the owners hobby collectionsold farm machinery and equipments, seeds of traditional
crop varieties, traditional and environmentally friendly farm buildings, transportation modes,
and photographs of old and traditional farming techniques and systems.
Processing demonstrations
Visitors like to see food processing on your farm such as milling (with traditional kurhan
gala), curd, yogurt and cheese production, homemade moju, pickles and sauce production.
You can make it more attractive by including processing methods and techniques with an old
timely flavour that is more healthy and environmentally friendly.

Crop art and Crop landscaping

Organise the farm with attractive landscaping with crops and design crop arts. Most crop art
consists of various designs of horticultural and grain crops (eg: maize, paddy) in a field and
designs created by different coloured plantings. Such crop art is best viewed from the air or
from a raised structure. There have also been proposals for creating mounds-like structures
with outlined in edible native plants. Also a model home garden can be prepared and it will
be attracted by the both urban and suburban visitors. There are professional crop artists /
crop landscapers and it is wise to get consultancies from such professional in planning and
building crop art in your farm.
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An example of crop art is the veggie salad concept, a subspecies of crop art. With this
concept a section of the farm is designed as artful vegie salad and a field is organised to a
circular arrangement of vegetable crops. Pie-shaped wedges of cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes,
and other crops that represent veggie salad ingredients are planted. This is reportedly one of
the fastest-growing types of crop art.
Models of urban agriculture, water features with water plants and fish, paths that are covered
with arches with various types vines (fruits, vegetables and herbs), model herbal gardens are
different types of crop arts that can attract visitors both adults and children .
Natural features
An outstanding natural feature on a farm may become a tourist attractiona waterfall, a
jungle, a stream, or a spectacular view of mountains. Water is a popular natural attraction;
sometimes natural features of interest to a visitor may have been overlooked by the farmer.
Petting zoos
One of the very best things you can organize in a farm for agro tourism promotion is to have
farm animals and pets of all different kinds. Especially petting zoo in a farm is attracted by
children. There are many animal friends you can have in the petting zoo, including ponies,
goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, and many more.. Children can feed the animals,
too. They love that. The petting zoo is free for the children, but you can have a sales outlet to
sell feeds for the animals which will give you an income and free food for your animals.
Things to Do
Educational activities
The educational activities offered on farms range from half day classes or short-term
workshops to full-scale, accredited courses of study. Farm schools accommodate interns or
apprentices, and charge tuition for the learning opportunity. Some farms offer classes in
cooking, arranging flowers, or making herbal medicines. They depend on these activities to
help build a clientele for their main products. Farms have traditionally offered field days,
sometimes sponsored by a farm organization or provincial government. Many farm tours are
also considered as an educational activity. Most of these farm tours are guided by an expert in
the farm and what they describe and explain is an education on the farm.
Children like to involve in various farming activities starting from nursery preparation to
harvesting.
U-Pick ups ( Pick U own)
A U-pick or pick-your-own farm is a type of farm where visitors are allowed to harvest their
own produce. Generally u pickups are practiced with vegetables, fruits and flowers. Visitors
to do milking at dairy farm are also considered as a type of u pickup. Since visitors are
allowed to eat while picking, an entry fee usually covers any produce customers may eat.
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Despite this, the produce at U-pick farms often cost lower since the cost of hiring farmers to
harvest the produce is precluded.
Pick-your-own (PYO) or U-pick operations are a type of direct marketing system where
visitors harvest fruits, vegetables, flowers by themselves. U-pick is often preferred by visitors
who like to select fresher, higher quality, vine ripened produce at reasonable prices. Also,
many visitors enjoy picking produce themselves as a recreational event or outing. U pickups
also can serve as an additional selling method for producers who use other direct and nondirect marketing alternatives.
If you allow PYOs in your farm you have to have a well organise farm with sign boards to
show the crops and information on cultivation and to show the directions, one or two workers
to guide the visitors and facilities to purchase the picked products.
Petting zoos/childrens enjoyments/pony back riding/hayrides
Ponies, rabbits, ducks, lambs, baby goats, calves, and piglets are certain attractions for both
city children and their parents. Pony and bullock cart rides are part of the mix.
BQ by own
You can make available visitors to prepare their own BBQ at the farm under a tree or close to
a bush.
Therapy
If there is a stream or large pond is available in the farm you can organise fish therapy and it
will be a very good activity. Also you can organise paths where visitors can get foot therapy.
Apart from these different kinds of herbal medicinal therapy can be introduced.
Things to Buy
Food and Beverages
You can organise a restaurant in your farm where you can sell cooked food from farm
products and drinks. King coconuts and young coconuts are favours of visitors. Fresh fruit
drinks and herbal drinks both hot and cold are good options. However, dont sell factory
made artificial drinks. Fresh milk and milk products are preferred by both children and their
parents. Homemade ice cream and sweets, sandwiches, fresh fruit, barbecue, and roasting fish
are all possibilities for ready-to-eat food sales.
Gifts and souvenirs
You can have a gift and souvenir shop at the restaurant premises. It is important to have your
gift items represent your farm, something that is actually produced locally. Stick to a theme,
something that truly represents the uniqueness of your farm and your region. T-shirts, pens,
mugs, caps and hats, processed food bottles, wood carvings, pottery, and decorative items
such as fresh and dried flowers and hand loomed cloths are examples of gift and souvenirs.
Fresh and processed food stuff

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Visitors prefer to buy fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, milk and eggs from your farm. Also you
can organise to prepare processed food for sale. Homemade brinjal moju, lime pickle, tomato
sauce, mango chutney, ambrella chutney, butter, crude, yogurt, and cheese are examples of
processed food that can be sold at your farm shop.
Your agro tourism enterprise can attract two types of visitors. They are day visitors and
overnight stay visitors.
Visitors connected with agriculture and day visitors it is offered as a tourist product
directly connected with agricultural environment, agricultural products (half a day
seminar, field visit, u pickups, open air festivals, one day / half a day product tour,
local holidays, etc).
Tourist stays on the farm (farm tourism) this form of tourism is tightly connected
with the place of stay and tasks that are done at the farm. The stay on the farm can be
connected with different interests (eg; bird watching, sport fishing, hiking, pony
riding, etc)
The owner of the agro tourism farm, has to take into account the needs of potential tourists
ranging from these basic requirements something to see, something to do and something to
buy. These needs can be fulfilled by properly adjusting elements of agro tourism to meet the
needs. Among these elements organization of accommodation on the proper level, attractions
of environment, accessibility of every-day facilities and forms of spending the leisure time
are very important. Hospitality is the most important intangible asset required for your agro
tourism business.
Hospitality
Many factors influence the development of agro tourism. Next to the attractiveness of the
farm environment, means of constant production, the social assets people, their
personalities, their public relations, tendency to leading the agro tourism business, are
important factors for the success of the enterprise. A person or a farm family that leads their
own agricultural enterprise has to take into consideration all these aspects and as a
consequence create such style of life that will allow fulfilling the needs of potential tourists.
The agro tourism ensures its participants the silence, peacefulness, the active form of rest in
the natural environment, and first and foremost the tight contact with the local people in the
pleasant atmosphere.
The important factor of starting and developing of agro tourism is to build peoples
willingness and their competences to agriculture and related leisure activities. The condition
to develop agro tourism is creating of positive relationship between farming and the tourists.
The key element to the success of agro tourism enterprise is pleasant service and kindness of
hosts next to good standard of farm which is attractive to the tourists. Often the high qualities
of the region or place the presence of numerous complexes and of various services can be
insufficient, if the quality of service on the farm is poor. In order to meet the expectance of
tourists and to make them feel as at home you as the host should have the following
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features: independence, openness, kindness, tolerance, ability to understand others

expectations, punctuality, quickness, optimism and ability of cooperation. The host should
guess the clients needs and first and foremost to deal so, that the client is convinced, that
there is nothing more important than them and their needs. These needs result mostly from
motives and aims of the journey. Owing to above mentioned features the stay of the tourist
will be pleasent without unexpected and unnecessary stresses disturbing the rest. The next
feature which each owner should have is flexibility and willpower. These predispositions
next to stress resistance, learning from failures and positive relationship towards people
bring the expected results in every enterprise. However, this is the kindness of the host
towards the client, which should be characteristic for every host. In other words, there are
internal and external factors that influence the success in Agro tourism and make tourists
want to visit the given region. External factors are: the attractiveness of the landscape of the
given region and presence of numerous sights. Internal factors include the standard of tourist
base: the quality of agricultural services, standard of rooms, and kindness of hosts. Estimating
of the both kinds of these factors will allow indicating the potential possibilities of
development of agricultural services. Hospitality and kindness of hosts and the time they
sacrifice for tourists makes the agro tourism exceptional and different form of spending free
time.
Establishing and Running of an Agro Tourism business
If you want to establish and run agro tourism business you have to fulfil some basic physical
requirements in the first instance. What are these?
Farm
Agricultural farm is the basic production unit in agriculture. It consists of the land and other
requirements for cultivation and animal rearing such as buildings, machines, tools, water
resource, inner roads, canals, and energy sources. It has and maintains its own workforce. All
activities and production are managed by a farmer. The farm differs from other production
units because the land is the most important factor and it produces mainly food for people and
animals.
A farm which introduced a new section into its structure agro-tourism is called an agro
tourism farm. Agro tourism farm produces plant and animal products and offers service in
agro tourism. The both sections on an agro tourism farm- agriculture and tourism- is
dependant on the other. Often the farm production depends partly or fully on tourism and vice
versa, for example tourists eat food produced on the farm and the objective of a tourist to visit
a farm to experience quiet farm life. The amount of income from a given section depends
from one another and can be different.
On a pure agriculture farm 100% of income comes from plant and/or animal production as
well as food processing. On an agro-tourism farm part of the income comes from tourism and
the rest from the farm production. The ratio of agro-tourism income in total income of the
farm shows the meaning of agro-tourism for that farm. The more income comes from agrotourism, the more important it is for the farm. In agro tourism farms a reasonable amount of
the land used for buildings, car-parks, lawns and flower-beds to make the area more
attractive. Water sources are used to create water features for recreation. The way of
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managing agro tourist farms is sometimes different from other farms. For instance, general
farms try to specialize the production focusing often on one kind of production, while for the
agro-tourism farms diversification is better because this way it is more attractive for tourists.
The agro tourism farms try to make their production more extensive and ecologically/
environmentally clean because these meet the needs of the tourists/visitors. Visitors in agro
tourism prefer ecologically and environmentally clean production. General farms try to
introduce as much technical development as they can aiming for higher production. However,
these modern techniques used in farm production are not very attractive for agro tourists. The
traditional and indigenous methods of agricultural production are of great importance for the
agro-tourism. They were different in different countries and even different regions. Agro
tourism farms accept technical development only in the field of improving tourist service.
The angle at which the agro tourism farms look at the market is also different. The market is
very important and agro tourism farms consider tourists and visitors as their main market
segment.
Table 01: Ways of Managing Agro tourism farm
Type of
managing
Land Usage
Structure of
production
Way of production
The level of production
The market for
products
Source of
income and its
meaning
Socio cultural

Features of managing
Partial using for the agricultural production ( crops and livestock),
and rest for tourism (cabanas, restaurant, car parks, farm shop, therapy,
etc)
Farming activities serves agro-tourism; crop and livestock
diversification; balanced development of the farm
Production of agriculture is not totally commercial basis; even enabling
the tourists taking part in it
Extensive production and protection of the environment; preferably
organic farming; optimal usage of the agro-tourism area
Production inside farm for its own tourism purposes, over production
sold on the market
Two sources of income: agricultural production and tourism, or tourism
alone; the meaning of tourism depends on its share
in total income
Need of using folk traditions, benefits to the society

In establishing a agro tourism farm (starting a new farm from beginning or converting an
existing farm) you have to bear three types of costs. They are establishing costs, property
costs and production costs.
Establishing costs
This is the cost incurred in purchasing a land, fencing, and construction of buildings, water
tanks, bans, electricity supply, inner roads, and other similar things.
Property costs
Property costs are the costs, which must be paid even if the farm does not produce goods. It is
obligatory to pay taxes and payments, paint the building or repair damages. Even there is no
farm production or agro tourism activity, owner has to bear some cost and this is property
cost.
Production costs
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Costs connected with producing goods and services are production costs. This cost includes
both cost for agricultural production and agro tourism.
What is the type of Agro Tourism that fits into your farm?
You can operate agro tourism as a supplementary enterprise, complementary enterprise or
primary enterprise. You have to decide what is most suitable and appropriate type for your
farm.
A supplementary enterprise: As a supplementary enterprise, agro-tourism could be a minor
activity that would support the other products on your farm. For instance, if your primary
enterprise is tea cultivation, you may decide to invite visitor groups to your farm for day
visits to learn about tea cultivation and if you have a tea processing factory too. Occasionally
hosting guests on your farm would make agro-tourism a supplementary enterprise to your
primary enterprise as long as the agro-tourism activities are a small part of your farm income.
A complementary enterprise: As a complementary enterprise, agro-tourism activities would
have equal footing with other enterprises in your farm production. For example, you may
have a fruit production unit on your farm. If you plan to sell half of your fruits to a wholesaler
and the remainder to pick-your-own guests on your farm, then the two enterprises (the
wholesale market and the direct market) would be complementary enterprises.
The primary enterprise: As the primary enterprise, agro-tourism would be the dominant
activity on your farm. For instance, you may decide to open a restaurant and Farm B & B on
your farm and invite guests to spend the day or the weekend in your farm. You may produce
vegetables, fruits and meet in your farm but you use these produce mainly to feed your
guests. Therefore, agro-tourism is the main part of your farm production; it becomes your
primary enterprise.
It is important for you, as a farmer, to realize that agro-tourism has the potential to become
whatever you want it to be on your farm. Whether you use agro-tourism as a supplementary,
complementary, or primary enterprise, you must be ready to think creatively and plan
effectively in order for your new enterprise to be successful.

4.0Agro Tourism Products

Agro Tourism Products are spreading in a wider range. Agro Tourism products are not merely
activities. It is included place of implementing the activities, people involved, facilities
needed for tourists, something to see, something to do (activities) and something to buy the
visitors/ tourists and procedures.
1. Accommodation
Different types of farm accommodations are considered as agro tourism products. Farm
accommodation is rated on the basis of standards accepted internationally and is a good
business decision for owner/operators and their guests. According to the definition of a
tourist, farm accommodation is the real agro tourism product. For your information the
definition of a tourist is a person who is supposed to leave his/her hometown (permanent
place) on temporary basis for the purpose of seeking new experiences, having fun &
entertaining, doing sports, seeing cultural & historical places (attractions) etc, on the
condition that she/he should stay no less than one day (including a night) and no longer than
23

12 months, make use of a tourist facility for accommodation and spend her/his own money
through their holiday.
Farm accommodation can be arranged as Cottages or Cabana type or Farm house type.
A. Cottages/ Cabanas
If the farm has a couple of acres of land that is the perfect location for having cottages or
Cabanas. Cottage or Cabana type accommodation is an option for farm families who want
more privacy. Also small and medium type entrepreneurs who like to operate agro tourism as
a business in their existing farm or new farm, the most suitable farm accommodation is
cottage type. The location of the cottages shall be according to the land situation of the farm.
They have to build in a location in the farm where yet far enough away to be private. This
means the tourists privacy shall be secured.
The location of the cottage shall have some uniqueness to attract the tourists. It can be closer
to a jungle adjoining the farm, a water cottage in a lake in farm, at a bank of a stream or lake
in the farm, a tree house or with any other specific attraction.
Often, the cottages are rented on an overnight basis. There can be a kitchen in the cottage
with cooking facilities and utensils where tourists can prepare their meals. They may like to
pick their own the vegetables and purchase other food items from the farm and prepare their
meals. Also you can organise their meals from the farm and charge separately.
Cottages shall have clean and quality washrooms with hot water facility, standard beds,
dining facilities and parking to obtain one Star rating. Also one star rating has criteria such as
a standard room size, quality window screens and coverings, linens, writing table with chair,
clothes storage, linens, door locks and smoke detectors. Two star rating exceeds the previous
requirements by offering better quality mattresses, linens, floor carpets, and additional room
furniture including sofa, TV, and veranda chairs. A breakfast with a minimum of two items
must also be provided on the premises. Three star accommodation must have matched
furniture, better quality bedding, and have a private bath or shower for each Cottage/ Cabana
with hot water facilities. Mini toilet kit (soap, shampoo, shower cap, etc.) is provided for
each cottage. Four star units must have superior quality throughout the facility and must have
laundry facilities for the guests. Only properties with luxury in par with world standard are
awarded five star rating. They offer outstanding facilities, guest services and amenities.
B. Farm House
This is the type of accommodation organised in the farmers residence itself. One, two, three
or more rooms in the farmers house are allocated for guests. These rooms must be organised
to keep the privacy of both farmer family and the guests. However, guests may like to
experience the life of a farmer family and this facility must be available to the guests.
Facilities for the guests shall be organised as pointed out in the section on cottages to obtain
the type of star certification for the farmhouse accommodation. There can be shared
bathroom facilities for two or three rooms or attached bathroom facility for each room. Most
of the guests prefer attached bathroom facility.
Three star facilities shall have a bathroom in each bedroom. Unless a home is originally built
to facilitate a bed and breakfast operation, a bathroom in each bedroom of a farm home is
24

structurally difficult. Most rooms are not big enough to accommodate this, and the expense of
this renovation would be difficult to recover.
Therefore, two star bed and breakfast operations are feasible at most farm homes already
excising in the farm. The following parameters can be used as guidelines:
1) The bed and breakfast operation is open throughout the year
2) If the farm house can allocate three bedroom units for guests, one bedroom can have one
king size bed for two people and two bedrooms have two beds for four people. They share a
common bathroom.
3) Each bed room can have a TV set and appropriate furniture such as a writing table with
chair, clothing lockers, tea making facility and mirror table.
4) Linen will be provided and changed daily or according to the request of the guests.
This business profile has highlighted two star farmhouse bed and breakfast operations as an
Agro tourism business requires less capital investment than new cottages or cabanas and is a
good opening to the agro tourist industry on a small scale. The returns are only modest at this
level, but if the entrepreneur finds that he or she enjoys Agro tourism, then the business plan
can be expanded and developed to a larger scale that may include additional cottages, a
roadside market, or farm based other recreational activities. There are entrepreneurs who
have been very successful entering the agro tourism business and there are others who have
made only marginal returns. It depends on the capability of the entrepreneur to enter and
maintain the business according to required standards.
A number of farm based activities could be operated in conjunction with the farm
accommodations to help increase the activities offered to guests on a pay as you go basis.
Examples of these are:
o Nature Trails
o Bird Watching
o Pony back Riding
o Petting Zoos
o Farm Tours / Demonstrations
o Farm Museums / Heritage Education
o Stocked Ponds for sport fishing
o Nursery activities
o Green house farming
o Organic manure production such as vermin cast
2. Direct Marketing
Other Agro-tourism product on the farm may include the Direct Marketing of farm products
at the farm gate or a farmers market. Innovative ideas using farm-based products have the
greatest potential to earn the most money. Finding the niche markets and expanding on these
unique opportunities can create the most rewarding and successful business ventures.
Different events on the farm, such as bee honey collection, U pickups, and farm restaurants
with out-door BBQs can be instigated as direct marketing. Marketing niches such as water
gardening supplies, herbal plants and products, flowers and exotic plants and breeding exotic
animals can be added as farm based markets and require careful attention to constantly
25

changing consumer trends. These can be very profitable if developed in conjunction with
other agro tourism products. These markets can also attract many tourists who are looking for
something different for the whole family such as out- door BBQs, pay fishing, bathing at an
open well.
Value-added products of the farm can be introduced to develop and expand direct marketing
business. Farm products can be further processed and sold at the farm gate and to attract
clientele, the farm shop shall offer something that is different from the competitors. Value
added products, such as buffalo curd, milk toffees, specialty meats and cheeses, fresh fruit
juices, special flavoured farm made ice cream, or dried flower arrangements are popular.
These products, when marketed on or near the farm, can attract visitors to the rural location
and enhance the communitys economy.
3. Commercial Farm Tours
Farm tours can be organized in many different fashions. There may be just one farm hosting
the tour, or a group of farms in a given area may be included, providing the tourists with an
overall idea about agriculture in the area.
Tours may be operated individually, where a family or group of people may choose to
participate in the tour on their own. Farm Tours can be operated on a large scale, if tour
operators include the farm tour into their tour package in advance. A packaged tour may
include a half a day or one day tour of a farm and a processing plant so that the tourists will
have a fuller understanding of the food chain from nursery stage, planting and up to
harvesting, processing and marketing.
There are very good examples of this type of commercial farm tours in the world. Coffee
Tours in Tanzania, Banana Tours in Central America, Wine tours in France, Whisky Tours in
Scotland and Orange tours in Spain are some of them. In Sri Lanka you can start Cinnamon
Tours, Tea Tours, Banana tours, and Coconut Tours.
Also joining with tour operators, farmer groups can initiate various trails or driving routes,
where a number of similar enterprises can be seen along the route such as a Tea Route,
Cinnamon Route and Coconut Routes.
Specific Farm Tours
Coffee Tours
Tea Tours
Cinnamon Tours
Banana Tours
Orange Tours
Berry tours
Coffee Tour
The main objective of the Coffee Tour is to educate and inform the local and international
population with regard to the whole production process as well as the processing of coffee.
The tour takes place on Coffee Estate, where visitor can learn about the production, the
harvesting, the processing plant and the roasting of the grain.
Guided by an expert, the visitors will receive extensive information, which will make this
activity an incomparable experience. The tour begins in the seedbed. There visitor will
26

observe and be explained the development process of the plant up to the point of harvest of
the ripe grain. Visitor will also learn about the history of the estate, its owners, the production
and varieties of plants, the geography of the area and the traditional ways of cultivating the
grain.
The second station is the coffee processing plant. Visitor can see the first classification of the
grains, afterwards the process of de-pulping of first and second quality coffee takes place in
the grinders.
Next, the natural honey of the grain is cut in the fermentation tanks and a process is carried
out that is significant to the taste of the coffee. The coffee that has been dried in the Guardiola
or on the patios under the sun is stored in the warehouse. This grain is ready to be peeled, and
then exported or roasted in the country. Finally, the roasting plant is visited, where visitor will
be explained and can observe the different types of roasts that are offered. Once the tour is
over, a visit is made to the souvenir shop, where visitor can find the coffee packed in sealed
bags.
Tea Tour
This is the essential tea planting and processing experience. The Tea Tour is currently offered
in some tea plantaions in Sri Lanka. Tea planter or tea plantation tour guide will show visitors
firsthand the age-old tea planting and making process. First, follow the trail of the planters, as
they trekked through the dense jungle looking for the best slopes on which to plant tea. Then
on to watch the tea puckers pick two leaves and a bud with deft hands. Visitors visit to tea
nursery and learn and experience on tea nursery management. They will be guided around the
tea plantation and demonstrate pruning, plucking and other cultural practices on availability.
Then visitors visit to the factory where the all-important conversion to made black tea
happens. In some tea factories in Up country in Sri Lanka has the machinery of very
traditional British design, some as old as 100 years. The process is a very artisanal one,
unchanged for a century. The tea tour ends with a tasting of different grades of this great
brew. Together with tea-infused cuisine, tea based spa treatments and trekking trails that
traverse tea-blanketed hills, can be introduced in tea tour. Finally, visitors will go to the tea
shop and buy different grades of unblended tea packs from its origin. They leave the Tea
estate with a newly found appreciation of this wonder herb Camellia Sinensis.
Banana Tours
Purpose of Banana Tour is to show all how the world's most popular fruit is produced on a
commercial basis, so that the visitor can see the tremendous care given at every step of the
operation to produce the best product for the consumer, while minimizing the impact on the
environment. Banana tours are mainly operated in Central America and here is an example
from Costa Rica.
The Banana Tour is currently offered in central American countries including Costa Rican
farms. Bananito farm is located about 20 minutes south of Limon. Zurqui farm is located in
Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. Zurqui farm have the following facilities designed to ensure
customer satisfaction. The "Banana Tour" introduces the visitor to the world of bananas in a
very realistic manner. Zurqui farm has an extended roof attached to the packing plant. Up to
five buses fit at one time, protecting visitors from rain when entering and leaving the tour
27

area. Zurqui have conveniently located restroom facilities for the exclusive use of the visitors.
Zurqui have specially conditioned trails which connect the packing plant with nearby areas of
the banana plantation. From these trails visitors see demonstrations of agricultural practices.
The trails are built in such a way that the farm is able to host up to six groups simultaneously
in the field, with more groups viewing the packing process while waiting. Each group of
roughly 25 people is attended by the Agency's guide, who will have been previously trained
by Banana Tour personnel. The two farms have ample parking areas for up to 10 buses at a
time. The trails are covered with gravel for comfort and safety, the foot bridges are wide and
have handrails.
Above is given three types of famous farm tours operated by tour operators including into
their tour packages together with other activities. A farmer or group of farmers can have an
arrangement with a tour operator to include this type of farm tours into their itineary . This is
a win- win business. Both farmers and tour operates will be benefitted from this type of
business. Farms will get continuous flow of visitors and tour operators can offer an attractive
tour package to their guests different from other itinearies. Thereby both parties will earn
good money.
4. Packaging the Agro-Tourism Experience
Agro tourism development takes place in an integrated manner and can take advantage of
many added extras and be sold as one product. The packaging of an agro tourism experience
requires more work in the planning stages but has potential to attract more customers. An
example of packaging of the agro tourism product could be a collective effort whereby the
agro farm is one of many destinations within a local tour. The farm products could be
highlighted at the farm entrance and presented for lunch at the farm restaurant. Different farm
operators can work together to package their products to form a basket of agro tourism
products for tourists. A stay at a farm Bed and Breakfast can include admission to the local
agricultural fair, a harvesting festival, and a local guided tour. Also honeymoon packages can
be designed to be part of a cottage with Bed and Breakfast stay where the newly wedded
couple can get memorable experience.
Pricing of Agro Tourism Product
An entrepreneur shall have knowledge on how to do pricing of the agro tourism product. This
is a business and price of the product includes cost of production, taxes and profit margin.
The price you charge for your agro tourism product is one of the most important business
decisions you make. Too high or too low price will limit your business growth and adversely
affect your agro tourism business. Finally, such price will cause serious problems for your
sales and cash flow.
If your business is a new one, you should carefully consider your pricing strategy before you
start the business. Already established businesses can improve their profitability through
regular price revisions.
When you are setting the price of the agro tourism product you must make sure that the price
and sales levels you set will allow your business to be profitable. At the same time you must
consider the position of your product compared with your competitors.

28

In pricing your agro tourism product you have to consider the characteristics of a niche
market too. Further, in making decisions about your product price you have to know the
difference between cost and value and it will increase profitability of your business
the cost of your agro tourism product is the amount you spend to produce it
the price is your financial reward for providing the product including the taxes and
profit margins
the value is what your customers believes the product is worth to them
Pricing should be done considering the value of the benefits that your agro tourism business
provides for its customers, while keeping in the mind prices your competitors charge for
similar type of product.
To maximise your profitability, find out:
what is the uniqueness of your agro tourism product
the new experiences that you provide to your customers
what is the value your customers places on the benefits you provide
Therefore, when you are setting the prices that may reflect the value you provide, not just the
cost of the product. However, this decision should be taken after considering the appropriate
pricing policy for your business.
You have to cover your cost of production in order to make a profit. Therefore, you have to
calculate the cost of production of the agro tourism product accurately and it is an essential
for deciding the price of the product.

There are two main costs to be considered.

fixed costs : this cost is fixed to produce your product irrespective the scale of
business ; how much or how little you sell, (example: cost of construction of buildings
or rent , salaries of the fixed workers, minimum cost for fixing of electricity, water
service and telephones, furniture and equipments, initial cost of advertising, etc. )
variable costs: those that rise as your sales increase, such as raw materials for food,
extra labour , transport, advertising, extra equipments, additional electricity and water
bills)
When you set a price for your product, you have to consider both fixed and variable costs and
definitely it must be higher than the variable cost of producing your product or service. Each
sale will then make a contribution towards covering your fixed costs - and making profits.

29

Two basic methods can be used for pricing agro tourism products. They are cost-plus and
value-based pricing. The most appropriate choice of pricing of your agro tourism product is
based on type of business, type of product, what influences your customers to buy your
product and the nature of competition.
Cost-plus pricing
This takes the cost of production of your product and adds an amount that you need to make a
profit. This is usually expressed as a percentage of the cost of production.
Cost plus pricing is generally more suitable for newly established agro tourism businesses
and businesses with high competition.
Value-based pricing
This focuses on the price you believe customers are willing to pay, based on the uniqueness
of your business and their attraction to your product due to uniqueness and high quality of the
product/ service. Value-based pricing depends on the quality and uniqueness of your product
that you offer to the customers.
If you can clearly define uniqueness, high quality and specialty of your product over your
competitors, you can price your product according to the value considered by the customers.
While this approach can prove very profitable, it can isolate potential customers who are
driven only by price.

5.0 Business plan for agro tourism enterprise

Now the reader of this monograph has a certain level of knowledge on Agro tourism and
he may think that agro tourism seems like a viable business for him. The reader wants to
know how he/she can plan his/her agro tourism business. Since it is not suitable for each
person to carry out agro tourism activities on their farms, you first will need to determine
whether or not agro tourism is an appropriate option for you. Once you have decided that
you are ready to practice agro tourism, you will need to set goals, assess your resources,
and develop a business plan. The following five steps are the process of business planning
in agro tourism.
1. Personal assessment
2. Business goals and objectives
3. Internal resource assessment
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4. External resources
5. Business plan framework
Personal assessment
There are many reasons you to consider agro tourism as a new business venture in your
existing farm or future farm that you are going to develop as an agro tourism enterprise.
Prior to investing in agro tourism, you must carefully analyse your potential as a host and
your resources available for investment in an agro tourism enterprise. Proper planning
and analysis will considerably enhance your chances of success. If you have ever had a
good experience on a farm B&B stay, you may have an idea about agro tourism
destination and guests feeling. However, it is indispensable for you to evaluate yourself
and your family to ensure that you have the ability to be a sociable and attentive host to
your guests. In order to assist you in making this decision, you can inquire about yourself
by answering the following questions.
Do I and my family like meeting all types of people who may visit our agro
tourism enterprise?
Do I like to entertain guests?
Do I mind giving up some of my privacy at home by inviting guests to my farm?
Can I always be joyful and cooperative to my guests?
Can I keep my farm and guest facilities always neat and clean?
Am I successful at managing and organizing my home and farm expenses?
If your answer is yes to all of these questions, then you are suitable to operate a
successful agro-tourism business and vice versa. Before starting an ago tourism
enterprise, you should weigh the costs and the benefits of such an investment. For that,
you have to develop a business plan for your proposed enterprise and see whether you
have enough resources to start this business.
Business goals and objectives
Before you prepare a strategic business plan for your agro tourism enterprise, you should
outline your mission statement, marketing slogan and business goals and objectives. If
you are interested in adding tourism activities to your farm or to start a new farm with
tourism activities, you should develop new goals and objectives for your agro tourism
farm.
Mission Statement discloses the core purpose of your business, stating the basic values
and goals in a short, focused sentence. It should reflect the purpose of the proposed
project, benefits, and customers. Marketing slogan consists of a short, smart, even
entertaining version of your mission statement that transmit a single, simple thought
about your business to your customer.
You have to set measurable goals and objectives for your agro tourism business. Goals are
three to five years plan and objectives are things you want to accomplish in the next year.
Some areas for consideration may include sales volume, profits, customer satisfaction,
owner compensation, number of employees, employee development, etc. To set goals and
objectives you should know the answers to these questions. What is my primary agro
tourism product or enterprise? What do I produce the most on my farm? Can this agro
31

tourism product or enterprise be an attraction for visitors? If so, what should I do to

enhance its attractiveness? If not, how can I modify it and turn it into an attraction one?
What can I add to it to make it attractive? Where do you see the business in three to five
years? How are you going to promote customer satisfaction?
Internal resource assessment
In this stage of internal resource assessment, you have to think like an entrepreneur. You
should view yourself and your farm in a different, creative manner. Here, you have to
make an inventory of financial, physical, human, and natural resources that you have
already in your farm and with you. Also you have to identify all the products, services,
and resources your farm can offer.
External resources
Once you have set goals and objectives and identified internal resources for your new
agro-tourism enterprise, you have to discuss your plans with other people in the field who
have experience in implementing agro tourism projects. They can help to refresh your
ideas and plans. You have to consider carefully these ideas of external people too. There
may be very valuable ideas that may help you in planning and implementing the new
enterprise. Also you may have to contact financial institutions such as banks for necessary
additional funding.
Business Plan framework
The business plan serves many purposes and is essential to starting a new venture on agro
tourism as part of your farm, ranch, or processing operation. A business plan consists of
several parts. They are as follows.
Description of business
Goals and objectives
Internal resources
Market analysis
Marketing plan
Organization and management
Operations plan
Financial plan
Describe Farm and agro tourism Product: First you have write down what kind of farm
you have currently and what you want your farm to become in the future. If it is an existing
farm when was it started, or if you want a new farm when it is projected to start? Why was it
started? Who started it? How does the recreation enterprise fit in with your overall farm or
ranch operation? How are you going to set up this business (sole proprietorship, general
partnership, limited partnership)?
You have to describe what you are planning to sell to the visitors. Why should people buy
your product/service? What makes it unique? What is the cost to provide this product? How
much will you charge? How does it compare to other similar recreation enterprises? Are there
complementary services in the area?
32

Goals and Objectives: You have to identify clearly what are the goals and objectives of the
business.
Internal Resources: You should first carefully develop your business and product,
considering your available resources. List your internal resources and describe how they can
be used in developing your agro tourism product and how they are unique and marketable.
Also explain what kind of value addition you can do to your farm aiming to start agro
tourism.
Market analysis and Define Customers: Who are you targeting for your farm stay or agro
tourism venture? You have to clearly identify gender composition, age categories, income
levels, occupation status, originality of residence, family size, level of education, and their
interests.
Develop a Marketing Strategy: In planning your marketing strategy you have to organise
information about customers/guests. Type of the guests: Who, From Where (regional, local,
or international, or mix of all or two of them), What would be their needs and ways and
methods to attract guests to your farm? This you may have completed under section Define
Customers.
Your marketing and advertising method may be as simple as word of mouth and repeat
customers, or it may be complex as an ad campaign with printed materials, radio spots,
newspaper or other media advertising, mass mailings, and social media campaigning.
Marketing and advertising will be covered more fully in the next section, but you should
include your marketing strategy in your business plan.
Organization and Management: It is included how to manage the enterprise. What are the
divisions you are going to have for operating the agro tourism enterprice? Eg: reception,
housekeeping, tour guiding and guest care, cooking, marketing, finance, farming operation.
There may be one or two persons in a division according to scale of operation. Nevertheless it
is important to differentiate the division of operations and human resources to them.
Employees are a key component of your business. Written job descriptions that clearly
define duties and a personnel manual is important for each employee to perform their duties
well. You should identify how many employees you need to run the recreation enterprise,
their titles, job duties and skills. If you need additional employees, where and how will you
attract them? What process will you use to screen and hire employees (job skill testing, job
interviews, etc.). What type of training is needed for them? Who will conduct employee
training (in-house, paid consultant,)? What will be the cost of the training? How will you set
salaries and wages? What benefits will you provide? You have to give answers to all these in
business plan.
Operations plan: You must have a farm for operating agro tourism. Therefore, your farm
operations and agro tourism operations must go hand in hand. Without having a successful
farm, it is impossible to operate a successful agro tourism enterprise. Therefore, first you
must have a clear operational plan for crop and livestock production in your farm. Your agro
tourism operations must be compatible with crop and livestock production operations. As an
example, organizing harvesting festival to visitors must be well-matched with the days of
harvesting of the crops. However, there may be off farming activities for the guests who are
33

not necessarily matched with farming operations such as fish therapy, foot therapy, bird
watching, etc.
Financial Plan: You will need to identify your current fixed assets (those with a useful life or
more than one year) and those which you need to purchase. These might include land,
buildings and improvements, machinery, other equipment, livestock, office furniture,
computers, etc. You have to find out the cost and estimated acquisition date and estimate the
useful life of each fixed asset.
As any new enterprise will have start-up costs you too have to have start up costs. These costs
are those associated with what it takes to initiate your agro tourism business. Most of these
costs will be one-time expenditures such as new buildings, furniture, company registration
fee, etc. Others will occur every year such as legal fees, accounting and auditing fees,
licenses and permits, advertising, promotions, hiring costs, etc.
Forecasting sales is critical to your enterprise from both a management and sales point of
view. You can't plan financially if you don't have an estimate of sales. You should review
your data on products, customers, competitors, and budgets to develop the trends and
projections. Be realistic in making these forecasts. Estimate the total market size in rupees
sales per year based on your research, and create a market share analysis with worst case,
most likely case, and best case scenarios.
Create a financial plan, including all sources of existing debt and additional financing needs.
Detail principal and interest payments for each month. Research sources of needed capital;
the business plan will be a key selling point for the venture. Be realistic about the business
always, dont be over enthusiastic.
Develop a monthly chart of operating expenses. Combine this with your start-up costs, sales
forecast, and debt servicing to create a cash flow budget. Cash flow projections are among
the most critical projections you will make. If you are going to borrow money from the bank,
this document is very important.
From the documents you have developed already (sales forecast, expense sheet and cash
flow) you will be able to calculate a projected income statement, a break-even analysis, a
balance sheet and other necessary financial documents. These documents are similar to what
you use for your other business.

34

6.0 Marketing and Promotion

Marketing includes identification of your customer base; a clear description of the goods,
services, and experiences offered; and advertising and promotion of your agro tourism
business. One of the most important aspects of marketing your business venture is the
formulation of a marketing plan.
It includes,
Customers: Identify customers coming to your area for similar attractions. Such information
may be found through farmer associations, regional tourism councils, or local chamber of
commerce and other outlets. Be specific in identifying the group of consumers you wish
to target.
Market: What types of agro tourism activities are popular or increasing in popularity? What
changes and developments in the agro tourism market might be expected in the
foreseeable future?
Uniqueness of the Product: What makes your agro tourism business unique? What would
set you apart from competitors? (Unique heritage components; a unique location with
attractive amenities; specialized attributes of your products or services, such as organic
produce or meat, raising exotic animals, or unique activities available)
Budget: In the beginning of an agro tourism operation around 20 percent of gross revenues
should be invested in promotion and marketing.
Agro tourism includes both products and services. Marketing of agro tourism products and
services is similar to marketing farm products. However, there are several characteristics of
35

services that make them different from products. Before attempting to market your new
tourism services, you should understand how services differ from products. In agro tourism
there are clear products and clear services as well as mix of both.
Marketing mix
One of the most basic concepts included in the marketing plan is marketing mix, which
consists of the elements controlling and using to communicate with and satisfy the customers.
Agro tourism marketing mix consists of the seven elements (Seven Ps).
1. Place (How can you take advantage of your location?)
2. Product (What do you have to offer your guests?)
3. Price (How much should you charge for your agri-tourism services and activities?)
4. Promotion (How do you advertise your agri-tourism business?)
5. People (Who are the tourists?)
6. Physical evidence (What are the tangible components of service?)
7. Process (How do you provide excellent customer service?)
Effective marketing is a key element in any business enterprise. It is common for agro
tourism business too. Even the best-managed farm leisure business can be unsuccessful if
potential clients are unaware of the enterprise.
Marketing is simply determining what people want, planning and providing products and
services to meet those wants, and selecting the most effective ways of reaching those who
might pay for these products and services.
Developing a Marketing Plan
Business Plan of the agro tourism business should contain a section on marketing. It must be
simple as possible by defining the target customers, service, and ways to reach the message to
customers. There should be a budget each year for marketing.
As you develop a marketing strategy you have to identify the two or three strong selling
points of your agro tourism product and service. It might be exclusivity of a product,
exceptional facilities available, location and access to area attractions, competitive prices, or
unique products in the agro tourism business. The key selling points for your marketing
strategy mainly depend on the target audience.
Marketing Your Business

The type and amount of marketing you use in your agro tourism business will depend on the
specifics of your operation. Marketing can be varied from word-of-mouth communication to
an intensive regional, national, or international media campaign.
Your marketing style and message must be directed to your identified audience. Anything you
print must reflect these selling points in smart, high quality, and attractive presentation.
Shoddy advertisements or brochures reflect badly on your business.

36

The three basics of advertising include: the message (the two or three strong selling points
and additional information about your service), the medium (Newspapers, radio, TV, etc.),
and the target audience.
The Message

Message should include the type of main product or service offered by the agro tourism
business; additional products and services; directions to the location; costs of the products or
service (not always); and how to make reservations (if needed). Keep your message simple.
Dates, fees, location address and phone numbers, email and web address shall be accurate. It
is better to get service of advertising personal for organizing the message.
The Medium
Marketing includes a wide range of activities, from public relations and advertising, to
promotions and trade shows. Advertising is expensive and must plan and execute
systematically to get optimum benefits. You should carefully consider all the following media
and focus on those that fit your budget and reach your target audience. The medium is the
method by which the message is delivered to your potential clients.

Examples for mediums:

Billboards
Travel and tour agents
Brochures
Chamber of Commerce
Visitors Bureau
Welcome Centers
Word-of-mouth referral

Magazines
Newsletters
Newspapers
Radio
Yellow pagers in
telephone book listing
Television

Trade journals
Social websites as face
book, Twitter

The Target Audience

Target audiences are distinct groups or segments of clients that you expect to reach when you
employ different marketing strategies. You may decide to target your service based on the
characteristics of:
1. Social status
2. Age groups ( adults, children)
3. Visitors needs
37

4. Income levels
5. Origin of the visitors (Local, Foreign, Urban, etc.)
6. Type of visitors ( Day visitors or overnight stay)
Marketing Costs
The cost of marketing for an agro tourism business will mainly depend on the size and type
of the operation, the medium, and the number of times repeats any advertisements. New
operations typically spend 10-25% of total operational costs of marketing for the first few
years. It's important to keep good records about response to specific marketing efforts. By
doing a survey among the customers about how they found out about the operation, you can
select the best medium. With time and reputation, costs for marketing will be reduced.

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