Tourism on organic farms in South Korea: a new form of ecotourism≟

Abstract

This exploratory research examines the potential of organic farms in South Korea to enable a distinct form of environmentally sustainable tourism. Case studies involving in-depth interviews with three organic farms and content analysis of the websites of 38 organic farms offering tourism-related activities were conducted. An analytical framework using key ecotourism principles was developed to guide an evaluation of activities and practices on the farms. Organic farmers in the study were concerned about ecological conditions on their land, possessed close ties to that land, and employed related knowledge to help preserve natural habitat and minimize adverse environmental impacts. Social–cultural gains were evident, for both visitors and local inhabitants. It is argued that this type of tourism on organic farms may be a potentially new form of ecotourism (eco-organic farm tourism). The study suggests that ecotourism principles may be usefully applied as a guiding sustainability paradigm for small scale, organic farms engaging in tourism. This new tourism type can be employed as a strategy for facilitating sustainable agriculture, local development, social–cultural and environmental conservation, wellbeing, and learning. Further research needs to be carried out both in Korea and elsewhere to develop this eco-organic farm tourism concept.

Keywords:

• agritourism
• ecotourism
• sustainable tourism
• South Korea
• organic farm

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the reviewers for their valuable suggestions, and Bernard Lane for excellent input as well as careful and patient editorial assistance.

Notes

1. The term “village” is used in this article (e.g. in Table 1) as a direct translation of the word from Korean to English in official documents and the website examined, but the authors suggest that “community” may be an appropriate synonym to use in this context.

2. It should be noted that some situate ecotourism within the broader umbrella of sustainable tourism, while others point to the different origins of these two approaches (see, for instance, Jamal et al., 2006). For the purpose of this paper, ecotourism will be considered to be a type of sustainable tourism due to the multiple similarities between the principles that inform both concepts (see Hardy & Beeton, 2001).