Agritourism resilience against Covid-19: Impacts and management strategies

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of the three research area locations in Tutong and Temburong districts

Table 1. Table of agritourism farm interview participants

Farm name	Respondent no.	Role	Gender	Interview duration (minutes)
ECOPONIES GARDEN	R1	Founder	Female	240
	R2	Co-founder	Female	80
	R3	Farmer	Female	66
	R4	Farmer	Male	66
	R5	Volunteer	Female	63
	R6	Volunteer	Male	72
	R7	Volunteer	Male	66
	R8	Volunteer	Female	78
	R9	Staff	Male	64
TASBEE MELIPONICULTURE	R10	Owner	Male	82
	R11	Volunteer	Female	72
	R12	Volunteer	Female	75
	R13	Volunteer	Female	84
SUMBILING ECO VILLAGE	R14	Owner	Male	95
	R15	Manager	Female	78
	R16	Farmer	Male	63
	R17	Farmer	Male	60
	R18	Farmer/tour guide	Male	65
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS	R19	Tour guide	Female	72
	R20	Product promoter	Female	60
	R21	Officer at Department of Agriculture & Agrifood	Female	60
	R22	Officer at Tourism and Development Department	Female	66

Table 2. Summary of the Main Strategies

Main strategies	Application at agritourism farms
DIVERSIFY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES	EPG Still receive small income from various efforts and activities. Brunei Covid-19 de-escalation phases introduced. Visitor capacities at the farm gradually increased. New service: Home/direct delivery of fresh organic products and healthy cooked meals. New collaboration product: Innovated organic food hamper baskets consisted of local produce. Used online marketing/social media to promote food localism and their new organic food product. New gastronomy events organised.
	TMF Honey extraction and production still ongoing albeit less frequently. Still gain limited income from domestic tourists and honey sales. Two months later Brunei Covid-19 de-escalation phases were introduced. Visitor capacities at the farm gradually increased. New collaboration product: Innovated organic food hamper baskets consisted of local produce. Used online marketing/social media to promote food localism and their new organic food product.
	SEV Despite temporary closure, owner decided to build new recreational and accommodation facilities to enhance tourism attractiveness. New sports activities such as rafting and camping to attract large family groups.
COVID-19 TOURISM TECHNOLOGY	All three farms: Temperature checks at entrances and exits Limiting the number of visitors from small to medium groups only. Adhered to social distancing measures. Utilised the national BruHealth contact tracing app to reduce health risks. Managed visitation capacities at designated time slots to prevent negative environmental impacts. Social media platforms used to keep engaging with potential visitors and promote positive destination brands.
ADAPTIVE HUMAN RESOURCES	EPG: Local farmers/villagers are multitaskers. They act as forest tour guides for tourists while foraging food for themselves. Farmers quickly adapt and innovate new entrepreneurial projects.
	SEV: Local villagers are encouraged to use their knowledge on wild food in the forest, while being trained as tour guides. Took advantage of the indigenous agricultural heritage and transformed it into various eco-tourism services. Promoted the direct foraging of wild fruits, vegetables and herbs from the forest as a tourism attraction.
	TMF: Build farm facilities using own resources. Learned the setting up of a meliponiculture farm through independent research and courses. Creating awareness on the preservation of stingless bees with limited support. Innovated various products from honey and propolis while conducting small courses on how to make organic bee products. Collaborated with local institutions to organise educational programmes, e.g. trained young tourism students on the essentials of tour guiding.