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ABSTRACT
The Malopolska region of Poland is highly representative of the current state of agritourism in Poland. The level of agritourism services in this region is very high relative to the national average, the result of environmental and cultural values being incorporated into social and economic development practices. Based on evidence from 1259 agritourism-oriented farms collected from municipal and regional government bureaus, web-published data, and survey data from 575 farm owners in the Malopolska, this paper analyzes the spatial distribution of such farms and the relationship between agritourism and ‘regular’ rural tourism. The Malopolska Voivodeship is strongly diversified in terms of agritourism development. The largest number of agritourism farms is in mountain, piedmont, and upland areas. Research has shown that agritourism is pursued by farmers who own small farms and produce food only for their own use. However, 60% of agritourism farms were found not to engage in any agricultural production. The research also identified basic tendencies of agritourism development in the region. The following basic trends were observed – a shift from agritourism to rural tourism, an increase in the number of agritourist farms offering 10 or more beds, and an expanded service offering – yielding a targeted offering for a specific customer and an increase in the quality of services. This indicates that agritourism owners engaging in this form of business are investing to create more usable space for tourists. The authors’ findings and conclusions also cover the concept of a functional model of agritourism in the Malopolska region. This model shows the relationship between environmental value and the nature of agricultural production and type of tourism in rural areas as well as the diversity of tourist offerings. The model also shows the transition from agriculture and its close relative, agritourism, to regular tourism in rural areas.
摘要
小波兰省地区是波兰农业旅游现今水平的典型代表。该地区的农业旅游水平远高于全国平均水平, 是把环境与文化价值融合进社会经济发展实践的结果。本文基于从都市与区域政府部门收集的1259家农业旅游农场的数据、网络数据以及小波兰575家农场主调查数据分析了农业旅游农场的空间分布以及农业旅游与常规的乡村旅游之间的关系。小波兰省农业旅游发展具有高度的多元化, 绝大部分农业旅游农场位于山区、山麓地带与高原地区。研究表明, 尽管拥有小型农场并且生产食品只供自家使用的农场主经营农业旅游, 但是也发现60%的农业旅游农场并不从事农业生产活动。本研究也观察到一些基本的发展趋势, 比如从农业旅游转向乡村旅游、提供10张及以上床位的农业旅游农场的数量在增加、农场旅游农场的服务项目在增加 (即向特定的顾客提供定制化的服务项目, 同时服务质量也在提高)。这表明农业旅游业主正努力给旅游者提供更多的可用服务空间。作者的研究发现与结论也涵盖小波兰地区农业旅游功能模型的概念, 该模型表明了乡村地区环境价值、农产品特点与旅游类型和旅游服务项目多样化之间的关系。该模型也表明了该地区从农业及其近亲农业旅游转向常规的乡村旅游
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all agritourism farm owners who responded to our survey. We would also like to thank the Malopolska Center for Agricultural Counseling for providing data.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Małgorzata Bajgier-Kowalska
Małgorzata Bajgier-Kowalska, PhD, geographer, member of the Association of Polish Geomorphologists, is interested in the scientific and research issues of physical geography and regional geography. Her research concentrated on the geomorphology problems. The author's research concentrate also on the problem of tourism and recreation, especially on the question of development conditions and functioning of tourist regions including the analyses of spatial differentiation of tourist infrastructure and size of tourism itself.
Mariola Tracz
Mariola Tracz, PhD, geographer, geography educator, member of the Polish Geographical Society, is interested in geography education (curriculum development, geography education and competency development, geography and entrepreneurship teacher training, history of geography and their didactics), socioeconomic geography (educational policy, education and economic development), and some problems of tourism and recreation.
Radosław Uliszak
Radosław Uliszak, PhD, geographer, geography educator, is interested in human geography, geography of agriculture and rural areas, some problems of tourism and recreation. He is the author of school geography textbooks. Also, interested in using modern technology (GIS) at geographers’ and teachers’ work.