Agrotourism is an emerging aspect of tourism in Iran, and there are different approaches to this tourism, including the experiential approach.
Agrotourism under the name of farm tourism has started in Europe (Tyrol, Austria) since the end of the 19th century, and during more than 100 years of its history, agrotourism has been introduced in Iran only in the last few years and there are scattered.
In European, American and Southeast Asian countries, the structure of farms is such that the residence of villagers and farmers is in the farm itself, for this reason, during the past years, most of the activities that are carried out in the field of Agrotourism are actually a part of rural tourism It is called farm tourism (not Agrotourism).
The main activities that are carried out in farm tourism, as a mass tourism approach, include accommodation, catering with food and drinks, and doing small farming experiences, such as crop picking.
In Iran for agrotourism, due to the structure of farms and the separation of farms from the place of residence, as well as the laws related to agricultural lands that make it impossible to change their use and turn them into a farm tourism site, the development of farm tourism has faced a serious problem.
On the other hand, during the past twenty years, the development of a new approach in tourism called experiential tourism and its use in the development of sustainable tourism and such new and more comprehensive definitions of Agrotourism have caused the expansion of Agrotourism fields.
Experience-oriented Agrotourism
According to the definition, experiential tourism is a new approach with the following features:
- Creating a close and deep connection with the history, natural and human geography of a particular region
- complete experience of a creative journey in agrotourism
- The tourist is not a digital camera that takes photos and videos
- A different approach next to mass tourism and its complement
- Specially for informed people with high social understanding
- Special attention to environmental, social and economic sustainability
- Considering the development of Agrotourism and its approximate separation from farm tourism and the possibility of implementing it with both mass and experiential approaches, there was a need to redefine this type of tourism, which was designed and presented as follows.
“Agrotourism is a type of cultural tourism that is implemented in the productive space of the agricultural sector and is based on the sustainable development of the host ecosystem, during which tourists or visitors to agricultural units (either traditional or industrial, rural or urban, single-product or multi-product) entered to, in addition to gaining new experiences, to enjoy agricultural processes, products, services and complementary industries, as well as stay in a natural environment and increase the added value of products and services in an agricultural site (preferably) being produced.
This tourism can be implemented and planned with two mass and experiential approaches.
In general, the types of activities that can be offered in experiential Agrotourism are as follows:
- Harvesting by tourists
- One-week programs to gain work experience
- Habitat improvement activities such as tree planting
- Farm photography and painting workshops
- Renting small gardens to city residents to implement a farming experience (Citizen Farms)
- Practical workshops to identify agricultural and garden plants, weeds, pasture and medicinal plants
- Making and tasting juices and liquid products and teas
- Participation in livestock and poultry breeding activities
- Short and long-term children’s camps and acquisition of agricultural experiences by children
- Making simple toys and dolls with agricultural and rural products
- Specialized training workshops on farming and gardening techniques
- Educational workshops for recreational activities such as fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing
- Handicraft workshops using agricultural by-products
- Training camps for the elderly and retirees
- Holding internships, internships and retraining courses (universities, conservatories, system organizations and associations)
- Diving training and visiting underwater life and pearl hunting
- Urban agriculture tours, alternative and cultivation guidance and professional tours of agricultural technologies
- Subjectual farm events and Cultivation Art
- Volunteer work on the farm
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