Abstr act. Nowadays the concepts “vacations” and “tourism” have become intertwined. Tourism, among others, has eventually become a symbol of social status. Recently, however, alternative forms of tourism including agrotourism have emerged, which have the potential of relieving the congestion of ordinary holiday resorts. Agrotourism constitutes neither a symbol of social status, nor a means of social distinction. Instead, agrotourists live a healthy life in a natural environment and consume local products and services, while protecting the environment. This paper attempts to identify new growth patterns of agrotourist businesses within the context of their contribution to local development. Web tools are most helpful in this respect. Through the construction of informative websites, agrotourist handicrafts promote their products and attract visitors in localities.
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People who select this kind of holidays savor landscapes of exquisite natural
beauty and are engaged in a series of refreshing activities like hiking, cycling, riding,
swimming etc. Moreover, they have the opportunity to taste the local cuisine and
recipes, to consume traditional local health products, but also to contact manners and
customs of the countryside, which have been long forgotten by the city people
Agrotourism constitutes a major contributor to local development. Establishment and manning of hospices entails creation of new jobs. Development of agrotourism yields additional profits for the rural sector, and most of all, dissuades migration of rural population to cities and retains younger people in the countryside. Moreover, agrotourism entails the revival of social life in remote villages, something that is urgently needed by inhabitants of small and remote settlements.
There has been witnessed that a substantial portion of profits acquired through
agrotourism is often reinvested in agriculture - the main occupation of the country
people. A considerable part of the agricultural income in certain regions is due to the
active participation of women in the development of agrotourism, a fact denoting that
agrotourism contributes to the emergence of movements, activities, and initiatives on
the part of inactive social groups so far
This paper attempts to shed some light on the perspectives and benefits obtained through the application of internet technologies by Greek agrotourist business, and on the other hand to identify problems and difficulties to this end. Benefits involve, among others, the advertisement of tourist attractions of localities, the interactive representation of data, and the virtual accessibility of remote areas by prospective visitors. Application of web technologies in the field of agrotourism is a one-way process, but it might be hindered due to the mentality of people of the countryside, as well as by the ignorance of opportunities offered through the web technologies.
From the previous it is derived that in order to flourish in an independent form, agrotourism has to surpass its traditional role as a provider of housing and nutrition. It has to develop a wide range of integrated tourist services in order to satisfy needs and to come up to the expectations of tourists who were attracted by advertisements in the internet and thereafter opted to pass their vacations in the countryside.
Attraction of visitors and tourists to rural areas is not an easy task. In order to earn
a complementary income and to secure an acceptable standard of living, agricultural
communities have to pay particular attention to the quality of the tourist product they
provide. Communal endeavors and entrepreneurial activities can be greatly enhanced
through the creation of websites
The European and the national regulatory framework
In due course, new legal interventions, such as the Regulation 2328/1991, have enhanced the initiatives for the establishment of rural enterprises (agro-handicrafts) which aim at improving agricultural income, at retaining rural populations to their land, even at motivating rural people who have migrated to return to their mountainous homelands. Moreover, the Law 2810/2000 concerning agricultural cooperatives provided for new forms and processes of organization of cooperatives, while the Law 3208/2003 imposed additional terms and restrictions concerning the protection of forests and forestal ecosystems. Under the legal framework mentioned above, more than 45 women agro-handicraft / agrotourist cooperatives have been established. According to their statutes, women agro-handicraft and agrotourist cooperatives function under the principle of equitable participation and mutual aid of members. They aim at the economic, social, and cultural development of their members, among others, through the following activities:
development of ecotourism, social tourism and social works.
Procurement of any kind of technical equipment or means of transportation that may be helpful to the fulfillment of the cooperative goals.
Concentration, packaging, standardization, storage, conservation, transportation, and selling of products of the cooperative.
Establishment of kiosks, stalls, and exhibition points.
Procurement or renting rural or urban real estate for the creation of tourist infrastructure.
Establishment and operation of restaurants, taverns, and bars.
Utilization and promotion of products manufactured by members (dishes, handiwork, embroidery etc), or products of agrotourism.
Establishment of units for manufacturing traditional products (jams, desserts, pasta, frumenty etc).
Distribution of products to local, domestic, and international markets. Publicity and promotion of products and services of the cooperative. Development and promotion of new technologies is amply supported by the EC policies. As reiterated in the previous, the web, as well as the digital and network services, are utilized in order to enhance development of agrotourism. By now internet providers offer their subscribers free software for web browsing, also free hosting in web pages.
The internet is a most powerful and innovative business tool. It constitutes by far
the largest information channel in contemporary society. In Greece an intense interest
is witnessed recently regarding digital products and services through the web, while
major improvements of broadband platforms have been carried out. Nowadays
internet access is facilitated through various appliances at acceptable prices (PC,
netbooks, tablet PC, cell phones etc)
By now Greece attempts to enter the broadband era, an era of particular
importance, since broadband in the 21th century can be likened to the channels,
railways, and highways of the 20th century. Broadband accessibility of selected
countries is shown in Fig. 1. Even though Greece occupied the lowest positions in
2007, evidence from the OECD broadband portal shows that its Penetration Increase
Rate has been continuously rising
Cooperation between agricultural policy and tourist policy can yield benefits for both
economic sectors. For the development of agrotourism, a close co-operation between
tourist business and agricultural business is indicated. This constructive and creative
synergy will be most beneficial when the appropriate internet technology, which has
proved successful so far, is adopted (e.g. Worldwide web, E-mail, File Transfer
Protocol, Teleconference)
Consequently, close cooperation between agrotourism and the internet normally begins with selective information. A platform has to be determined, upon which relevant data disclosing information on agrotourism and on provision of services will be based. Under these circumstances, agrotourism completes its activities and amply compensates producers against a probable reduction of their income that might stem from slacking off their ordinary agricultural works. Compensation for lost incomes will be achieved by cooperation through the network and through the novel activities of agricultural production.
Nevertheless we consider that even though agrotourism constitutes a “small-scale phenomenon”, it resides in large areas and contributes substantially to the reduction of environmental damages, mostly owed to the excessive concentration of population per surface unit. Therefore, it is apparent that agrotourism plays an important role in environmental protection and in upgrading physical resources and soil.
Finally, although agrotourism is a form of “native tourism”, it is combined with local entrepreneurial initiatives, thereafter subjected to developments and interdependent activities which yield an immediate benefit to the socio-economic progress of the affected zones/localities.
The Regulation for Tourism 92/421/EU (17.7.1992) states that “Tourism in EC has to respect local populations, as well as the physical and the cultural environment, so that quality of supply will be promoted.” The same Regulation stresses the development of agrotourism, because “aim of the EC action in this sector is the development of tourist activities in the countryside, in particular of Agrotourism, of small family hotels, or of activities of associations, municipalities, or local institutions.”
In the endeavor for the creation of a business plan in agrotourism, the investment
in electronic service is justified by means of being more economical than the
conventional means of knowledge transfer. Within business, administration of
knowledge actually does not represent a cost factor, but rather constitutes a form of
important capital, since the web constitutes the fundamental tool for electronic
communication
Agrotourism, as an alternative form of tourism, can be limited neither to the
enterprises providing accommodations (rooms, hospices etc), nor to food services
(restaurants, taverns etc) which undoubtedly comprise the basic infrastructure
required for its development. In this sector are incorporated, among others, centers of
healthy living conditions, home handicrafts & handicrafts of traditional hand-woven
needlework and fabrics, home handicrafts & handicrafts for processing and
packaging agricultural products, home handicrafts & handicrafts for processing and
packaging dairy products, units for collection and processing aromatic herbs etc.
Moreover, wherever history has been impinged through monuments and memorials
in the periphery, an endeavor is made in order to elevate the historical identity of the
particular area, so that it becomes a desirable destination for tourists
The agrotourist product has to be accessible and attractive to visitors, and to
communicate them directly with the physical environment, with the architectural
features and inheritance of the community, with the local people and residents of the
countryside. This means that it has to be connected to the network and to the
information technologies which have been gradually utilized within the Greek
context in the recent years. The agrotourist product has to be based on an interactive
presentation of data, so that the prospective visitor will be capable of finding relevant
information about the region and its infrastructures
The network provides a flexible platform for information exchange. Nowadays the
internet and information technologies constitute indispensable tools for the
developmental strategy of agrotourist business. Agrotourists are best served through
interactive presentation of data, so that they become capable of locating information
about the locality and its infrastructure
The network offers new perspectives through the provision of high-quality
agrotourist services within their developing domain. Agrotourist companies of today
have to create web pages since promotion of their services and activities contribute to
the promotion of the overall agrotourist product, thus serving their ultimate objective,
which is the attraction of visitors. Realization of this project is both simple and
cheap, since it requires only the existence of elementary telecommunications
infrastructure, telephone lines, and internet connection. Thereafter, unbarred
communication with potential agrotourists will be established irrespective of the
location of their residence, under the condition that the web pages contain all
necessary information and relevant data
Following this trend, through the inclusion of the website into thematic indices,
users are capable of locating helpful information by moving from general topics to
special ones. Therefore, an important precondition for the success of a commercial
website is, on the one hand to provide users with accurate, detailed and updated
information, and on the other hand, to identify its target groups through market
segmentation
The website ensures presence of the agrotourist business in the network, and ought to be accessible to all interested users. Promotion of the agrotourist business entails a detailed presentation of the various activities and services in multiple languages, as well as sufficient communication data, including property details, address, telephone, fax, email etc.
Beyond a mere presence in the global network, the contemporary agrotourist website has to contain rich informative material about the locality and its scenic beauties, e.g. videos, photo collections etc. Additional features that would be helpful to agrotourists include a search engine, useful links, temperature and weather forecasting, distances from nearby urban centers, interesting sights and refreshment grounds of the region (archaeological sites, ski resorts etc), and indicated itinerary and transport information on how to reach the locality. Interactive browsing constitutes a “must” for the agrotourist website of today. Interactive elements concern, among others, the capability to browse among detailed maps and the use a web camera. Social networking and the Facebook have opened new pathways of digital connection through forums, chat groups, and online visitors’ books where tourists may exchange their experiences and impressions.
From the above it is derived that the contemporary agrotourist website constitutes an integrated information system which is capable of administering fully the whole tourist transaction. In this respect, commercial exploitation of the web page as a distinct product is feasible by hosting advertisements, as well as by establishing personal contact with users through passwords. This way, user-members have access to customized data and receive information according to their case-history and individual preferences.
Agrotourism has emerged as a necessity due to the unfavorable developments in the
agricultural sector and the depopulation of the Greek countryside. Nevertheless,
nowadays it constitutes a capital dimension of the new regional development strategy
of Greece in view of the year 2020
Agro-handicrafts that are involved in agrotourism receive a favorable treatment by the national and EC authorities through beneficial legal provisions and subsidies. This is apparent in the case of the 45 “Women Cooperatives of Agricultural Handicraft and Cottage Industry”, who have established the “Union of AgroHandicraft and Agrotourist Cooperatives” since 1999 in order to facilitate promotion and coordination of activities of members.
As reiterated in the previous, a necessary precondition for the development of
agrotourist areas, as well as for the successful function of agrotourist business, is the
evolvement of a new mentality, oriented toward traditional patterns of land
exploitation and overall lifestyle. Revival of tradition, however, does not entail
prevalence of “technophobia”, or disregard of technical developments and
innovations. Instead, information and communication technologies must be readily
applied as an integral part of and a most powerful tool for marketing and promotion
of agrotourist activities. Creation and continuous improvement of competitive
websites for municipalities and agrotourist associations is most helpful for the
development of interaction among local population, as well as for the elevation of the
locality
This paper ends up with the suggestion for the promotion, integration, and application of all means of electronic communication, so that participation of local societies and agrotourist business in digital social networks will be feasible. Within the context of the promotion of agrotourism, an authentic dialogue can be initiated through exchange of viewpoints and experiences between agrotourists and inhabitants of the locality. Social dialogue today is largely facilitated through web applications such as blogs, collective web authors’ endeavors (wiki’s), social networking domains (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter), video collections (utube), photograph collections (Flickr, PicasaWeb), and audio web transmissions (Podcasts).
Novel web applications constitute an integral part of the contemporary strategies for the promotion of agrotourism. Technically, the potential for promotion has been boosted due to the fast broadband connections. Functionally, the potential for promotion has been upgraded through the new mentality designating the use of the web, named “Participative Web”, or “International Web 2.0”. Broadband technology, which is necessary for the transition to the Web 2.0, constitutes the driving force for the economic development of regions of agrotourist interest.
The Report of the Special Secretariat for Digital Design titled “Digital Strategy for Greece 2007-2013” states that the target of the strategy is “the creation of equal opportunities and new perspectives through the information and communication technologies, so that qualifications of citizens will come in the limelight … it does not impose binding restrictions to citizens to adopt new means.” Therefore, application of modern technology by businessmen and institutions in the field of agrotourism is not an end itself, but a means for development (Lytra and Apostolopoulos, 2007).