Rural areas are becoming increasingly popular destinations for travel, especially cultural landscapes that allow a glimpse into how rural people live and work.
Solimar`s Agriculture and Tourism Program improves agriculture value chain linkages, smallholder access to export markets, product diversification, increased food security, and promotion for agricultural products within the tourism sector of a destination. The tourism industry provides an important export market for a host of agricultural products where hotels and restaurants demand diverse agricultural inputs, and tourists demand agri tourism experiences and destination-branded specialty crops to bring home as souvenirs. Agritourism is often a feasible strategy for local economic development and to promote traditional sustainable agriculture practices. The development of agritourism tours and demonstrations as attractions in rural areas provides the potential for creating or expanding micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise (MSME) core and supply chain businesses, including transport, food service and products, and handicrafts.
Solimar`s Agriculture and Tourism Program helps to forge initial partnerships between the tourism and agriculture sectors, while catalyzing the development of agritourism services and specialty products that can be sold at premium prices. The Agriculture and Tourism program results in increased revenues and profitability for small scale farmers by helping them diversify from low value commodities to high-value specialty products and services. Solimar does this through developing partnerships that link tourism demand with agriculture supply; creating and disseminating pilot branding, marketing and packaging for high-potential specialty products; and demonstrating potential agritourism activities.
What to Expect
- Tourism Industry Demand Side Study – The tourism industry can serve as an important client for the agriculture sector, especially to small farmers. Through sector interviews, surveys and desk research, we will deliver a comprehensive demand-side study to support increased value-chain linkages between the tourism and agriculture sectors.
- Agriculture Specialty Products and Services Supply-Side Study – Agriculture products and processes that are second nature to a domestic market are often exotic to international tourists. With a thorough survey what the agriculture industry can supply, we create recommendations of high-potential products and services that will capture tourist dollars.
- Tourism and Agriculture Sector Workshop – Bringing the tourism and agriculture industries together to talk about partnerships, production and further collaboration sets the stage for improved sales linkages. The workshop addresses findings in the demand and supply-side studies and sets the course for increased cooperation.
- Pilot Branding and Marketing – Branding and marketing benefits help to catalyze cooperation and launch initial successes. By developing an initial brand and marketing campaign to promote agriculture products to tourists, the program demonstrates the market’s potential. Identifying new possible agritourism products further links the mutual benefits of the sectors.
