Learn how to set up and run an agritourism venture.
COURSE STRUCTURE
There are 8 lessons in this course:
1. The Scope and Nature of Rural and Agricultural Tourism
- Background and History of Farm Tourism
- Forms of Agribusiness for Managers and Farmers
- Agritourism Beyond the Farm
- Types of Agricultural Tourism
- Possible Issues
- Animal Welfare
2. Creating an Agritourism Setting
- Planning Your Offering
- Resource Management
- Selecting Target Markets – Market Segmentation
- Marketing Approaches
- Legal and Health & Safety Requirement
3. Managing an Agritourism Business
- Managing the Physical Resources
- Managing People
- Setting up and Running a Farm Shop
4. Agricultural Tourism Accommodation
- Styles of Accommodation
- Costing Accommodation
- Maintenance
- Farm Tours and Activities
- Identifying Major Target Groups
- Tours Within the Farm
- Tour Schedules and Bookings
5. Designing and Conducting Tours and Activities
- Creating and Delivering Activities
- Creating Activities Outside the Farm – Mobile & Online
6. Agritourism Events
- Types of Agricultural Events
- Planning for an Agricultural Event
- Phases of Delivering an Agricultural Event
- Dealing with Event Issues
- Managing Visitor Access
7. Marketing and Promoting an Agritourism Business
- Introduction to Customer Relationships
- Customer Care Policy
- Customer Care – Levels of Involvement
- Effective Communication
- Dealing with Complaints
- Self-Evaluation
- Maximising Customer Service
- Importance of Market Research
- Analysing Costs and Benefits
8. Special Project - PBL – Design a Farm Tour Activity Problem-Based Learning Project
AIMS
- Determine agritourism prospects for a property or wider community in a rural area.
- Identify and plan development of potential agritourism attractions.
- Explain critical tasks that require management in an agritourism enterprise.
- Compare options for providing accommodation facilities and services for agricultural tourism.
- Explain some of the considerations for designing and conducting various activities for agricultural tourism, including farm tours.
- Explore the diverse activities possible for agritourism and your region and globally.
- Identify the most appropriate agritourism marketing tools to effectively promote your business.
- Create and present a plan with specific strategies for integrating an element of farm tourism into the operation of an existing agricultural business.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
- Find and investigate marketing materials that promote agritourism.
- Observe behaviours of the animals in agritourism and consider the animal welfare.
- Identify potential hazards in agribusiness including how event organisers mitigate hazards.
- Perform a S.W.O.T. analysis to help identify the events Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in an agritourism business.
- Investigate the creation, sales or service of a food product related to an agribusiness, such as a café, food truck or road-side stall.
- Research how and where you might go to recruit staff for your business including seasonal workers such as backpackers or fruit pickers.
- Consider the physical and safety resources required to run an agribusiness.
- Identify utilities and furnishings that you both consider to be essential and non-essential.
- Identify of costs associated with the accommodation (budget, intermediate and luxury) and estimate amounts for each.
- Explore and experience virtual or mobile farm tour activities.
- Create a mind map for an agritourism event that you would like to run.
- Identify the apparent success of an agritourism attraction based on observations such as potential income and public interest.
- Research examples of advertising for agribusiness events in your area (billboards, signs, pamphlets, tv or radio advertisements, email etc) and conduct a cost benefit analysis, considering things like longevity, reach, target audience and monetary cost.
- Integrate theoretical information to derive sensible solutions to potential problems involved in integrating farm tourism.