Olda Cico1, Ylber Krasniqi2
Authors country of origin: 1Albania, 2Kosovo
Institutional affiliation: 1University College “LOGOS”, 2“Biznesi” College Prishtina.
ABSTRACT
In the National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development 2018-2022, agritourism is considered not only a sector that can help tourism promotion and economic development, but also as a sector that will contribute to the sustainable development of tourism and preserving and promoting cultural and local identity. It emphasizes the importance of combining cultural tourism with agritourism, in an effort to restore and promote historic villages centres.
The government approach focuses on increasing the supply of agritourism. There is currently no policy focus on generating demand for agritourism. It is necessary for the government to support the supply, as tourism opportunities are definitely needed to maintain demand. Government action to coordinate clusters and promote them to potential tourists is also essential to the development of the industry. Despite the importance attributed to the agritourism sector in various strategies of the central and local government, Albania lacks a national strategy for the development of agritourism and no study of the value chain in agritourism has been conducted. Most public and private initiatives in the sector are focused on boosting supply, while little has been done to create demand. Coordination between supply and demand promotion initiatives in agritourism is important to ensure a sustainable development of the sector.
Agriculture is one of the sectors that has grown from national and donor support through grant programs. In recent years, however, agritourism has attracted the attention of donors and the Albanian government as a potential sector for job creation and rural diversification.
Understanding the concept of agritourism is important for farmers and business owners for two important reasons:
1) to qualify for grants;
2) to benefit from fiscal incentives provided by the Government.
A clear understanding of agritourism is also important for policy-making institutions, so that they can design better policies for the development of the sector.
The most common investments expected in the future are those that focus on the construction of accommodation facilities, the renovation of old traditional dwellings, their conversion into inns and restaurants serving traditional cuisine and typical authentic products. Also, the expected investments are related to marketing and promotional activities, processing and packaging lines on the farm, development of quality assurance programs and obtaining certification, as well as investments for the development of agritourism services.
Keywords: Agritourism; Rural tourism; Support; Investments; Accommodation
Volume 4.No.2(2021): April (Social Sciences Session)
ISSN 2661-2666 (Online) International Scientific Journal Monte (ISJM)
ISSN 2661-264X (Print)
DOI : 10.33807/monte.20211904
DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.33807/monte.20211904
Full Text: PDF
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)