STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS “VASILE GOLDIŞ” ARAD May 2010 Vol.5 Iss.1 pp.

39-42
SERIA ŞTIINŢE INGINEREŞTI ŞI AGRO-TURISM http://studia.facultateadeinginerie.ro
“Vasile Goldiş” University Press
T HE CONCE PT OF RURAL T OURISM AND AGRIT OURISM
Aurel Petru Darău, Maior Corneliu, Mihai Larian Brad, Eugeniu Avram

“Vasile Goldiş” Western University of Arad

________________________________________________________________________________

THE CONCEPT OF RURAL TOURISM AND AGRITOURISM

1* 1 1 1
Aurel Petru Darău , Maior Corneliu , Mihai Larian Brad , Eugeniu Avram

1
Faculty of Engineering, “Vasile Goldiş” Western University of Arad, Cocorilor 57,
310426, Arad, Romania

Abstract

Between rural tourism and agritourism there is a whole-to-part, agritourism being one of the components of
rural tourism. Agritourism is, however, mostly practiced in relatively isolated areas with a diversified
agricultural vocation, which require the assurance of necessities for living through one’s own forces, or
where there is a deep specialization, creating monopoly positions with regard to the production of certain
appreciated and demanded food products.

Keywords: rural tourism, agritourism, tourist activity, rural areas, services

Europe is currently facing numerous issues, out of The notion of rural tourism as a touristy form being
which we can only enumerate a few concerning the carried out in the rural environment is considered to be
area of rural tourism: the assurance of a harmonious incomplete because this definition does not include the
regional development, the difficulty in achieving complexity of this activity and the different forms and
between economic development and environmental acceptations developed in various countries.
protection, the implementation of rural policies According to a broader tradition, “rural tourism
exceeding the framework of agricultural policy and includes a series of activities, services,
comprising all issues of rural areas etc. accommodations offered by farmers, peasants and
Consequently, in its current phase, agriculture inhabitants of the rural environment, in order to attract
cannot confine itself to providing food for an tourists to their area, which generates additional
increasingly numerous and urbanized population, but it revenues for their businesses”.
must also contribute to the maintenance of a rural By this broader concept, rural tourism does not only
environment, which represents an indispensable comprise farm tourism or agritourism, but also
support for rural tourism. Thus, one can assert that activities regarding vacations in the midst of nature,
there is no countryside with agriculture and no durable trips to rural areas, as well residential tourism, in which
tourism in a degraded environment. services include, apart from accommodation, also
Rural tourism is a topical and ancient phenomenon social events, festivities, outdoor recreation, production
at the same time. The interest for health recovery in the and sale of manufactured products and agricultural
rural environment began to grow during the 19th products, etc.
century, as a response to stress caused by the Thus, the term of rural tourism has varied
expanding urbanism and industrialization. The meanings, often depending on the national
important fact is that rural tourism in our era is territory.(Bran et al., 1997)
different if we refer only to the number of tourists In Finland, for example, rural tourism usually
involved, which has increased significantly, and the means the rental of cabins or the supply of services in
tourism that developed in all types or rural settlements, the rural environment, such as food or transportation.
without being limited to areas of an exceptional In Hungary, the term of “village tourism” is used,
beauty.( Mitrache et al., 1996) implying that the only activities and services provided

* Author to whom all correspondence should de addressed : e-mail:fdi_silvicultura@yahoo.com; Phone/Fax: +40 257 251566
STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS “VASILE GOLDIŞ” ARAD May 2010 Vol.5 Iss.1 pp.39-42
SERIA ŞTIINŢE INGINEREŞTI ŞI AGRO-TURISM http://studia.facultateadeinginerie.ro
“Vasile Goldiş” University Press
T HE CONCE PT OF RURAL T OURISM AND AGRIT OURISM
Aurel Petru Darău, Maior Corneliu, Mihai Larian Brad, Eugeniu Avram

“Vasile Goldiş” Western University of Arad

________________________________________________________________________________
in villages are included in this type of tourism, namely: tourism in rural. The absence of any European
affordable accommodation, involvement in agricultural agreement on the concept of “rural region” makes it
activities or in other types of local activities. difficult to compare with different countries.
In Slovenia the most important form of rural In connection to this problem, Lane Bernard,
tourism is farm tourism, where guests either live with president of the Rural Tourism Unit of Bristol,
farmer families, or in guest houses, while visiting the England, said: “Does rural tourism feature any special
farm in order to have their meals or to explore the intrinsic characteristics, or is it merely a type of
farmyard. tourism localized in the rural environment? Which
In the Netherlands, rural tourism means, first of all, characteristics should rural tourism have in order to be
camping in farms, where the majority of services truly rural?”
provided are route-related, such as: cycling, horse The list of objectives includes: contact with the
riding/walking etc. nature, absence of urban agglomerations, quietness and
In Greece, rural tourism means accommodation in a non-mechanized environment, personal, direct
traditionally furnished rooms, with a traditional contact, in opposition to urban anonymity, a sense of
breakfast – most often made with homemade products. continuity and stability, of an old and live history, the
In most countries, complementary activities – possibility of thoroughly knowing an area and the
consisting of restaurants, recreation facilities, people inhabiting it. Local control and preservation of
organization of cultural and entertainment activities in one’s own identity are, likewise, characteristic of an
the national territory – are incipient. original rural tourism.
Nevertheless, rural tourism is one of the main Rural tourism is, in fact, a relatively recent
priorities of touristy development in many European phenomenon. For a long time – even decades for many
countries. Romania is no exception; tourism, in European countries – touristy activities have been
general, including rural one, is one of the most practiced in the country either spontaneously, or in an
important branches of national economy, which aims to organized manner. The novelty, however, refers to the
develop tourism in the rural environment, in a tight dimension of the phenomenon in the rural area. This
correlation to local economy, as there is a strong expansion is determined by the existence of two
connection between tourism and the other branches of motivations for rural tourism, one being a form of
local economy, particularly agriculture. alternative tourism to the traditional (classic) mass
Regarded from this point of view, rural tourism is a tourism.
particular, more complex form of tourism, comprising For this reason, the rural regions of Europe
both the actual touristy activity (accommodation, successively include tourism in their future policies of
boarding house, touristy circulation, programme local development.
development, performance of basic and additional As part of global economy of tourism, rural tourism
services), and the economic, usually agricultural is defined as being the touristic valorization of:
activity, practiced by tourists’ hosts (productive - rustic areas, natural resources, the cultural
activities of agricultural products processing within the patrimony, rural houses, village traditions,
household and commercialization of these products to agricultural products;
tourists or through commercial networks), as well as - trademark products, illustrative of regional
leisure activities.(Alecu et al., 2006) identity, which would cover consumers’ needs
It can be concluded that rural tourism is generally in terms of reception, food, recreative
regarded as including a wide range of elements activities, entertainment and diverse services;
referring to accommodation, activities, events, sports, - a durable local development an adequate
rest and recreation, air treatments, instruction and response to the need for recreation in modern
education, treatments in bathing resorts etc., all these society, in a new city – village social vision;
being developed in an area characterized as being rural. Although they both act in the rural zone,
Consequently, it is a concept including all touristy agritourism and rural tourism are two concepts which,
activities performed in extra-urban areas. Therefore, to some authors, represent the same thing, and to others
this “rural” concept does not have the same are two different notions.
significance in all countries of Europe. Practice shows that these categories are identical up
The main consequence of this aspect appears in to a certain level, they have common denominator,
connection to the attempt at measuring, for example, which emphasizes the elements of identity, of
the social and economic impact of the development of

40
STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS “VASILE GOLDIŞ” ARAD May 2010 Vol.5 Iss.1 pp.39-42
SERIA ŞTIINŢE INGINEREŞTI ŞI AGRO-TURISM http://studia.facultateadeinginerie.ro
“Vasile Goldiş” University Press
T HE CONCE PT OF RURAL T OURISM AND AGRIT OURISM
Aurel Petru Darău, Maior Corneliu, Mihai Larian Brad, Eugeniu Avram

“Vasile Goldiş” Western University of Arad

________________________________________________________________________________
inclusion, as well as the different elements leading to natural tourist attraction and cultural – historical
separation and differentiation. values, from traditions and customs present in the rural
As a whole, rural tourism includes a wide range of environment. It is the most efficient way of valuating
accommodation possibilities, activities, events, existing local resources in the rural
festivities, sports and pastimes, all of which occur in a environment.(Bogdan, 1995)
typical rural environment. Nevertheless, an accurate Agritourism is regarded as a more limited concept,
definition of the term of rural tourism, which would be making reference to several forms of tourism
unitarily used on the entire European continent, faces concerning agricultural activities and/or agricultural
numerous specific problems. Such a definition might facilities. This particular form of rural tourism is
be the following: “Rural tourism is a concept including organized by farmers, usually as a secondary activity,
all tourist activities being performed in the rural agriculture remaining their main occupation and source
environment”. of income. Sometimes, distinction is also made
Synthetically, rural tourism can be considered as between agritourism and farm tourism, which refers to
the form of tourism targeting the rural environment, the use of former peasant households as structures of
using households and agritouristic farms as structures reception, which can be rented to tourists or arranged
of touristic reception. as health clubs.
An alternative to the above definition also eludes Consequently, the scope of rural tourism includes
the geographical aspect: “Rural tourism is a concept agritourism or farm tourism activities. Rural tourism
comprises touristic activity organized and led by the concerns all forms of tourism practiced in the rural
local population and which is based on a close area, i.e. outdoor activities (horse riding, fishing,
connection to the surrounding natural and human hunting, walking or cycling, thermalism, health
environment”. tourism), knowledge tourism (churches, fortresses,
This definition, considered to be more various historical vestiges), tourism for discovering the
comprehensive and which can be accepted by a natural environment (flora, fauna), for knowing and
majority, lays an emphasis on rural tourism with understanding local culture (folklore, folk traditions),
respect to the touristic activity being performed at the gastronomic tourism etc.
seaside, in cities or in winter resorts, places where The rural space, through its components, meets a
tourists themselves and the nature of their activity wide range of demands: rest and recreation,
constantly exclude any significant with relations local knowledge, culture, sport exercise, air or water
population constituting the human environment. treatments, hunting and fishing, providing agritourism
Thus, rural tourism is a form of tourism practiced in with a large scope of leisure possibilities.
the rural environment, which uses (as structure of In the Romanian and foreign specialized literature,
touristic reception) the agritouristic household with all using the notion of agritourism better expresses its
its facilities. This form of tourism is performed in the scope, i.e. an economic activity that is complementary
rural environment, using local touristic resources to agriculture in a rural settlement.(Istrate et al., 1995)
(natural, cultural and human), as well touristic By this, agritourism is a means of integral
equipments and provisions, including boarding houses valorization of the rural environment, with its
and agritouristic farms. It uses various accommodation agricultural, touristic, human and technical – economic
spaces: inns and rural hotels, shelters, holiday villages potential.
etc, and takes on various forms of sojourn, with a wide In can be shown that agritourism displays some
scope of motivations: itinerant for transit, with cultural features differentiating it from traditional, standard
– cognitive valences etc. tourism.
Rural tourism is an alternative to traditional, classic
tourism, carried out in resorts and touring centers, and CONCLUSIONS
to the ‘standard’, industrial touristic supply.
Agritourism is a form of rural tourism practiced in Agritourism is spatially placed in the rural
the rural environment which uses (as structure of environment, therefore being integrated entirely within
touristic reception) the agritouristic household with all rural tourism. This results in the broader scope of the
its facilities. As such, this form of tourism only uses rural tourism concept than that of the agritourism
tourist boarding house and agritouristic farms for concept, whose scope is more limited.
accommodation and meal provision, benefiting from Both concepts regard a form of tourism which is
and unpolluted and picturesque environment, from fundamentally different from classic, commercial

41
STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS “VASILE GOLDIŞ” ARAD May 2010 Vol.5 Iss.1 pp.39-42
SERIA ŞTIINŢE INGINEREŞTI ŞI AGRO-TURISM http://studia.facultateadeinginerie.ro
“Vasile Goldiş” University Press
T HE CONCE PT OF RURAL T OURISM AND AGRIT OURISM
Aurel Petru Darău, Maior Corneliu, Mihai Larian Brad, Eugeniu Avram

“Vasile Goldiş” Western University of Arad

________________________________________________________________________________
tourism, principally based on hotels and restaurants:
the tourist coming to the rural world (settlement or
agricultural exploitation) directly enters into contact
with this world, with its material, cultural, natural,
economic, social values etc.
Rural tourism and agritourism are not only a
touristic alternative, but an essential factor of economic
development of the rural environment at large and of
agricultural exploitations in particular.

REFERENCES

Alecu IN, Constantin M, (2006) Marketing tourism and

42