The future of agritourism? A review of current trends of touristic commercialisation in rural areas

Tourism in rural areas has enjoyed increasing demand and experienced new forms of implementation. The expanding quantitative and qualitative development of high-quality agritourism establishments in South Tyrol/Italy is an interesting and exemplary case for the commercialisation of rural tourism. For this scope, we analysed the websites of seventeen high-quality agritourism businesses in this region. We studied, how they conduct the commercialisation of agricultural and touristic features and to what extent offers and services have been commodified. Our findings show in most cases very professionally managed websites that feature high-quality hotel-like facilities. At the same time, they provide significantly less information on farming and related activities. Thus, our results highlight the characteristics of this growing touristic commercialisation of high-quality (commercial) agritourism establishments. Furthermore, we discuss the implications for the objectives of this sector, in which authentic everyday experiences of agriculture and rurality are a crucial feature for the target groups and the perception of farming and the image of the sector.