A Comparison of Agritourism Understanding amongConsumers, Providers, and Extension Faculty

Labels and meanings are important for tourism marketing as they can be the decisive factor for attracting visitors. Given the label and definition ambiguity surrounding agritourism, a study was conducted to identify a common ground between preferred labels and definitional elements for “recreation in agricultural settings” across three key stakeholders. Farmers, residents, and extension faculty from Missouri and North Carolina were surveyed about their preferences on eight labels commonly found across literature and elements to be included within a definition for these activities. Data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Results suggest that “farm visit” should be encouraged in marketing efforts aiming at increasing farm visitation as it was the label preferred by residents and farmers. Results also suggest that “education”, “farm” and “entertainment” are terms that should be included when defining this type of recreation, especially on promotional material to increase the effectiveness of marketing efforts.