AGRITOURISM
ART is the leading authority in supporting and developing agritourism. In October 2022, ART launched Australia’s first National Agritourism Strategy Framework and Agritourism 2030 Action Plan at the inaugural Agritourism Conference. Support for the agritourism sector contributes to the long-term target set within THRIVE 2030, providing diverse opportunities for growth of tourism and agriculture and the benefits associated with strengthening the sector.
The release of Agritourism 2030, the first ever national sector strategy framework, encourages collaboration between agriculture and tourism sectors to grow on farm business opportunities. The strategy framework is designed to:
- Support farmers to diversify into tourism
- Support community capability and capacity building with a focus on regional employment
- Develop high quality distinctly Australian Agritourism experiences
- Promote the sector responsibly with an alignment to food and drink
- Encourage genuine collaboration and enduring partnerships and
- Provide leadership to support inclusive growth.
The ATDW listed 4490 agritourism operators in September 2020. In November 2023, this figure increased to 6714, reflecting a 50% increase in the number of agritourism operators listed on ATDW. Categories include wineries, breweries & distilleries, food & wine events and tours, produce and farm stays. There have been notable increases to the number of tourism operators listed in the food and wine category (92%) and farms stays (240%).
National Agritourism Strategy Framework
Agritourism 2030 was launched at the Inaugural National Agritourism conference on 13 October 2022 in Ballarat by Australian Regional Tourism and is part of a wider project of Agritourism initiatives made possible by a federal government Building Better Regions Fund grant and a partnership with Airbnb, and builds on previous work done in the sector since 2018.
Following consultation with nearly 200 stakeholders nationally, Australian Regional Tourism’s project steps out six strategic priorities that underpin growth to 2030:
- Sustainable & inclusive farm diversification
- Community capability and capacity building with a focus on regional employment
- Develop new, high quality, distinctly Australian agritourism experiences
- Promote the sector responsibly, with an alignment to food and drink
- Encourage genuine collaboration and enduring partnerships, and
- Provide leadership to support growth.
This National Strategy Framework is designed to unify an emerging sector under one voice in two ways:
- Support a sustainable approach to growth, reflective of the holistic benefits of Agritourism to regional communities, land, culture and business.
- Consider how a unified national framework with an eye to Agritourism’s export potential and how the sum of our States and Territories enhance our tourism and nation brands international reputations into the future.
Agritourism Action Plan
ART will provide leadership on enabling the Strategy with coordinated support for the six priorities and recommendations.
- Support sustainable & inclusive farm diversification: Engaging new and varied farmers to diversify, making it easier to build sustainable, profitable businesses and increasing Indigenous engagement in the sector.
- Support community capacity building with a focus on regional employment: Supports skills and jobs development for farm families and the broader community. It acknowledges the increased resourcing required to diversify, and the change of skills needed to expand from farming into consumer facing tourism.
- Develop high quality, distinctly Australian agritourism experiences: Beyond farmers diversifying into tourism, experience development & improvement is required to deliver to our vision of attracting higher yielding visitors to regional areas.
- Promote the sector responsibly, with an alignment to food and drink: Agritourism leans heavily into Australia’s reputation for food and drink, both in agriculture and hospitality. Generating demand with a focus on quality not quantity, sharing the story of people, place craft & produce.
- Encourage genuine collaboration & enduring partnerships: Leverages the experiences of others to support broader thinking, knowledge sharing and strengthen the sector’s timeliness to market.
- Provide sector leadership to support inclusive growth: Australian Regional Tourism will support leadership of the sector as it evolves and matures, bringing the stakeholders on the growth journey
ART Agritourism Pre-budget submission
Australian Regional Tourism submitted a pre-budget submission for the 2024–25 Budget, which seeks long-term support for sustainable Australian farming through agritourism diversification.
The proposal seeks $14 million ($10m in direct-to-farm grant funding + $4m in industry development) over four years to support farmers to diversify into tourism, increase high-yield export ready product, strengthen Australia’s regional economies, and grow on-farm agritourism from $7.4B to $18.6B by 2030.
The submission was endorsed by several regional organisations, including the National Farmers Federation.
Resources
Enabling Agritourism – A Guide for Farmers Planning to Diversify
Enabling Agritourism – Paving the Way for Successful Development Applications
National Agritourism Strategy Framework
Agritourism Action Plan
