In 2022 some states put a lot of effort into agritourism development. Here’s a outline of the support currently available to develop or improve agritourism experiences across Australia.

NATIONAL SUPPORT

AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL TOURISM

In 2022, Australian Regional Tourism developed the Agritourism 2030 Strategy, and will take its recommendations to the Federal Tourism and Agriculture Ministers to ask for support for a series of initiatives that will it easier for farmers to diversify into tourism.READ OUR SUMMARY OF THE STRATEGY

Australian Regional Tourism also has two toolkits for farmers and Councils:

• Enabling Agritourism – A Guide for Farmers Planning to DiversifyThis guide has been created for farmers who are interested in diversifying their farm to include a tourism business.
• Enabling Agritourism – Paving the Way for Successful Development ApplicationsThis guide has been created for local governments who want to support agritourism growth in their region

 

You can watch the recordings of all of the sessions of Australian Regional Tourism’s Agritourism Convention which was held in October 2022. They are available to watch for free for members of Australian Regional Tourism’s free Tourism Hub website. Topics at the convention included learnings from the wine industry, how Airbnb is partnering with farmers, collaboration, scaling up authenticity, agritourism leadership, unlocking supply, and learnings from a couple of successful agritourism businesses.

A presentation at the 2022 Destination Food Conference on Agribusiness to Agritourism – balancing the two to ensure dual success – was recorded too.

TRAINING

There were lots of agritourism workshops in regions across Australia in 2022 – here’s hoping there are more in 2023!

Wine Australia has a free online course to help Australian wineries welcome back international travellers: Wine Tourism Ready.

You can undertake formal training on agritourism online:

• Training.gov.au offers a Diploma on Agritourism Operations
• ACS Distance Education offers a course on Farm Tourism

DESIGN

Tourism architects Studio S2 Architects offer a three free design guides for agritourism experiences (cellar doors, food tourism spaces, and farm and manufacturing tourism)

GRANTS

An annual grant that supports one aspect of agritourism (wineries and cideries) is the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grant (closes 31 January 2023).

One-off grant opportunities (and training opportunities) open up throughout the year, so sign up for notifications from the federal Grant Connect website and subscribe to your state grant website and your regional and state tourism organisations’ industry newsletters. There were several grants for agritourism development in 2022.

NETWORKING

Join the free Australian Agritourism Development Facebook group to tap into the expertise of agritourism operators for your questions. Lots of resources, case studies and grant opportunities are shared there regularly, and everyone is free to share their success stories and any great agritourism development ideas they’ve seen as well!JOIN HERE

STATES

NSW

In 2022, the NSW government made it much easier for farmers to use their land for agritourism by simplifying planning regulations. They also provide suggestions for agritourism experiences a farmer could offer on their farm, and case studies of successful operators.

TASMANIA

Tourism Tasmania identified agritourism as a significant opportunity for the state with 70% of visitors experiencing agritourism during their stay.

To make it easier for agritourism businesses to get established in Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government created a toolkit for farmers: the Tasmanian Agritourism Toolkit: Navigating the regulatory process. There’s also an Agritourism Guide for Regulators.

Farm Gate Futures is an initiative that aims to help Tasmanian farmers to generate new income streams and build resilience through on-farm agritourism.

Last year the Farm Gate Futures team delivered the Opening the Gate agritourism business development program. In 2022 60 farmers considered new agritourism product developments and 30 operators enhanced their existing agritourism experiences with the support of an agritourism development consultant. Plus there were lots of learning and networking events.

For help curating an agritourism idea and getting it ready for market in Tasmania, contact the Farm Gate Futures team.

 

QUEENSLAND

Queensland has been implementing its Agritourism Roadmap (2020-2022) offering grants and training courses in 2022.

Queensland Farmer’s Federation’s Unlocking Queensland’s agritourism potential discussion paper builds on the Roadmap, identifying challenges and opportunities for agritourism as an emerging sector, and proposing a sliding scale of regulation that recognises the different ways farmers engage with agritourism.

According to the paper, Queensland’s onerous and complex land use regulations do not solve the intractable problems and limit the growth of this valuable regional industry. To enable Queensland farmers to innovate, a new regulatory framework that is clear, consistent and easy for farmers to navigate is required to open up the benefits of agritourism

Queensland farmers can learn business, tourism and hospitality skills in free microcredential skill building courses.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

With large pastoral properties in the Territory, the NT’s Drive Tourism Strategy identified an opportunity to develop them into visitor experiences. Case studies of station agritourism experiences were developed to share learnings with pastoralists.

 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

A review in 2021 recommended changes to planning approvals to enable agritourism developments.

 

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

In 2021, WA undertook research to identify agritourism’s target markets.

 

VICTORIA

In Victoria, there has been no state focus on developing agritourism, but Regional Development Australia (RDA) Hume, which covers the Goulburn and Ovens Murray regions, worked with Tourism North East to develop a three-phase agritourism research and mapping project which included

• Consumer segmentation research that identified the types of people interested in agritourism and what they expect from their agritourism experience
• An industry mapping project which determined which agritourism experiences currently exist, and their associated development opportunities
• Industry development to identify the current demand with existing supply, with work underway to support industry and develop new or enhanced agritourism experiences.

This work has resulted in agritourism action plans that provide a strategic way forward for agritourism development in the region. These action plans may result in working with state and federal governments to fund key recommendations.

RDA Hume is also supporting Mansfield Producers Inc to develop a Paddock to Plate Agritourism Alliance Marketing and Implementation Plan.