27/28th February 19
Tokatoka Resort, Nadi, Fiji
Have an agribusiness? Want to see how attracting visitors and tourists to your farm may improve your agribusiness product? Have an existing agritourism experience and want to improve it? Join us to learn lessons from existing operators and partners and identify opportunities to increase the value of tourism to your business and the local economy.
We’re bringing together policy and decision makers, tourism industry experts, academics, and agribusinesses to discuss current market trends, opportunities and challenges to developing agri-tourism experiences in Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu. Together we’ll identify concrete research and support needed to enable new operators to enter the market and existing operators to expand their businesses and grow their revenue streams from tourism.
Experiential tourism continues to grow globally with travelers increasingly looking to connect with their holiday destinations in a more culturally immersive way. A 2018 Expedia Group survey found that the top three factors for travelers selecting a holiday destination included specific activities, once in a lifetime experiences, and cultural experiences. In order for destinations to capture the attention of travelers, businesses must develop and offer exceptional experiences that tap into the unique cultural and nature of a destination.
One key area of growth in international tourism is culinary or agritourism. In 2018, Cox & King, a global travel company, released their upcoming trends for tourism with culinary tourism at the top of the list. While food has always been an important element of experiencing a destination, tours and activities such as farm to table dining, local cooking classes, market tours and street food tours have been growing in popularity. Combined with the rise in social media such as Instagram, these activities offer visitors a way to experience an authentic slice of a destination and promote activities to others.
While the farms in the Pacific have various strengths that lend themselves to a quality agritourism, Pacific destinations are not well known for culinary or agritourism. There is an opportunity for farms to leverage their cultures and traditions of storytelling, community-oriented structures, and diverse range of crops to build agritourism experiences for travelers. By developing and offering these experiences in the Pacific, businesses can tap into new tourism markets and provide diverse activities to existing travelers on beach-based holidays.
Developing quality and unique agritourism experiences can support countries in the Pacific to diversify their tourism offerings and support farmers to diversity their revenue streams. However, it requires bringing together the collective knowledge of tour operators, potential operators, tourism ministries and tourism marketing agencies to support growth in this area.
The AgriTourism Experiences Talanoa will bring together policy and decision makers, tourism industry experts, academics, and agribusinesses to discuss current market trends and opportunities and challenges to developing agritourism experiences in Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu. It will provide practical advice and support for agribusinesses interested in developing agritourism products and identify research and support that is needed for new operators to enter the market and existing ones to expand and grow their revenue streams from tourism.
Brought to you by the Pacific Agribusiness Research in Development Initiative (PARDI2) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), alongside the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) and the Pacific Island Farmer Organisation Network (PIFON).
