Marketing for Agri‐tourism in Austria: Strategy and realisation in a highly developed tourist destination

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Tourism plays a dominant role in the Austrian economy. A total of approximately 109,000 rooms are offered on 21,000 Austrian farms. Thus the farmers represent one sixth of the total Austrian supply of tourist beds. In recent years the holiday farmers have organised their representation and marketing more professionally, first on a regional level, then in the provinces. Finally in 1991 the Austrian Farm Holidays Association was founded to represent the interests of the farmers on a nationwide level. A positive development towards ‘farm holidays’ as a brand name has begun generating an additional source of income for farmers and enabling tourists to spend interesting and valuable holidays on an Austrian farm. The paper outlines the situation of farm holidays in Austria (statistics, etc.), the tasks of the organisation to promote farm holidays on each level as well as the nationwide strategies of the Federal Association (common logotype, uniform system of quality standards, specialised products). Finally some conclusions are drawn from the work in this intersection of tourism and farming. One such conclusion is that farm holidays are ecological in providing an environmentally and socially compatible form of tourism, supporting small‐scale enterprises and integrating the local people.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: