Which farmers turn to tourism? A continental-scale analysis

Many urban tourists like to visit farms, but only some farm landholders offer tourism accommodation and activities. Their motivations have been explored previously in several countries, using stated-preference approaches. Here we report the first continental-scale revealed-preference analysis, which yields significant additional information and insights. Using multiple data sources, we inventoried, mapped and characterized all known Australian farm tourism enterprises, and examined patterns using both size-based and multi-criterion classifications. There are clusters of farm tourism enterprises close to cities and gateways, and isolated operations in more remote areas. We identified four groups: full-time, part-time, retirement and lifestyle operators. Characteristics of the farm property and business, the farming family, and the farm tourism business differ significantly between groups. The groups appear to reflect the joint dynamics of farm succession and rural amenity migration.