www.IIRA.org Spring 2003 Volume 14, Issue 9 Agritourism: An Economic Opportunity for Illinois by Bruce E. Wicks and Christopher D. Merrett 1 1 The authors are, respectively, Associate Professor, Department of Leisure Studies/Director, Office of Recreation and Tourism Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Associate Professor of Geography, Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, Western Illinois University. Sustainable rural development is predicated upon locally created wealth and a diversity of profitable enterprises that can collectively weather our cyclical economy (Honadle 1990). While some may argue that the external costs of certain rural industries, such as mining, are too high to justify their pursuit, tourism is often touted as a “green” industry that is easy to develop and which quickly yields results (Frederick 1995). To the extent tourism development is incremental, uses existing resources, is not massively intrusive, nor the cause of severe environmental damage, the former statement is generally true. Thus, it is very likely that agritourism development in the Midwest can be successfully integrated into local economies, environments, and rural lifestyles without great disruption. There is a long history of people visiting farms and rural areas in the United States. Over a hundred years ago, urban residents frequently sought to escape the hot polluted cities by visiting friends and relatives who farmed. In those days, there were many more rural residents, and city-dwellers were likely to have some familial connection to farm life. With the advent of the automobile, farm visits and rural recreation became even more popular and convenient in the 1920s and 1930s (Holland and Wolfe 2000). Today, however, there is a large generational gap between rural and urban families, and there are few opportunities for visiting relatives who farm or live in rural areas. This decline exists in spite of the fact that we have greater disposable income, more reliable transportation, greater need for relaxation, and a desire for wholesome family activities. Although the rural/urban dynamic certainly has changed during the last century, demand for farm or rural recreation experiences has not (Keith 2002). In fact, the sheer growth in urban and suburban populations provides a growing potential market for agritourism. As a form of economic and community development, agritourism has a very strong and widespread appeal to agencies and governments. Unlike locating a processing plant where communities fiercely compete to attract industrial development, agritourism can actually provide a win-win scenario for many communities throughout the state that are willing to work collaboratively. In fact, multiple tourism developments in the same genre—say, for example, antique shops in a mall—can actually create a synergy whereby the sum of their attractiveness adds up to more than the individual parts. There is very good reason to believe that agritourism enterprises could benefit similarly. Defining Agritourism: The Agricultural Perspective Agritourism is a hybrid concept that merges elements of two complex industries—agriculture and travel/tourism—to open up new profitable markets for farm products and services and provide travel experiences for a large regional market. Although a single definition of agritourism is not widely recognized, it is at the intersection of a number of important marketing and economic development concepts that are circulating today. Agritourism is unlikely to be the dominant sector of agriculture in most areas of Illinois, but it may play a significant support role for many agricultural enterprises. Figure 1 shows the central relationship agritourism has to alternative agriculture, value-added production, direct farm marketing, and, ultimately, rural community development. Alternative agriculture is commonly defined as the production or harvest of crops and animal products or land