The most serious barrier in the development of extra-agricultural activity in rural areas is the poor level of the development of both technical and social infrastructure in the country. Increase in outlays on the development of technical infrastructure in the first half of the 1990s contributed in many regions of Poland to the development of comparatively new tourist service offered by individual farmers in their own farms, called agricultural tourism and rural tourism. The development of tourist services in rural areas in Poland, should be conformable with regional strategies of the development, because, as the example of the European Union countries shows, agricultural tourism and rural tourism not only stimulates the development of regional infrastructure, but at the same time it favours the preservation of old relics of rural architecture and development of economic initiatives in rural areas. Świętokrzyskie voivodship is one of the viovodships in which the rural areas are of great importance. These areas are inhabited by more than half of the population and the issues concerning them are among the most important questions. Very essential are demographic problems, of which especially the worsening of the age structure which is the consequence of the drop of the natural ...
Sustainable development is a preferred model of economy in which the most important assumption is social and economic development leading to civili-zation progress and economic development with maximum reduction of adverse impact on the natural environment. Regions where introduction and observation of ecodevelopment principles is particularly important are rural areas. Increasing costs of production and the lack of stable prices of agricultural products make many farmers abandon agricultural activity and search for additional sources of income outside of agriculture. Tourism can be an alternative for agriculture and an additional source of income. Development of agricultural tourism enables to create new jobs without emigration and complete abandonment of current agricul-tural activity. Linking agricultural and tourist agricultural may become the basis for an attractive tourist product. Polish country is perfect for sustainable tourism based on ecodevelopment principles of which are ideal for agrotourism and ecot-ourism. The complementary agrotourist and ecotourist offer provides additional opportunities for development of rural areas, forming the basis for cooperation between individual farms and create a tourist product typical for a given town or region. ...
Transformation of Polish economy (started at the turn of the eighties and nineties of the 20th century) has changed many socio-economic conditions of the development of all regions in Poland. The various processes which were based on transformation of the previous structures created in the centrally-steered management system and on the development of new structures, are observed in many places in Poland. One of the most popular forms of development of rural areas is agrotourism at present times.An analysis of the agrotourist development in Poland is performed in the paper. The current tendencies in the world-wide tourism have been taken into consideration The place and role of tourism both in the state policy and regional pol-icy have been shown in the state and regional documents.In the Świętokrzyskie voivodship a considerable development of agrotourist farms, with that of cooperating institutions, like agrotourist associations, consultative teams and agrotourist chambers is recently observed. The voivodship is very attractive due to its nature, landscape and monuments of culture. Basic natural resources of this region are forests. The agrotourism is a very important function of this area. First agrotourist farms were organized in 1993. Most of them are small and are not profitable, thus most ...
An analysis, identification and assessment of the local conditions of agrotourismdevelopment in rural areas is performed in the paper. The important role oftourism both in the state policy and regional policy have been shown in the stateand regional documents. In most of European countries off-farming activities becomemore and more important as a source of income for farmers' families. Insome regions agrotourism can be regarded as a significant non-agricultural activity.In Poland the data of Agricultural Census indicates that the number of farmswith off-farms activity increased. The agrotourist farms are still more and moreimportant in many parts of Poland, especially in the wi tokrzyskie voivodship.The local and voivodship authorities are obliged to improve and invest in agrotouristbase, also using the European Union funds.This study is the analysis of natural and social-economic elements of geographicalenvironment in the wi tokrzyskie voivodship. The article is a trial ofshowing how rural areas are diversified for agrotourism. ...
The estimation and analysis SWOT lead for the agroturistical farms showed that despite of significant points that make providing the service difficult (among the others, the lack of money or good promotion) one can observe a great potential of possibilities in the activities of a single entity. The choice of attrac-tions and possibilities of spending a free time, good accommodation conditions, are only a few from many factors that make the farm exist in the market. One needs to look for the difficulties in running such business mostly in the lack of beneficial but stimulating this service institutional, organizational and financial surfaces. The particular function of help to fully use the potential of the accommo-dation abilities should be given to local authorities, that give the greatest hopes to the hosts of agroturistical farms. The actions in the level of making the quality of the agroturistic product better should lead to making the offers for the one, spe-cific kind of customers. With regards to the advantages of Polish countryside, the basic goal should be the constant orientation on the strong relation between agri-cultural production and agrotourism. ...
Growing demand for interesting agro- and eco-tourism products motivates owners of agrotourism farms to expand the range of services on offer. Develop-ment of agrotourism products should be based on the values of the naturalenvironment and culture. The purpose of this article is to analyse the use of the values of the natural environment in the offer of agrotourism farms located on the verge of the Świętokrzyski National Park as an area with a high tourist potential. The study is based on a questionnaire research performed in the summer of 2010 in agrotourism farms located in the analysed area.
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Conducted research showed, that the development of the agrotourism must be and should be coordinated with institutional actions. It seems to be essential for the comprehensive and professional character of offered services. Without suitable assistance of different kinds of agencies (for example: local authorities, farm tourism associations, federations, etc.), this non-agricultural business activity will be limited to individual lodgings. In the opinion of respondents, local authorities are expected to provide sufficient support, although they admitted that a Centre of the Agricultural Consulting had played the key role in the service activation. A Centre of the Agricultural Consulting organizes courses, workshops, exhibitions and competitions, as well as conducts advisory activities and provides information on the many topics related to the farm-based tourism. However, hosts noticed a lot of shortcomings on this field. They expect the greater initiative in recruiting guests and they would like to receive more help with preparing offers or organizing exhi-bitions and more systematic consulting.The preparation and abilities of contractors to this venture is positively as-sessed. The professionalism is confirmed by using specialist literature or following the example of the experience of other persons dealing with the farm tourism. This all, in combination with an effort of institutions ...
Presented results of research prove that service providers try to create high quality services. It is showed not only in the offer of attractions, but in caring about customers by arranging their stay, as well. It should be taken into account, that modern consumers expect rest in a nice atmosphere, interests to them, professional advice and a lot of information about the offer, too. The awareness created by service providers that the farms have a good influence on education, makes this non-agricultural income source unique. Suggested investment shows increasing demand for this kind of services.
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Based on the obtained studies it was stated that the forest, just after the water basins, is like a magnet very attractive and desirable, and creating new attractions around them is easier. The lack or significant distance of these resources from the farms makes their owners be more creative. Created awareness of the ad-vantageous influence of the natural environment and the countryside on the hu-man's health makes the basis to the conviction that the woods areas will be playing bigger role in building up agricultural packages. The positive role in the educative field has been noticed which may take effect in creating pro-ecological attitudes among the guests using the leisure. ...
Since the half of the 1990's, the development of rural areas was directed into a multi-functional form. Apart from main agricultural functions, dominating in the central steering period, different forms of non-agriculture activity started to develop in rural areas. In new conceptions of rural areas development, of important meaning was tourism, including agrotourism. The main aim of this paper is an attempt to discuss the role of tourism in multi-functional development of rural areas, especially in the Świętokrzyskie voi-vodship. In the Świętokrzyskie voivodship, a considerable development of agrotourist farms, with that of cooperating institutions, like agrotourist associations, con-sultative teams and agrotourist chambers is recently observed. The agrotourism is very important function of this area. First agrotourist farms were organized in 1993. Most of them are small and are not profitable, thus most of their owners became part-time farmers. The income outside the agriculture can be for them just the agrotourism. At present the Świętokrzyskie voivodship is visited by many tourists from various part of Poland. Agrotourism is a real chance for the Świętokrzyskie voivodship farmers, to ameliorate their difficult economic situation.
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Current approaches to cultural landscapes are more and more often em-phasising that these landscapes should be protected not only because they embrace objects of historical and environmental value, but also due to their potential for local and regional development. Cultural landscapes have influence on tourism attractiveness. The paper presents examples of cultural landscapes in Poland and abroad that have been shaped to become tourist products supporting local and re-gional development. It particularly demonstrates the way rural space could be de-veloped to create tourist and recreation areas taking into consideration local cultural potential as well as possibilities of social and economic growth. What is particularly important in the development of tourist and recreation areas is active participation of local communities and possibilities of cooperation between many institutions.Space could be shaped based on local authenticity values and also in relation to environmental, cultural and social conditions. Particular attention should be drawn to those elements of cultural landscape, which are seen as the dominant factors shaping the perception of a particular landscape, region or country ...
The analysis markings directions to agrotourist farms revealed that they are primarily performed by the owners. The hosts have very ingenious, but not always prefer quality. Bulletin boards, signs, or signs in the shape of arrows, are just some examples used in Kujawy Pomeranian village. The markings make it easy to not only drive visitors to the farm, but they are also a great part of promoting it. Often have small details (such as the image of the fish or horse), referring to the shape of the profile of your business. Unfortunately, only 38.5% of respondents have introduced information signs in their area. Little involvement in the process of their formation may be due to various reasons. Frequently mentioned is the lack of consent to their installation in the area, high costs and lack of awareness of their needs. The hosts promote their offers mainly through the Internet (92.2%), business cards (70.1%) and folders (50.6%) and catalogs (46.7%).They also expect appropriate involvement of local authorities in this type of activity. The study noted that the owners are unhappy with the activities of association of agrotourism. ...
Few households with Kuyavian-Pomeranian villages build an agrotourist product on a horseback riding. Research has shown that out of 78 respondents only 26.9% of the farm organizes this form of recreation. Two farms had the largest number of horses (over 20). Their farms had the highest level of service. Farms al-so provide different forms of recreation "in the saddle." From individuals learning, to ride with an instructor, camps, sleigh rides, carriage rides. A large group of owners (52.4%) activated the agrotourism with a view that the main attraction will be recreational horse riding. Other hosts (47.6%) organized on their property this kind of physical activity after 3-5 years. It was dictated by identifying and recognizing the market demand for this type of service. According to the respon-dents (71.4%), interest in horse riding is mostly expressed by horse lovers, families and young people in organised groups. Year by year the number of tourists in-creases, so the owners of agritourism farms (23.8%) plan to conduct a series of investments to raise the standard of services and encourage visitors to continue to improve riding skills. ...
The study revealed that the role of women in leading agro-tourism services is significant. They are mainly responsible for handling tourists and spend the most time (an average of 7 hours during the holiday and the holiday season, and four hours in low season). Their role is, among others for preparing meals, taking care of cleanliness of common areas and to establish interpersonal relationships with people staying on holiday. Studies have shown that rural women use their abilities, talents and skills to build the agrotourism product. Their favorable age structure and education levels translate to put innovative ideas on the farm. The results of the analysis revealed the problems that women have to deal with when they start agrotourism (eg. lack of acceptance as to the activities undertaken in the part of husbands, parents and children). Sometimes the family or the employees women with the small work on the farm and organize leisure time for tourists. ...
