Profile of tourist farms’ owners in Roztocze

Abstract

Agritourism is one of the tourism forms in rural areas, which allows visitors to have direct contact with a farmer’s family and the local population, due to which it allows to get to know the local culture, cuisine, customs, and also nature and animals. Agritourism activity is usually carried out in addition to the typical agricultural production. Nevertheless, it requires a large commitment of the owners, and often the whole family. The greatest successes in the activities are achieved by those farms, which in addition to an interesting offer, provide a friendly atmosphere and hospitality to guests and their owners are largely venturesome, open to new experiences, eager to get their education, speak foreign languages, and are able to use modern sources of advertising and distribution channels of their services. The study aimed at figuring the characteristics of a personal profile of owners of agritourism farms operating in Roztocze and ascertaining the reasons for making this type of activity. The study was conducted in 2012 by means of diagnostic survey method, including the questionnaire technique, among 100 owners of tourist farms, which accounted for 62.5% of all objects of this type operating in Roztocze. Based on achieved results, it was found that the owners of tourist farms in Roztocze are mainly middle-aged women working in agriculture for 40 years and coming from rural areas. Most often they have secondary education. The main motives of agritourism business is the desire to obtain additional income along with a local demand for such services.