Though some businesses in the agritourism and rural tourism sector saw an increase in bookings, Covid-19 placed a strain on nearly every business in South Africa. Jacqui Taylor, chief executive officer of Agritourism South Africa, says more needs to be done to advance agritourism and rural tourism in the country.
“The impact of Covid-19 on the lifestyles of South Africans is very good for agritourism and rural tourism experiences. We’ve seen an increase in bookings and an increase in enquiries,” says Taylor.
She explains that, even with the uptick in agritourism interest, the general effect of the pandemic was still one that limited the amount of money people could spend on travelling.
“We need to also bear in mind that there have been a lot of retrenchments and economically, South Africans have had to either take a decrease in salary, or they are in some or other financial predicament because of the impact of Covid on their business environment.”
Taylor, who has been working in agritourism for six years, says that there has been little advancement in the sector during that time.
She highlights that provincial governments and tourism bodies do not seem to see the value in investing in agritourism, something she attributes to a lack of knowledge.
“I am dismayed at the lack of interest and the lack of action taken by tourism bodies and the various governmental and provincial departments on rural tourism and agritourism. It’s really unacceptable that we are still in a position where a lot of these tourism associations talk about beaches, hotels and more of the same.”
Opportunities and benefits to farmworkers
Rural tourism has a lot of variety to offer tourists, says Taylor, and the capacity of the sector to provide additional income to farmworkers in underestimated.
“I don’t actually see many other people, particularly from public bodies or associations. It is sad because farmworkers in particular would benefit if rural tourism was encouraged, because then they could earn additional income.
“It doesn’t have to be big initiatives that come out of rural tourism. It can just be baking breads, making jams and selling them to tourists in the accommodation venues on the farm. So, it’s surprising for me that rural tourism is not taken seriously in South Africa.”
Taylor says she has seen strategy after strategy coming from government in relation to agritourism, but none of these strategies were properly implemented. She adds that plans for the sector go back to around 2004 – and have recurred in 2014, 2016 and 2018 – but the sector is still not really progressing.
“I’d like to put this question to the tourism minister and to the tourism associations: ‘What is actually being done on the ground to assist people in rural areas to be involved in the tourism chain?’”
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Other podcast highlights:
The best agriculture news podcast on the planet also features other highlights for the agricultural sector this week:
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- Milk Producer’s Organisation: MPO has a new CEO! Gerhard Kriel tells us his plans for the organisation for 2022.
- Book of the week: Our book of the week is Get out of your mind by Luyanda Mpahlwa and Klaus Doppler. The book is being reviewed by Food For Mzansi founder and editor in chief, Ivor Price.
- Farmer’s Tip of the Week: Our farmer’s tip this week comes from Citrus Growers Association CEO, Justin Chadwick.
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