According to this article, the Arthurs agree with Laura Grey that agritourism is the next big crop for farmers, especially in Colorado. In Colorado, there exists a great prospective to promote agricultural producers and countryside communities by making extra income from customers who are enthusiastic to pay for countryside and agriculturally interconnected practices. According to 2007 Agricultural Census report, it is depicted that 33 million in agritourism revenue was generated by, only, 670 farms out of 37,000 farms. In 2002, the average farm was generating approximately $ 14,000 annually from agritourism and leisure, but their income went up to over $48,000 annually in 2007. This increase in profit could have occurred as a result of creating awareness of this new business enterprise. In order to create awareness successfully, it is vital to come up with a suitable and efficient marketing strategies for agritourism. According to the Arthurs and Laura Grey, the farmers and ranchers should focus on adopting the best marketing tools that would aid them attract more visitors to their businesses, and endorse Colorado agritourism to the other states, thus, creating more visitors (Martha, 2010).
If I was in Laura Grey’s potion at CTO, I would enlighten the producers on the importance of adopting a clear marketing strategy; for example, the necessity of conducting interviews; especially with those who are not interested in agritourism, with the intention of improving the strategy so as to incorporate all. The world is evolving fast and the tourism industry, too, is not static, therefore, I would keep updating the producers on the new tools available, so that they can remain relevant in this competitive field. It is important to note that the marketing strategy is a dynamic process that changes as you learn, evaluate, and study.
It is important to note that we are not the, only, business offering agritourism, therefore, it is prudent to determine specific clients. In order to target the appropriate population of clients for a particular event, I would, therefore, encourage farmers and ranchers to conduct a good marketing research- this information can be obtained from the tourism boards. The information collected could, therefore, support them in making the correct choices; for example, a research, conducted in 2008, has it that those farmers with pumpkin patches and school tours were mainly dominated by families and young children as visitors. It is; now, clear that if they were to organize pumpkin patches and tours, their main target as clients would be the young children (Laura, www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEP2dekQ4Oo).
References
Laura,G,. CTO Agritourism Program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEP2dekQ4Oo
Martha, S., Drew, M., & Dawn, M, T.(2010). Developing Effective Marketing Strategies for
Agribusiness: Targeting Visitor Segments. Journal of Agribusiness 28,2(Fall 2010): 111-130 ©
2010 Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia.
