Communications Training Needs in Arkansas' Agritourism Industry

Abstract

Agritourism has emerged globally as a tool to diversify farm income, and the need for non-formal educational programming in this area has become obvious. In Arkansas, Cooperative Extension educators have lacked empirical data to guide program development. One clear need, according to literature, is for operators to improve marketing communications skills. Researchers surveyed agritourism operators in Arkansas to describe demographics, educational needs (especially related to marketing communications), and educational delivery preferences. Results indicated that operators were typically older than 50 and that 60% had been in operation for longer than 10 years. Key issues and educational needs related to marketing communications included promotion and marketing, advertising, media relations, and signage. Communications tactics commonly used by the respondents included word-ofmouth (WOM); websites; print, radio, and television advertising; and local media relations. Preferred delivery methods for educational programming related to agritourism included periodic newsletters, regional workshops, and news releases.

Journal of Applied Communications 100(1) Full Issue

“…It is addressing new branches of inquiry. The battery of research articles examined indicates attention to heretofore untouched research themes, such as deciphering best practices before, during, and after crisis and risk situations (Veil and Sellnow, 2008;White and Rutherford, 2008;Ashlock, Cartmell & Leising, 2009) particularly when food safety is under threat (Irlbeck, Akers & Palmer, 2011;Barr, Irlbeck & Akers, 2012;, incidences of agroterrorism Leising, 2009 andRiley, Cartmell & Naile, 2012) and plant and animal disease outbreaks (e.g., Cannon and Irani, 2011;Narayana, 2013); the impact of the popular and entertainment media on cognitions and attitudes (e.g., Meyers, Irlbeck & Fletcher, 2011;Holt & Cartmell, 2013;Specht & Rutherford, 2015); people's perceptions of agricultural terminologies, sources, and issues (Goodwin, Chiarelli & Irani, 2011;Barr, Irlbeck, Meyers & Chambers, 2011;Rumble, Holt & Irani, 2014); the role of communication in ag policy formulation (e.g., Goodwin & Rhoades, 2011); the use of emerging and new media to communicate issues (e.g., Wagler & Cannon, 2009;Moore, Meyers, Irlbeck & Burris, 2009;Meyers, Irlbeck, Graybill-Leonard & Doerfert, 2011; and to foment social movements (Graybill-Leonard, Meyers, Doerfert & Irlbeck, 2011); communication strategies to reach audiences with disabilities (Christen & Fetsch, 2008); the role of communication in emerging industries within agriculture (Miller, McCullough, Rainey & Das, 2012); and the impact of organizational brand salience and differentiation (Settle, Goodwin, Telg, Irani, Carter & Wysocki, 2012;Settle, Baker & Irani, 2014), to name a few of the most obvious recent branches of inquiry.…”

Building Tourism Resilience through Communication

“…These communication processes aligned with the communication theory of resilience and underscored the importance of communication networks and technologies in facilitating these processes. The agritourism literature has explored the role of communication needs by agritourism operators mostly from the marketing perspective, focusing on promotion and advertising [16][17][18]. Thus, this study has the twofold objectives of: (1) better understanding the role of communication processes in building resilience in agritourism operations, and (2) to develop recommendations to build resilience through communication.…”