Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas: Educational Homesteads and Agritourism Farms

Abstract

The aim of this article is to characterise two forms of entrepreneurship in rural areas that are an alternative to agricultural activity and an additional source of income: educational homesteads and agri-tourism farms. The main research question was what are the reasons for using the offer of educational homesteads and agrotourism farms. A total of 158 respondents took part in the survey. The research was conducted in August-September 2021. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s Chi2 and Mann-Whitney U tests of the STATISTICA 13.1 PL programme were used to compile the results. Among the respondents surveyed, more than half of the respondents use the leisure offer at least once a year, more than one-fifth of the men and one-third of the women surveyed try to visit agro-tourism farms or educational homesteads several times a year. Among the most important reasons for choosing the offer of rural enterprises are: „peace and quiet” offered by the rural enterprises’ offers, followed by „rural scenery”, „opportunity to learn about local culture” and „family atmosphere”. Respondents spoke highly of the level of service provided in the enterprises they used, but in their free opinions suggested that it would be good to establish cooperation between agritourism farms and educational homesteads: combining relaxation in a rural setting with education in order to benefit as much as possible from their stay in rural areas.