Seeking wellness in rural tourism value chain: Evidence from Slovenian farm stay

Abstract

Exploring the connection between agrotourism, rural tourism value chain, and wellness tourism is essential, as the term agrowellness has not yet been well-established in professional and scientific literature. This study aimed to assess the current state of agrowellness offers in farm stays in Slovenia's Eastern Cohesion Region, a less developed tourist area compared to other leading destinations in the country. The study focused on determining if there is a connection between the development of agrowellness offers and the specialized label of a tourist farm that provides a healthy living experience. Additionally, the survey aimed to identify any statistically significant differences in the development of agrowellness offers based on selected general characteristics of the farmland, such as the location of the tourist accommodation farm, farm size, farm self-sufficiency, and the age of the operator of complementary activities. A quantitative structured observation method was used to assess the state of development of agrowellness offers on farm stay in Slovenia, specifically in the Eastern Cohesion Region. Five main themes emerged from the study, along with some fundamental characteristics of the tourist accommodation farm. These themes include sports and recreational activities, healthy diet, mental wellness, healthy lifestyle activities, and wellness services, as well as other rural tourism offerings. The over-all assessment of the wellness offer showed that the sampled farm stay underperformed compared to the average, but still had potential for further development. The healthy diet and sports and recreational activities segments received the highest ratings. Statistically significant differences were observed in the mental wellness segment, where farm stays with more than 34 hectares of land had more advanced mental wellness offers. Additionally, farm stays with operators of the complementary activity aged 50 or older had a more developed wellness offer in the sports and recreational activities segment.