Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Agritourism Farm Stays and Their Safety during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Poland

Abstract

The article presents reasons for the choices and opinions of tourists regarding rest and its safety in agritourism farms in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. We used the diagnostic survey method. We distributed the questionnaire via the Internet on Facebook in thematic groups related to tourism. Facebook respondents were also asked to provide a link to the questionnaire to their tourism-active friends (snowball sampling). We conducted the survey in January 2021. Research has shown that well-educated and well-off residents of cities most often chose agritourism. The main reason for the choice is the possibility of rest in peace and quiet, natural values, and an attractive price. Notably, during the pandemic, an important reason for choosing agritourism was to convince tourists that the risk of coronavirus infection was relatively low. This is also evidenced by the fact that most of them visited an agritourism farm for the first time during the pandemic. The attractiveness of staying on an agritourism farm was assessed highly (almost all respondents expressed their willingness to take advantage of this form of leisure again). This is due to the high evaluation of the quality of services provided, the offer’s attractiveness, and price competitiveness.

The benefits of tourism for rural community development

“…This finding highlights the importance of such features in developing rural tourism to enhance rural community development from multiple perspectives. This finding echoes Zawadka et al (2022); i.e., policymakers should develop rural tourism to provide tourists with a safe and relaxed environment and should not ignore the value of this model for rural tourism.…”

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Agritourism

“…The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a deep crisis due to the strict preventive measures taken by national governments, causing an immediate economic downturn and, consequently, a severe collapse of tourism demand (Zawadka et al 2022). Almost 58% of the respondents declared that the main cause of the problems in agritourism was COVID-19.…”

“…Spending holidays on agritourism farms depends on many factors and results from a variety of reasons that guide tourists. Recognizing these factors during COVID-19 is particularly important as this allows changes that have occurred in this respect to be identifi ed (Zawadka et al 2022).…”

An Empirical Assessment of Students’ Tourist Preferences during the COVID-19 Pandemic from a Gender Perspective: Evidence from Poland

“…In turn, rural areas attracted slightly less interest from the respondents. Their advantage, as identified in a number of studies, consists of offering a quiet and calm place to stay [75][76][77][78][79][80], which is not necessarily something young people expect from a tourism destination. Also, this is in contradiction with what was observed in a study by Huertas [81], who demonstrated that, during the pandemic, tourists preferred visiting less crowded places in order to avoid physical interaction with other travelers and, thus, to make sure that they kept a suitable distance from people.…”