Traces of Honeybees, Api-Tourism and Beekeeping: From Past to Present

Abstract

Throughout history, honey has been used for many different purposes and due to its medicinal properties, has been one of the products marketed by traders. The figure of the bee first appeared in drawings on rock with the history of humanity, then on statues, as a logo, on money or stamps, and also in movies. Beekeeping museums, which present the historical process of beekeeping, also reflect an important culture with their ancient hives, documents, beekeeping materials, and historical antiquities. The contribution of bees to the sustainability of natural life is very important and has a history of 100 million years. The importance of bees and their by-products is increasing day by day, and the demand for the beekeeping industry as alternative income determines the emergence of new products and activities. Based on its health properties, apitherapy is the basis of activities such as api-air and api-diet. In natural regions (i.e., mountainous areas, forests) where beekeeping is carried out, people’s tradition, food culture, and healthy lifestyle attract society’s attention. In this context, api-tourist activity appears as a new phenomenon. In this article, the existing literature was scanned to create a resource about these new fields triggered by the beekeeping sector.

The Effect of Supplementary Feeding with Different Pollens in Autumn on Colony Development under Natural Environment and In Vitro Lifespan of Honey Bees

“…Basically, honey bees are provided with all other nutrients, including carbohydrates, from nectar and protein from pollen. Plant populations and productivity in these populations are affected by many factors such as climate change, intensification of agricultural areas, landscape changes and atmospheric pollutants [1][2][3][4][5]. Ghosh et al (2020) showed that the pollen preference of colonies can vary depending on the protein content of the pollen, and bees prefer floral sources with high nutritional content [6].…”

“…Basically, honey bees are provided with all other nutrients, including carbohydrates, from nectar and protein from pollen. Plant populations and productivity in these populations are affected by many factors such as climate change, intensification of agricultural areas, landscape changes and atmospheric pollutants [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ].…”

Effect of honey bee forage plants in Tunisia on diversity and antibacterial potential of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria from Apis mellifera intermissa and its products

“…The honey bee has been part of human culture since ancient times and its products have an extensive history of use (Topal et al 2021). Although multiple investigations focused on the honey bee microbiota (Zheng et al 2018), several studies have examined the microbiological communities of bee products.…”

The Honey Bee Apis mellifera: An Insect at the Interface between Human and Ecosystem Health

“…A lion at the portal of a Gothic cathedral Besides provisioning and regulating ecosystem services, honey bees and beekeeping can also be linked to cultural services. Among them, the best-known examples are recreational/educational activities, such as api-tourism, a form of agro-tourism related to beekeeping, which includes a number of beekeeping-oriented activities (e.g., visits to apiaries, bee museums, honey tasting, and apitherapy), and art inspiration [135,186,187].…”

“…Apitherapy is increasingly becoming the basis of api-tourism, i.e., a kind of tourism focused on physical health and well-being [ 135 , 136 ]. Kotova and Lesnikov [ 137 ] discussed and marked the symbiosis of apitherapy and tourist-recreational resources in health tourism as a factor of effective post-COVID-19 health.…”