Rural Tours – Countryfolk’s Opportunity to Earn an Extra Dollar

Do you live in a countryside? If you do, you probably own a farm, vineyard, olive or apple groves. Or plots of land where you grow cotton, rice, potatoes or some other vegetables. Am I right? 

If not, maybe you’re an owner of a field overgrown with thorn bushes and trees! That thorny jungle has equal potential to bring you some extra dollars too!

If you found yourself in our description above, this article is for you. In front of you is an opportunity to receive passive income, you didn’t know about earlier today. Give yourself a moment to play with an idea of staying at home, doing what you’ve been doing. And by adding an extra “tour and/or activity” layer to it, you can have money coming to you. How do you feel about that?

The Best Low Budget Business to Start in a Rural Area

Agritourism is a form of tourism conducted in a rural farm area which promotes the appreciation of the local culture, heritage, and traditions through personal contact with local people. You might also have heard of it as rural tours or activities, farm tourism, ecotourism, or rural tourism.

Whatever you choose to call it, the popularity of agritourism is growing. People long to be touched by the intact nature. They dream to visit a place with no network coverage, so their stressful jobs cannot invade their vacation. People from big cities would rather be woken up by singing birds, than busy road traffic noise. At least occasionally. Trust me, I’m one of them.

Is Agritourism For You?

The best thing about agritourism is that you’re almost doing it already. As a farmer, you feed animals every day. It’s not likely for you to stop feeding them just because no one is watching while you’re doing it. Sadly, you aren’t getting all the money that you could for it. But, you can!

Don’t waste the opportunity for an extra income any longer! With a minor investment, you can organize rural tours and activities or working holidays.

What to Do Exactly in Order to Go into Agritourism

Look around. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of potential adventurous things any new visitor to your area could do! Different countryside’s outdoor activities, “behind the scenes” rural tours, and fun family adventures. All in order to provide authentic experiences. You could offer:

Rural Tours and Activities

Depending upon the available resources, there is a wide variety of rural tours and activities you can provide. Here are some examples:

1. Lots of farms have chickens, cows, pigs, and goats. Horses, rabbits, and donkeys, too. As a farm owner, you could offer various on-farm activities and courses from Junior Farmers to Cheese or Jams Making. Invite ranch visitors to a farm tour. Welcome them to feed the animals, collect eggs for breakfast, shear a sheep, milk cows, and goats, etc. It’s all part of the farm experience! If you have horses, we can guarantee that travelers will be interested in horse riding tours.

2. 2. If your family owns a vineyard, expand your wine business. Open a wine school. So, wine lovers can attend wine classes and learn more about their favorite drink. Another suggestion is to create vine harvest activity, wine tasting tours, and rustic wine making tours. People from urban areas will stomp the grapes for wine for fun!
   3. Different parts of the world have different homemade brandy traditions. For example, rakija making  (pronounced rah-key-ya) is a tradition, people from eastern part of Europe could take an advantage of. Lift it to another level and organize traditional rakia making activities in the fall.
   4. Did you know there is a growing interest in adventure outdoor activities to do in a countryside?! Outdoor adventures are desirable activities for team buildings, birthday, hen and bachelor celebrations. Besides that, no reason is needed to have a little fun! Maybe you haven’t thought about it that way, but a field overgrown with thorn bushes and trees is perfect for adventure park! Your jungle will be nice airsoft or paintball playground. After cutting down excessive bushes, you can also build a treehouse with a zipline. 

Working Holidays on a Farm in the Countryside

People who live in urban areas need a break from their stressful modern life and digital addiction. Nature resets our minds and bodies. It refocuses our attention. Thus, the townsfolk will gladly help you around the farm. They enjoy getting their hands dirty! 

Invite guests from the city on a working holiday and they’ll help you plant a garden, milk cows, and feed your horses. You could easily make a business out of it! Put up a website and offer people to book now one of your fun rural activities! 

For townsfolk, that would make a unique, relaxing journey no travel agency can provide. However, you can! An extra pair of hands will make ordinary rural jobs much easier. And, those hands will provide additional income to your household. Go for it!

“When you sit at a desk all day, there’s something about literally putting your hands in the dirt, digging and actually creating something that’s really beautiful. There’s something about just being out there that feels kind of elemental.” – Gillian Aldrich

Accommodation

Host traveling family by offering them accommodation – also known as – farm stay. All you need is a free room in your home. You can start with one private room. Following an increase in a farm stay demand, you can easily add more rooms.

Sleeping in a restored barn would complete a unique rural experience. If you have one, consider replacing mattresses with large sacks filled with grain or hay.

Think out of the box. People from large cities never see the stars in the night sky due to lots of light sources (street illumination, neon signs, etc.). So, accommodate them in a private attic room with a roof window and you might leave them speechless.

Getting the Most Out of Your Farm Business

Do you make wood crafts just for your hobby? If you do, exhibit items and sell them. Turn your woodworking hobby into a business! Wooden bowls, traditional jewelry, artisan-crafted jewelry boxes and wooden garden statues. Offer your handmade wood crafts to people who book your rural tours and activities, and come to your location. They would love a souvenir. And, that’s excellent upsell opportunity.

Finally, we have mentioned 3 possibilities to expand your farm business (farm stays, rural tours & activities, and working holidays). Whatever choice you make, you’ll need a simple way to announce your new business offers. The more people know about your rural business expansion, the more profit you make. Online booking software will help you with that. Online booking allows farmers to:

2. 2. • make their offer available internationally,
      • accept deposits,
      • accept online payments,
      • automate marketing tasks (social media).

Not only for booking a rural tour, online booking software is also great for selling products from your farm store. If you’re looking to integrate a booking engine with your website, contact us.

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ORIOLY
on April 19, 2017

by Lidija Šomodi