From 16 to 18 May 2024, the 2nd World Agritourism Congress, titled "Agritourism is more!", was held at the EURAC in Bolzano, South Tyrol. This event served as a global forum for scientists, practitioners, associations, stakeholders, businesses, and various other participants.
With the main focus on sustainability, the aim was to explore the state-of-the-art, challenges, opportunities, and limitations of agritourism along with future development perspectives in rural areas worldwide.
With 11 keynote speeches, 13 thematic sessions, and 9 technical visits to 14 agritourism businesses, the program was comprehensive and varied. More than 200 participants attended either in person or online.
The BAB was involved in the organisation of a session as well as poster and paper presentations. Both, the session and the poster, were based on the work done by the ‘Definitions and Standards Sub-Committee’ of the Global Agritourism Network over the past year. Erika Quendler is in this Sub-Committee.
The session "S08 - Navigating the Global Landscape of Agritourism: Towards a Unified Definition" was chaired by Erika Quendler. During this session, Hans Embacher, Alexander Plaickner, and Erika Quendler delivered their presentation "Austrian Agritourism: Promoting both Diversity and Common Understanding within Global Values," which they had prepared together with Vincent Magnini and Rike Stotten.
The poster, entitled "Global Values of Agritourism: Towards a Unified Definition," addressed the necessity of a common understanding of agritourism worldwide. The 'five values of agritourism' and 'five criteria for recognising variability' formulated by the international committee describe agritourism on a global level. During the congress, participants had the opportunity to express their agreement or disagreement with the values presented by signing on the poster. A total of 41 participants signed in agreement, while 2 signed in disagreement.
Furthermore, Oliver Tamme presented his research about Mountainous Villages in the session T-01 Social Sustainability.
https://agritourism.eurac.edu/world-agritourism-congress-wac/2024-edition/
https://agritourism.eurac.edu/world-agritourism-congress-wac/2024-edition/programme/
