Key Takeaways
- Growing trend in luxury travel: Luxury hotels and resorts are embracing agritourism to offer unique, immersive experiences that go beyond conventional hospitality. They are cultivating their own farms, gardens, and greenhouses and organizing activities, tours, and workshops that highlight the connection between agriculture, sustainability, and wellness.
- Noteworthy locations: Properties like Four Seasons Tamarindo, Ranch at Laguna Beach, Southall Farm & Inn, and Wildflower Farms are promoting agritourism with farm tours, gardening classes, and workshops on niche agricultural practices.
- Farm experiences beyond farm-to-table: Agritourism experiences in luxury properties offer more than just farm-to-table dining. Guests can engage in activities like learning about chickens' musical preferences, composting as a team-building exercise, participating in planting parties, and attending workshops on shiitake raising and fruit tree grafting.
- Preserving agricultural traditions: Luxury establishments also aim to preserve and celebrate local agricultural traditions. Examples include Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa and Paradero Todos Santos, which actively preserve local farming practices, and Tenuta di Murlo, which allows guests to engage with traditional farming, vineyards, and olive trees.
- Agritourism in Greece: Agritourism is thriving in Greece's Peloponnese region, with properties like Eumelia offering season-based experiences such as grape harvesting, olive oil production, and cooking classes. Other initiatives like "oleotourism" tours and culinary and agricultural tours by Mama's Flavours provide access to small-scale farmers, local producers, and traditional food experiences.
Luxury hospitality is tapping into the authentic, hands-on experiences that the agritourism sector offers.
Hotels and resorts worldwide are increasingly cultivating their own farms, gardens, and greenhouses to meet the demand for unique, immersive experiences that go beyond the conventional.
These establishments are not only leveraging farm-to-table culinary offerings but also organizing classes, tours, and experiences that emphasize the relationship between agriculture, sustainability, and wellness.
Among the noteworthy locations promoting agritourism are Four Seasons Tamarindo in Mexico, Ranch at Laguna Beach in California, Southall Farm & Inn in Tennessee, and Wildflower Farms in New York’s Hudson Valley.
These places offer experiences ranging from farm tours to gardening classes, and workshops on unique agricultural practices like fruit tree grafting and mushroom cultivation.
Farm Experiences: From Farm-to-Table to Hands-on Engagement
Farm experiences in these luxury properties go well beyond the usual. For instance, at Four Seasons Tamarindo, guests can learn from the resident “chicken whisperer” about the chickens’ peculiar penchant for reggae music.
Meanwhile, at the Ranch at Laguna Beach, guests can turn compost together as part of team building.
Southall Farm & Inn offers activities like the Planting Party, where guests work alongside the farm’s team in planting seasonal crops.Wildflower Farms, on the other hand, offers niche experiences like a Shiitake Raising Workshop and a Fruit Tree Grafting class.
Additionally, Castle Hot Springs in Arizona hosts a daily farm tour, their most popular activity, and a Homegrown Gardening workshop that equips home gardening enthusiasts with seedlings and other supplies for their home gardens.
Hotels and resorts worldwide are increasingly cultivating their own farms, gardens, and greenhouses to meet the demand for unique, immersive experiences that go beyond the conventional.
Preserving Agricultural Traditions
In addition to providing immersive experiences, these luxury establishments also aim to preserve and celebrate local agricultural traditions.
For example, Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa in Brazil and Paradero Todos Santos in Mexico are actively preserving local farming practices.
Tenuta di Murlo in Italy, a property with a rich agricultural history dating back to the Middle Ages, offers guests the opportunity to engage with traditional farming, vineyards, olive trees, beehives, and animals.
Agritourism in Greece
Agritourism is also booming on the Greek peninsula of Peloponnese. Eumelia, a farm near Gouves village in the Laconia region, offers guests a variety of season-based experiences, including grape harvesting, wine making, olive oil production, cooking classes, culinary tours, and more.
Other agritourism destinations, such as the Karabelas family’s “oleotourism” enterprise, offer guided tours of olive groves and mills, olive oil and wine tastings, and a chance to participate in harvests.
Mama’s Flavours, another Greek initiative, conducts culinary and agricultural tours across the Peloponnese, offering guests access to small-scale farmers and local producers.
These experiences include visits to cheesemakers, vineyards, wineries, and an organic olive farm, as well as urban food tours, wine tastings, and cooking classes.
Conclusion
The agritourism movement has carved a unique niche in the luxury hospitality sector, catering to travelers who crave authenticity, hands-on engagement, and a deeper understanding of local agricultural practices and sustainability.
As the trend continues to grow, travelers can look forward to more immersive, enriching experiences that go well beyond the typical hotel stay.
