Agritourism in Colorado: The Visitors, the Economics and the Opportunities

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Agritourism in Colorado The Visitors, the
Economics and the Opportunities
Photo Tammy Mattics
Photo Randy Mills
Photo Pat Martin
Photo Joel Boymel

• Dawn Thilmany Martha Sullins
• Colorado State University Extension
• Department of Ag Resource Economics
• March 2007

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Growing Agritourism in Colorado

• Understanding the landscape
• Producer inventory, 2005 Colorado Dept of
  Agriculture
• Agritourism directory on-line, 2007 Colorado
  Dept of Agriculture
• Producer inventory, 2007 Colorado Dept of
  Agriculture CSU

Photo Nat Coalson
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Growing Agritourism in Colorado

• Understanding Colorados agritourists
• Consumer survey, 2007 Colorado Dept of
  Agriculture CSU

Photo Karen Seim
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Growing Agritourism in Colorado

• Supporting businesses communities
• 3 producer workshops (Steamboat, Akron)
• 2 scheduled workshops (La Junta, Cortez, Delta)
• Numerous community outreach presentations
• 4 fact sheets and more to come for tech. asst.

Photo Mary Erlenborn
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In Colorado, agritourism includes

• Outdoor recreation (fishing, hunting, wildlife
  photography, horseback riding).
• Educational experiences (farm and cannery tours,
  cooking classes, wine tasting, cattle drives,
  farm work).
• Entertainment (harvest festivals, corn mazes).
• Hospitality services (farm and ranch stays,
  guided tours, outfitter services).
• On-farm direct sales (u-pick operations, roadside
  stands).
• Off-the-farm direct sales (farmers markets,
  county and state fairs, special events).

Photo Jim Deeds
Photo Tina Beedy
Photo Carol Lauer
Photo Susan Hickel
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Why is agritourism important?

• The travel and tourism industry has become
  increasingly important in the Intermountain West
• 90 of total employment in some counties is in
  the industry
• A total of 106 Western rural counties had more
  than 1,000 travel and tourism jobs in 2000
• Ag income diversification
• 10.1 million in recreational services in 2002
• Moffat had highest recreational income at 1.3
  million (63 of total farm income)
• Tourism as Ag Industry Education/Promotion Tool!!

Source Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City,
Economic Review, 2003 USDA Census of Ag., 2002.
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Targeting traveler segments

• Cluster visitors by like characteristics
• Planning
• Mode of travel
• Activities chosen
• Expenditures, etc.
• Easier to develop cohesive marketing strategies
  than for average traveler
• We can define them
• .target those with greatest potential
• ..and create recommendations

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Agritourism visitors by cluster
Out-of-State Activity Seekers 97 out of
state 970,000/year Spend 228/day Mostly
unplanned
Family Ag Adventurers 76 out of state 4.5
million/year 153/day plan for agritourism
travel long distances
Loyal CO Enthusiasts 62 in-state 3.6
million/year 110/day diverse agritourism
activities return often
Visitorship based on estimates of 13.1 million
agritourists visiting Colorado in 2006.
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Agritourism visitors by cluster
In-State Explorers 62 in-state 3.9
million/year 132/day least interested in
agritourism but culinary events may be key
Accidental Tourists 65 out of
state 424,000/year 87/day no leisure planning
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Economic contribution

• Overall, 13.2 million visitors engaged in some
  agritourism in 2006
• Total contribution to economy estimated at 2.2
  billion with 1.26 billion in direct activity
• 1.7 billion from out of state ? bigger impact
• 14 of total tourism by CTO estimates
• 14,665 in direct
• employment (7 of tourism)
• Will these numbers be
• maintained or grow
• in 2007 and beyond?

Photo Spencer George
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Looking ahead to Partnerships networks
Of 398 in-state 500 out-of-state
travelers. Multiple responses given
54 used 1 information source 18 used 2
sources 11 used 3 different ones.
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Looking ahead to Community-level considerations
Ave. satisfaction w/activities1.58 (scale 1-5)
less satisfaction w/some infrastructure
No. times mentioned across all respondents
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Planning forProducer concerns
Source 2007 Producer Survey, Colorado Dept. of
Agriculture. N91
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Challenges

• Shifting visitors from unplanned to planned
  agritourism
• Increases expenditures at local level
• Rounding out trips 87 of all travelers were
  satisfied with their visits
• But 13 would have liked more agritourism and
  other activities to round out their trip would
  have paid for it
• Creating impression that Colorado is a good
  value trip for them, especially those with large
  expense to travel
• Especially those for whom CO is a big, planned
  expense on leisure
• Improving tourism infrastructure for agritourism
• Tying more on-farm ranch activities to
  food-oriented events
• Directional signage to make travelers more aware
  directed
• Interpretative signage for those wanting an
  educational experience

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Partnerships to Address Challenges

• Colorado Tourism Office
• Expand information and promotion through these
  popular planning resources
• Colorado Department of Agriculture
• Directories, MarketMaker
• Other Partnerships
• USDA Rural Development programs, Division of
  Wildlife, County Ag Boards and Economic
  Development agencies

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www.coloradoagritourism.com
For Consumers
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Colorado Farm Fresh

• 24th Edition
• New! Agritourism Activities
• Over 100 farms that sell direct to public
• 90,000 copies distributed statewide

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New Resource for Promotion

• Market Maker is a free tool to
• Help Consumers find Producers
• Help Producers Promote their Operations and
  Products
• Assess the food and agriculture of an area
  Providing an inventory and great networking
  resource

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Search Example

• Can zoom into or out of an area.
• Leverages databases and directories

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Promotion Possibilities

• MarketMaker is coming to Colorado!!
• Collaboration of CDA and CSU Extension
• We will add the agritourism directory
• Important to get everyones information
• Develop your Web presence now
• Other Features
• Buyers/sellers forum
• More search capabilities

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More Details
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Who are Colorados agritourists?

• The Average Traveler to Colorado agritourism in
  2005-06
• 57 out-of-state (AZ, NM or UT), varies by region
• 37 had incomes over 75,000/year while only 12
  earned under 30,000/year
• 46 years old and 73 married
• 20 parents w/children under 6 while 22 have
  kids 6 years old
• 15 are retired couples 28 are younger couples,
  no kids
• 15 are singles
• 90 identified themselves as White (7 of these
  Hispanic)
• How does this affect your marketing strategies??

• Corresponds to other surveys on general
  heritage traveler characteristics

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Resources

• Fact sheets at http//dare.agsci.colostate.edu/csu
  agecon/extension/pubstools.htm
• Of Wine and Wildlife Assessing Market Potential
  for Colorado Agritourism
• Colorados Agritourists Who are the Adventurers,
  the Seekers and the Explorers?
• Agritourism in Colorado A Closer Look at
  Regional Trends
• Web site
• www.coloradoagritourism.com

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What are travelers spending?
    Total expenditures () Total expenditures () Total expenditures per day () Total expenditures per day ()
    Mean SD Mean SD
Out-of-state 887.36 1332.09 157.01 207.53
In-state 391.25 708.88 113.61 153.00
         
Total 676.06 1136.05 138.61 187.29
Significantly different at a 95 confidence
level.