| Abstract: |
Tourism is a major economic activity and one of the most important income
sources for Italy. In recent years, tourism supply is widely changing and
rural tourism is growing fast. Studies on agritourism are increasing in
number, but the determinants of the international demand for rural tourism is
are still largely under-investigated. We empirically investigate the
determinants of the international demand for agritourims in Italy. We show the
luxury nature of rural tourism, and demonstrate that international flows are
demand driven. To the extent that entrepreneurs and policymakers want to
encourage rural tourisms, subsidies, policy interventions and marketing
campaigns may differ substantially according to the targeted foreign
countries. We investigate these differences. |