IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i17p7080-d406256.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The “Eco-Effectiveness” of Agritourism Dynamics in Italy and Spain: A Tool for Evaluating Regional Sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Angelo Belliggiano

    (Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy)

  • Eugenio Cejudo Garcia

    (Department of Human Geography, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain)

  • Marilena Labianca

    (Department of Scienze dell’Economia, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Francisco Navarro Valverde

    (Department of Human Geography, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain)

  • Stefano De Rubertis

    (Department of Scienze dell’Economia, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

Abstract

Rural tourism has commonly been identified as one of the main areas of application of the principles of sustainable tourism, but the literature has typically focused solely on the ecological dimension, particularly when referring to agritourism. This study presents a new approach to assessing the “eco-effectiveness” of the evolutionary dynamics of agritourism, as applied in a study of NUTS-2 regions in two European countries (Spain and Italy) that have implemented similar rural development strategies. To this end, a synthetic sustainability index was developed using the Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA) technique. The last period of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) 2007–2013 was chosen for the study in order to analyze the outcomes of a programming cycle focusing on the diversification of agriculture through tourism. The results show that the sustainability of agritourism growth is not homogeneous and has specific features in different regions of the same country. In some cases, there were more similarities with regions from other countries. This tool could help evaluate the impact of agritourism and facilitate comparisons between different regions, in this way supporting the process of transition from a linear to a circular economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelo Belliggiano & Eugenio Cejudo Garcia & Marilena Labianca & Francisco Navarro Valverde & Stefano De Rubertis, 2020. "The “Eco-Effectiveness” of Agritourism Dynamics in Italy and Spain: A Tool for Evaluating Regional Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:7080-:d:406256
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7080/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7080/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Belliggiano Angelo & Sturla Alberto & Vassallo Marco & Viganò Laura, 2020. "Neo-Endogenous Rural Development in Favor of Organic Farming: Two Case Studies from Italian Fragile Areas," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 1-29, March.
    2. Reeder, Richard J. & Brown, Dennis M., 2005. "Recreation, Tourism, and Rural Well-Being," Economic Research Report 7220, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Massimiliano Borrello & Stefano Pascucci & Luigi Cembalo, 2020. "Three Propositions to Unify Circular Economy Research: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-22, May.
    4. Aditya R. Khanal & Ashok K. Mishra, 2014. "Agritourism and off-farm work: survival strategies for small farms," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 65-76, November.
    5. Ievoli Corrado & Basile Roberto Giovanni & Belliggiano Angelo, 2017. "The Spatial Patterns of Dairy Farming In Molise," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 9(4), pages 729-745, December.
    6. Sanagustín Fons, M. Victoria & Fierro, José A. Moseñe & Patiño, María Gómez y, 2011. "Rural tourism: A sustainable alternative," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 551-557, February.
    7. Joachim H. Spangenberg, 2005. "Economic sustainability of the economy: concepts and indicators," International Journal of Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(1/2), pages 47-64.
    8. Navarro Francisco & Labianca Marilena & Cejudo Eugenio & de Rubertis Stefano & Salento Angelo & Maroto Juan Carlos & Belliggiano Angelo, 2018. "Interpretations of Innovation in Rural Development. The Cases of Leader Projects in Lecce (Italy) and Granada (Spain) in 2007–2013 Period," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 10(1), pages 107-126, March.
    9. Cernat, Lucian & Gourdon, Julien, 2012. "Paths to success: Benchmarking cross-country sustainable tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 1044-1056.
    10. Joachim H. Spangenberg, 2004. "Reconciling sustainability and growth: criteria, indicators, policies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 74-86.
    11. Marcel C. Hollander & Conny A. Bakker & Erik Jan Hultink, 2017. "Product Design in a Circular Economy: Development of a Typology of Key Concepts and Terms," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 517-525, June.
    12. Ang, B. W., 2005. "The LMDI approach to decomposition analysis: a practical guide," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 867-871, May.
    13. Flanigan, Sharon & Blackstock, Kirsty & Hunter, Colin, 2014. "Agritourism from the perspective of providers and visitors: a typology-based study," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 394-405.
    14. Victoria Sanagustin-Fons & Teresa Lafita-Cortés & José A. Moseñe, 2018. "Social Perception of Rural Tourism Impact: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-25, January.
    15. Jose Antonio Mosene & Mª Victoria Sanagustin & Maria Gomez & Laura Fani Arena Luna, 2012. "Sustainable Tourism in Aragon, a Case of a Spanish Inside Region," Chapters, in: Murat Kasimoglu (ed.), Strategies for Tourism Industry - Micro and Macro Perspectives, IntechOpen.
    16. Ohe, Yasuo & Kurihara, Shinichi, 2013. "Evaluating the complementary relationship between local brand farm products and rural tourism: Evidence from Japan," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 278-283.
    17. Ang, B.W. & Wang, H., 2015. "Index decomposition analysis with multidimensional and multilevel energy data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 67-76.
    18. William Young & Fiona Tilley, 2006. "Can businesses move beyond efficiency? The shift toward effectiveness and equity in the corporate sustainability debate," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 402-415, November.
    19. Phillip, Sharon & Hunter, Colin & Blackstock, Kirsty, 2010. "A typology for defining agritourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 754-758.
    20. Juan Ignacio Pulido Fernández & Marcelino Sánchez Rivero, 2009. "Measuring Tourism Sustainability: Proposal for a Composite Index," Tourism Economics, , vol. 15(2), pages 277-296, June.
    21. Brunella Arru & Roberto Furesi & Fabio A. Madau & Pietro Pulina, 2019. "Recreational Services Provision and Farm Diversification: A Technical Efficiency Analysis on Italian Agritourism," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-15, February.
    22. Tabita Adamov & Ramona Ciolac & Tiberiu Iancu & Ioan Brad & Elena Peț & Gabriela Popescu & Laura Șmuleac, 2020. "Sustainability of Agritourism Activity. Initiatives and Challenges in Romanian Mountain Rural Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-23, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Angelo Belliggiano & Letizia Bindi & Corrado Ievoli, 2021. "Walking along the Sheeptrack…Rural Tourism, Ecomuseums, and Bio-Cultural Heritage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Eugenio Cejudo-García & Marilena Labianca & Francisco Navarro-Valverde & Angelo Belliggiano, 2022. "Protected Natural Spaces, Agrarian Specialization and the Survival of Rural Territories: The Cases of Sierra Nevada (Spain) and Alta Murgia (Italy)," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-30, July.
    3. Letizia Bindi & Mauro Conti & Angelo Belliggiano, 2022. "Sense of Place, Biocultural Heritage, and Sustainable Knowledge and Practices in Three Italian Rural Regeneration Processes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Sanaz Davardoust & Faris Karahan, 2021. "Evaluation of Sustainable Rural Tourism. The Case of Uzundere District, Erzurum, Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-14, September.
    5. Giovanni Peira & Davide Longo & Francesca Pucciarelli & Alessandro Bonadonna, 2021. "Rural Tourism Destination: The Ligurian Farmers’ Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-15, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brunella Arru & Roberto Furesi & Fabio A. Madau & Pietro Pulina, 2021. "Economic performance of agritourism: an analysis of farms located in a less favoured area in Italy," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Cong Wang & Yuanyuan Hao, 2023. "Empirical analysis of tourist satisfaction of leisure farms: evidence from Qing Jing Farms, Taiwan," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Trotta, Gianluca, 2020. "Assessing energy efficiency improvements and related energy security and climate benefits in Finland: An ex post multi-sectoral decomposition analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2017. "Analysis of energy-related CO2 emissions in China’s mining industry: Evidence and policy implications," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 77-87.
    5. Alieh Abadi & Mehdi Khakzand, 2022. "Extracting the qualitative dimensions of agritourism for the sustainable development of Charqoli village in Iran: the promotion of vernacular entrepreneurship and environment-oriented preservation per," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(11), pages 12609-12671, November.
    6. Ang, B.W. & Goh, Tian, 2019. "Index decomposition analysis for comparing emission scenarios: Applications and challenges," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 74-87.
    7. Raza, Muhammad Yousaf & Lin, Boqiang, 2023. "Future outlook and influencing factors analysis of natural gas consumption in Bangladesh: An economic and policy perspectives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    8. Anna Tafidou & Evgenia Lialia & Angelos Prentzas & Asimina Kouriati & Eleni Dimitriadou & Christina Moulogianni & Thomas Bournaris, 2023. "Land Diversification and Its Contribution to Farms’ Income," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-12, April.
    9. Dubois, Charline & Cawley, Mary & Schmitz, Serge, 2017. "The tourist on the farm: A ‘muddled’ image," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 298-311.
    10. Eleni Dimitriadou & Thomas Bournaris & Theodoros Stavrinoudis & Olga Iakovidou, 2021. "The Efficiency Score of Small Accommodation Businesses in Non-Coastal Rural Areas in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-15, October.
    11. Emilio Chiodo & Héctor Luis Adriani & Fernando Pablo Navarro & Rita Salvatore, 2019. "Collaborative Processes and Collective Impact in Tourist Rural Villages—Insights from a Comparative Analysis between Argentinian and Italian Cases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-22, January.
    12. Massimiliano Borrello & Stefano Pascucci & Luigi Cembalo, 2020. "Three Propositions to Unify Circular Economy Research: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-22, May.
    13. Rike Stotten & Michaela Maurer & Hannes Herrmann & Markus Schermer, 2019. "Different Forms of Accommodation in Agritourism: The Role of Decoupled Farmer-Based Accommodation in the Ötztal Valley (Austria)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-27, May.
    14. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2018. "Decomposing the change in energy consumption in China's nonferrous metal industry: An empirical analysis based on the LMDI method," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2652-2663.
    15. Feng Dong & Jingyun Li & Yue-Jun Zhang & Ying Wang, 2018. "Drivers Analysis of CO 2 Emissions from the Perspective of Carbon Density: The Case of Shandong Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-24, August.
    16. Agnès Durrande-Moreau & François Courvoisier & Anne-Marie Bocquet, 2017. "The new integrated agritourism, a sustainable tourism trend [Le nouvel agritourisme intégré, une tendance du tourisme durable]," Post-Print hal-01555233, HAL.
    17. Eskander, Shaikh M.S.U. & Nitschke, Jakob, 2021. "Energy use and CO2 emissions in the UK universities: an extended Kaya identity analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110764, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Michał Roman & Piotr Grudzień, 2021. "The Essence of Agritourism and Its Profitability during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-25, May.
    19. Khairabadi, Omid & Sajadzadeh, Hassan & Mohammadianmansoor, Saheb, 2020. "Assessment and evaluation of tourism activities with emphasis on agritourism: The case of simin region in Hamedan City," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    20. Antouškova, M., 2014. "Travel Cost Model for an Agrifarm Specialised in Horse Riding Activities," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 6(4), pages 1-8, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:7080-:d:406256. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.