Visitors to Farm Tourism Enterprises in Norway

Abstract

In Norway, as in many other countries, rural and farm tourism is becoming an important activity for promoting the vitality and sustainability of rural communities. This paper focuses on the analysis of visitors to Norwegian farms, which offer various tourism activities and services. The countryside has increasingly become a place of consumption and recreation, and as such, farm tourism is part of the shift in the economic base of rural societies. Moreover, in building appreciation for the distinctive features of local places and people, farm tourism represents a counter-trend to homogenisation and mass tourism. In this paper we focus on the Norwegian domestic market. Based on data from ten representative national Norwegian surveys conducted by Synovate Norway between 1991 and 2007, our analysis shows significant increases in the proportion of the population visiting farm tourism enterprises since 1991. In addition to describing who the visitors are, the paper also characterises potential visitors within the domestic tourism market.