Social Tourism and Social Agriculture for Rural Development

In very recent years, after many decades of support to agriculture and rural society, the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC) have fostered its second pillar of Rural Development Policy, including rural tourism. The farms can actually broaden and reground their activities, enlarging their boundaries toward the production of market and non-market goods and services, re-positioning farm resources (workforce, structures) in extra corporate uses, out of the farm boundaries, within the surrounding territory. Farmers have the opportunity to maintain their activities by means of contemporarily producing commodities, services and non-commodities to be used by the entire society. Agriculture and the rural society will be able also to introduce new forms of products in its organizational and social patterns. That is, the ability to include also the production of social tourism within capabilities of farms and rural areas. The presence of less wealthy tourists in rural areas and in farms will contribute to ensure further revenues to farming and relaxation to a lager segment of tourism market, de-season ability and de-crowding of mainstream tourism resorts. Rural Tourism needs to consider smartly the sustainable hospitality and the introduction of social goals should be a good pace in the direction of a Sustainable Rural Tourism pattern.