Promoting the international demand for agritourism – empirical evidence from a dynamic panel data model

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.