Could Volunteers Actually Help Your Agritourism Project Make Money?
Hello,
One of the most profitable ways an agritourism project can earn money is through a homestay.
But would you still be interested if your visitors weren’t paying any money at all?
Here’s why we think you should be.
While activities and experiences are a great way for a farmer to earn extra revenue, having visitors spend the night - or multiple nights - can lead to a significant long-term impact.
Take the Farm of Happiness Agro Tourism Homestay, for example. This is an established homestay (with over 200 reviews on TripAdvisor) that rents out rooms. Not only are they offering farm tours, trekking, and bird watching, they offer experience farming.
That means beyond paying for a place to stay, tourists are coming to actually experience farming the land.
The advantage Farm of Happiness has? They’re well-established and they are able to offer a decent quality room.
The good news for anyone looking to start?
If you’re open to accepting volunteers, this could be the perfect opportunity to develop your agricultural homestay to a place that you can start hosting paying visitors.
Though there are a number of organizations worldwide that help facilitate connections between tourists and farms, today we’re going to look into WWOOF, or Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms.
In short:
WWOOF organizations connect people who want to live and learn on organic farms and small-holdings with people who want to share their knowledge and way of life.
WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic and self-sufficient lifestyles. Visitors or WWOOFers give a helping hand with the daily activities on the land and in the family home.
Worldwide, there are about 12,000 farms in 130 countries. As such, WWOOF is quite well established and even has national organizations in some countries like Australia and France. In other countries, there aren’t quite as many farms, meaning that instead of a national organization those farms are independently associated. You can browse the list of destinations here to see where your country falls.
So, how can you expect these volunteers to help?
The normal exchange for lodging and food is about 4-5 hours of work per day, 5 days per week.
Taking WWOOF as an example, volunteers are able and willing to do many of the following tasks:
sowing seed
making compost
gardening, planting
cutting wood, weeding
making mud bricks
harvesting
fencing
building
packing
milking
feeding livestock
Those 25 hours a week will not only go toward helping run your farm and potentially develop a new agritourism project, they’ll also be plenty of time for you to connect with international tourists and get to know them on a personal level.
And it’s that last note that can play a large role in raising the quality of your agritourism project. Often, touristic activities are over in an hour or two - and they’re filled to the brim with movement. With an extended encounter, you’ll have the time for a more impactful cultural exchange.
Plus, while their presence on your farms may not mean money going directly to you, there are still plenty of indirect benefits worth considering.
Think about who benefits when you allow volunteers to work with you:
Your farm project benefits - You can finish a construction project faster with a few extra hands
Your community benefits - Tourists in your area, even if they’re “just” volunteers, will bring money to spend on necessities and souvenirs during their stay
Your country benefits - Given that there are two main ways to increase the impact of tourism on the country level - how much tourists spend per day and how long they stay - volunteer projects can be a meaningful way to affect the latter
Still, it’s not without its risks. Especially if you live in an area not accustomed to foreigners, having them for an extended stay could lead to unexpected and even unpleasant outcomes. Be sure to have these conversations with your family and your community before opening up your farm to volunteers.
If you are interested, though, it’s a development that could reap plenty of benefits.
Warmly,
Alex and Joseph
P.S. Do you have the space to host visitors or volunteers at your agriculture project? Let us know if you’d like help setting up your own WWOOF Independent listing.