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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The rural tourism as development opportunity of farms. The case of direct sales in Siciliy

subject

description

Tourism has an important role modifying rural communities in their environmental, economic, social and cultural structures, processes and dynamics. In thi s context rural tourism plays a primary role becaus e it is not the rural product that reaches the consumer in the purchase point, but it is the consumer (tourist ) that has to move towards tourist destination to enjoy the pr oduct. So, the aim of this study is to analyse how the opportunities created by the rural tourism can repr esent a vector to promote the growth of farms and territory. Specifically, through a telephone survey conducted among the Sicilian entrepreneurs which j oin to the national network Campagna Amica, it has been analysed how the direct sales in the farm can contrib ute competitiveness to business and therefore to the pe rmanence of man in the territory. The empirical ana lysis has shown that direct sales, associated with the co nventional sales, can represent a growing opportuni ty for farms and whole rural community, leading to an improvement of business economic performances, an increase of investments and a creation of new job o pportunities. This hightligted that agriculture can play a positive role on many components of the territorial system in which it operates.