Ph.D

Agritourism is a type of tourism that uses agricultural life as a tourist attraction. It has the potential to generate additional income and employment for farmers. To merge agriculture with tourism, the Kerala Agri-Tourism Network project was inaugurated in September 2021, as a sub sector of the Responsible Tourism Mission. As part of this initiative, the tourism department launched a website named "Kerala Agri-Tourism Network" to promote the agri-tourism centers of Kerala. This will be beneficial for host agri preneurs, allowing them to register their units on the agri-tourism network, attract more tourists, and achieve greater success. The present study aims to analyse the level of quality of agri tourism services to foreign and domestic tourists, examine the tourist experience in the agri tourism destinations, assess the level of satisfaction in the agri tourism destinations, identify the determinants of motivation to visit agri tourism destinations and delineate the problems faced by the tourists, host agripreneurs and tour operators. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were collected from 150 domestic tourists, 150 foreign tourists and 30 host agripreneurs from the agri tourism destinations in Kerala by using pre tested structured questionnaire. The tourists who visited at least one agri tourism destination during 2023-24 were selected for the study. A total of 30 accredited tour operators from Ernakulam and Trivandrum districts were also selected for the study using proportionate sampling method. Thus total sample size of the study was 360. The study area covered the districts having agri tourism destinations in Kerala state such as Idukki, Wayanad, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Palakkad and Pathanamthitta. The accredited tour operators were selected from Ernakulam and Trivandrum districts as they constituted 65% and 23% respectively, to the total accredited tour operators in Kerala during 2019 (Kerala Tourism Statistics 2019).
Secondary data were collected from the published reports of Government organizations such as Ministry of Tourism India, Department of Tourism Kerala, DTPC (District Tourism Promotion Council) etc. The collected primary data were analysed by using statistical tools like per centage analysis, SERVQUAL model, Wilcoxon signed rank test, index method, factor analysis, Garrett ranking method, Mann-Whitney U test and Kendall's W coefficient of concordance. The service quality analysis was performed by using SERVQUAL tool and the results revealed a lack of efficient signage boards, lack of trained guides and lack of accessibility features for disabled individuals at the agritourism destinations. The overall service expectation and perception of domestic and foreign tourists were compared by using Wilcoxon signed rank test and found a difference in the expectation and perception level of domestic and foreign tourists on service quality. The tourist experience in the agri tourism destinations were examined by using index method. The tourists responded that the behaviour of employees at agritourism destinations helped them to have a pleasant and refreshing experience. However, the domestic tourists were disappointed with their experiences related to the traditional, historical, and wildlife elements. Domestic tourists had an average experience with entertainment, interactions, eco-friendly activities, souvenir shops, cuisine and weather conditions in agritourism destinations due to lack of interactive experience, underdeveloped souvenir shops, and uncomfortable weather conditions. The overall experience of both tourist categories was marked as 'Neutral' in opinion. The result of Mann Whitney U test indicates similar experience level of both domestic and foreign tourists with respect to two attributes such as ‘well behaviour of employees’ and ‘better interaction with agricultural experts’. For other aspects there is significant difference in tour experience for domestic and foreign tourists. The level of satisfaction in the agritourism destinations was examined by using index method. The findings indicated low satisfaction with accessibility, disable friendly environment, telecommunication facilities and medical facilities available at the agritourism center. The result of Mann Whitney U test shows the similarity in satisfaction level of both domestic and foreign tourists to all variables except for medical facilities. The determinants of motivation to visit agritourism destinations were analysed by using factor analysis. It identified five factors i.e. tour destination determinants, promotional strategies, interest in agri aesthetics, farm to fork experience and entertainment opportunities were motivating domestic tourists to visit agritourism destinations. Among foreign tourists, the primary motivating factors to visit agritourism destinations were farm life experience, interest in agri aesthetics, promotional strategies, tour destination determinants and the credibility of the destinations. The issues encountered by domestic tourists during their visit to agritourism centers were identified using garret tanking method. The analysis ranked the issue of low accessibility as the most severe problem followed by lack of disabled-friendly environment at agritourism centers, lack of proper signage boards, lack of sufficient medical facilities at agritourism center and problems with mobile network connectivity and internet access. The foreign tourists ranked low accessibility to agritourism centers as the primary concern followed by inadequate placement of signage boards, difficulties in communicating with local residents/staff members, lack of disable friendly environment and lack of trained guides at agritourism centers. The result of Kendall's W value (0.071) shows the low degree of agreement among the opinion of domestic and foreign tourists regarding the problems they faced at agritourism destinations. The Mann-Whitney U test results reveal a significant difference in the problems faced by domestic and foreign tourists at agritourism destinations across all variables, except for those related to accessibility, the behavior of other tourists, and the cost of entertainment activities. The challenges faced by tour operators ranked the customization of tour packages as significant issue followed by intense competition within the tourism industry, staff poaching and safety related concerns. Specific to domestic tourists, tour operator ranked the acceptance of the tour package price in top followed by difficulty in customizing tour packages and lack of punctuality among domestic tourists. Whereas for foreign tourists the challenges include issue of customization of tour packages followed by difficulty in accepting the package price and in establishing trust. The primary challenge for host agripreneurs is intense competition, followed closely by adverse weather conditions and high maintenance costs. When managing domestic tourists, a significant issue is the difficulty in getting customers to accept tour package prices, along with challenges in ensuring adherence to instructions. For foreign tourists, agripreneurs struggle with implementing effective marketing strategies and establishing trust with this audience. From the study it can be concluded that the introduction of agritourism in Kerala has been largely welcomed by tourists, with a significant number of visitors serving as strong evidence of its success. However, the existence of operational gap between the general tourism sector and agritourism, causing agritourism to function in isolation. As a result of this separation, agritourism being perceived as one of the least developed areas within the tourism industry. However, by linking agritourism activities to broader tourism efforts, the sector may increase its productivity and overall effectiveness. This progress can only be achieved through the collaborative efforts of the government, agripreneurs, tour operators, and tourists. Such advancements could turn agritourism into a significant source of revenue for the state.