Agritourism Design Insights 02 | What Makes People Visit Farms—and What Makes Them Stay?
August 6th, 2026
Berkeley, CA
Fruit picking and petting zoos may attract visitors, but they rarely create a destination on their own. Successful agritourism starts with a deeper question: What are urban visitors actually looking for when they come to the countryside?
Across different markets, three needs consistently stand out: wellness, cultural connection, and social experience. Understanding these needs also helps explain how agritourism has evolved around the world.
1. Why Urban Visitors Go to Farms
A Place to Slow Down
For people living in dense cities, the countryside offers something increasingly valuable: space, quiet, and a slower pace.
Open fields, mature trees, animals, and simple activities such as walking, picnicking, or feeding livestock can provide a meaningful break from urban routines. These experiences do not require expensive attractions. In many cases, the landscape itself is the attraction.
Photo: Almond Springs Farm Stay, California, USA
Projects such as Almond Springs Farm Stay in California and LuxeIsland Animal Farm in Wuhan build on existing trees, lawns, and agricultural landscapes rather than filling the site with programmed attractions. The result is a more relaxed environment that encourages visitors to stay longer and return.
A Connection to Rural Culture
For younger urban generations, farming is often unfamiliar. For older visitors, it can evoke memories of a more agrarian way of life.
This creates opportunities for farms to offer experiences rooted in local culture: seasonal harvests, regional food, traditional crafts, agricultural workshops, and farm-based education.
Photo:
Mokumoku Handmade Farm, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Photo: Luwan Ranch, Hainan, China
Japan’s Mokumoku Farm, for example, combines agricultural production with hands-on food and craft workshops. Lùwan Ranch in Hainan creates tropical ranch tourism scenes, leveraging island endowments to avoid homogeneous competition.
These experiences give farms something that conventional amusement destinations cannot easily reproduce: authenticity tied to place.
An Alternative Social Space
Farms are also becoming informal gathering places outside the usual malls, restaurants, and urban event venues.
Lawns, barns, orchards, and simple rural structures can support family outings, company retreats, weddings, seasonal markets, and community events.
Photo: Almond Springs Farm Stay, California, USA
Photo: Landgoed de Brouwketel, Huissen, the Netherlands
The Dingle Family Farm and Stables in California hosts seasonal events on its farm grounds, while Landgoed de Brouwketel in the Netherlands incorporates community garden plots that encourage visitors to develop an ongoing relationship with the site.
The farm becomes more than a place to visit—it becomes a place to gather.
2. How Agritourism Models Differ Around the World
While visitor motivations are similar, agritourism has evolved differently depending on land availability, farming traditions, and local lifestyles.
China: From Farm Meals to Rural Destinations
China’s agritourism market has broadly progressed through three stages.
1.0 — Farmhouse dining
Early destinations focused on home-style rural meals and simple fruit picking. These activities attracted day visitors but offered few reasons to stay longer.
2.0 — Pick-your-own farms
Fruit picking and petting zoos expanded the family market, but many destinations became highly seasonal and increasingly similar to one another.
3.0 — Integrated rural destinations
More recent projects combine agriculture with education, markets, animal experiences, camping, lodging, events, and other complementary programs.
Rather than developing everything at once, farms can begin with relatively low-cost uses—such as workshops, petting areas, and lawn events—and add accommodation or larger event programs as demand grows.
Photo: Zaohe Farm, China
The goal is to gradually turn a short farm visit into a longer rural experience while maintaining agriculture as the foundation.
Japan and South Korea: Making More From Limited Land
With relatively limited farmland, Japan and South Korea often focus on maximizing the value of agricultural products rather than expanding the physical size of farms.
This approach is sometimes described as “sixth industrialization”: combining farming, food processing, and tourism within one operation.
A farm may grow fruit, turn it into jam or baked products, and then offer harvesting and production workshops to visitors.
Photo: Mokumoku Handmade Farm, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Photo: Dolcorom Citrus Picking Farm, Jeju Island, South Korea
Mokumoku Farm incorporates dairy and food-making workshops, while Dolcorom Farm on Jeju Island combines citrus production with fruit picking, food products, and hands-on experiences.
The emphasis is on creating more value from each crop—and each visitor.
Europe and North America: Low-Density Rural Experiences
Many farms in Europe and North America began primarily as working agricultural properties and gradually added visitor programs as demand for weekend rural recreation grew.
With more land available, these destinations often retain a relatively low-density character. Tourism is layered onto the agricultural landscape rather than replacing it.
In California, three common models are especially visible:
Family farms
Farms such as Spenker Family Farm combine agricultural production with tasting, animals, events, and seasonal activities.
Photo: Spenker Family Farm, California, USA
Vineyard destinations
Wineries such as Pine Ridge Vineyards use the agricultural landscape as the setting for tasting, dining, events, and weddings.
Photo: Pine Ridge Vineyards – Family Farm & Winery, California, USA
Farm and nature stays
Destinations such as AutoCamp Russian River use woodland and rural landscapes to extend a countryside visit into an overnight experience.
Photo: Autocamp Russian River – Glamping Farm, California, USA
In all three cases, the landscape remains central to the experience.
3. Three Principles for Successful Agritourism
Across these different models, three principles consistently emerge.
Keep the landscape authentic.
Preserve existing farmland character, mature trees, agricultural patterns, and native vegetation wherever possible. Simple structures and restrained design often work better than highly commercial environments.
Build a mix of experiences.
Workshops, farm activities, events, camping, food, and educational programs can serve different age groups and help reduce seasonal fluctuations.
Connect tourism back to agriculture.
The strongest agritourism models do not treat farming and tourism as separate businesses. Visitors create a market for farm products, while agriculture gives the destination its identity and authenticity.
Closing Thought
Agritourism does not need to begin with expensive attractions or large-scale construction.
The most resilient destinations often start by revealing what is already valuable—the landscape, the agricultural process, local culture, and opportunities for people to spend time together.
From there, programs can grow gradually in response to real visitor demand.
The goal is not simply to bring more people to a farm. It is to create a place worth returning to.
Image sources:
https://www.almondsprings.com
https://www.meipian.cn/
https://mooool.com/zaohe-ecological-farm-a-cartography-of-organic-ecology-by-fon-studio.html https://landgoeddebrouwketel.nl/
https://mooool.com/wan-ning-luxe-farm-by-yudao-landscape-design.html
https://www.moku-moku.com/
https://www.huitu.com/
https://www.spenkerfamilyfarm.com/
https://www.pineridgevineyards.com/
https://autocamp.com/location/sonoma/