Evidence-supported Rural Community-based Tourism and Social Impact

Rural tourism is an activity that can provide farmers with a second income, which is often required due to the small size of some farms. Examples of rural tourism are allowing the public to visit the farm or providing social benefits such as educational experience services where visitors experience farm operations, creating income opportunities for farmers and also teaching about food production and rural life. Professor Yasuo Ohe, based in the Department of Agribusiness Management, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan, leads a team of researchers committed to expanding understanding about the economics and mechanics of rural tourism. The team has adopted a microeconomic approach to community-based rural tourism and entrepreneurship and Ohe has proposed a theoretical framework supported by quantitative empirical evidence. The goal is to advance the progress of the theoretical and empirical aspects of rural tourism studies. In one study, Ohe and the team are performing theoretical and empirical evaluations of the efficiency of educational dairy farms that provide educational tourism. Ohe has published a book entitled ‘Community-based Rural Tourism and Entrepreneurship’ which is helping advance the field and considers how to make rural tourism practices sustainable. Next, he will explore hospitality issues in rural tourism, with a view to contributing to building rural hospitality in rural tourism both conceptually and empirically. Ohe also plans to work on evidence-supported rural community-based tourism and the social impacts, looking at the rice harvest in paddy fields.