Tourism as a Supplementary Activity on Organic Farms in the Primorska Region, Slovenia

The paper deals with tourism as a supplementary activity on organic farms in the Primorska region, in Slovenia. In the region, at the end of 2013, there were 99 organic farms with different types of supplementary activities, 44 of which had formally registered at least one form of tourist services. We analysed 27 organic farms by using a qualitative approach (structured interviews with the owners, content analysis of the brochures and relevant websites of the identified organic farms). In the research, we primarily focused on tourism supply, marketing and promotion analysis together with the plans for farm tourism. The aim of the research was to estimate farms’ contribution to sustainable regional development. Findings show that the supply of tourism services on organic farms in the Primorska region is highly diverse, and that the owners are mostly satisfied with tourist visits and outcomes of the farm. While tourism on organic farms in the northern (pre-Alpine) part of the region is relatively well developed, the southern part shows a different picture, with low numbers of such farms. One of the main findings is the detection of a high correlation and synergetic relationship between farm tourism and organic farming, which results in significant benefits for both activities. Developing tourism on organic farms has consequently (despite some obstacles and disadvantages) good regional potentials in the future.