Interpreting sustainable agritourism through co-evolution of social organizations

How farms can create and maintain sustainable agritourism is yet to be fully addressed. Given its link with sustainable development, research on agritourism sustainability, while highlighting the positive consequences, has neglected the theoretical perspectives. We thus find a lacuna in holistically understanding its driving processes and, consequently, its conceptualization. In response, this article draws extensively on the ecological economics co-evolutionary framework to explain the intertwined dynamics underlying sustainable agritourism and its determinants. Co-evolution conceives the organizations-environments relationship as circular, with mutual influence, and dialectical. We analyze the dynamics of the farm-rural destination relationship through a longitudinal analysis of 20 Italian agritourism farms. We find that sustainable agritourism emerges within rural destinations through diffused multilevel interactions and feedbacks resulting in organizational practices that enhance the farm and region's identities, and thus competitiveness. We offer an interpretative framework that conceptualizes sustainable agritourism through effective multilevel co-evolutionary adaptations and identify four determinants: strategic intentionality, rural lifestyle experience, systemic approach, and social responsibility. This approach may help farmers and policymakers develop destinations through sustainable agritourism. Implications for future research and practice in the sustainable tourism field emerge.