Agro-tourism in Gozo

Agro-Tourism is becoming increasingly popular and valued by those who use its amenities. No wonder that each year the number of agro-tourism facilities and services is growing all over Europe.

The concept of agro-tourism is also picking up in Malta and especially in Gozo, due to its rural character. This idea must have the support of the local councils. Moreover, Government, in the last Budget, promised to set up a working group, which will develop a strategy for agro-tourism and include new projects based on agriculture and crafts.

The Gozitan countryside boasts inexhaustible historical, natural and human riches, generously revealed to the visitor. Its traditional villages enhance and complement a wonderful natural environment, with their local character, traditional architecture and village planning. These places are conducive to the harmonious co-existence of man with nature, a coexistence sought by more and more visitors on their holidays.

In this environment the visitor has the benefit of the daily hands-on experience of the village people's rich traditions: the simple, serene rhythms of rural life, folk customs, daily activities, and the authentic tastes of traditional cuisine; all filtered through the sense of genuine hospitality.

The Gozo Tourism Association and the local councils should seriously consider this new trend of visitors wishing to experience a new, alternative way of holidaying. In Gozo there already exist a large number of restored traditional houses which enhance the traditional element in Gozitan villages. This is already in line within the framework of the philosophy of agro-tourism.

In truth, some individuals are taking up the idea and are starting a very limited form of eco-tourism where they host a small number of tourists in their farmhouses. The guests are taken round the farm and fields and are offered typical fresh food. They are also given a demonstration on how to prepare Gozitan cheeselets, honey and wine.

However there is a need for a better and more organised co-ordination of agro-tourism leading to the establishment of a Gozo Association of Agro-tourism, a body dealing exclusively with holidays in traditional Gozitan homes and farmhouses. Today agro-tourism in the European Union is an autonomous, vibrant part of the tourist industry. Agro-tourists would be hosted in traditional lodgings of historical value throughout Gozo, ready to offer a new, alternative holiday ideal.

These restored lodgings create a warm atmosphere where tourists will enjoy the comfort of a household that would soon feel like home. Nature would offer a handful of pleasant surprises: hundreds of different scents, scenes of unparallelled beauty, walks down natural trails, and visits to historical places, churches and archaeological sites: the real life of Gozo.

But it all depends on the way the product is marketed and presented. As for the cuisine in these places, we have to make sure that the guests will be missing it for a long time after they had a taste of it!

Agro-tourism is not something you describe but something you experience. So the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The better the product the more satisfied the tourists. They will be the best promoters of our product, by word of mouth.

The agro-tourists expect the best and expect to find well-kept places and pleasant surroundings. It makes no sense at all to promote this type of tourism before preparing ourselves and cleaning our countryside from the rubbish and dumping lying in valleys and along the country lanes and walks.

Agro-tourism needs to be organised and regulated so that the product offered will be up to standard. You cannot have agro-tourism in a shabby environment. This is the least thing these tourists would like to find. So we must prepare for it and take it seriously.