Support for agritourism development - a state by state guide
Updated November 2023
States are putting more effort into agritourism development. Here’s an outline of the support currently available to develop or improve agritourism experiences across Australia.
National support
Australian Regional Tourism
In 2022, Australian Regional Tourism developed the Agritourism 2030 Strategy, and will take its recommendations to the Federal Tourism and Agriculture Ministers to ask for support for a series of initiatives that will it easier for farmers to diversify into tourism.
Australian Regional Tourism also has two toolkits for farmers and Councils:
Enabling Agritourism – A Guide for Farmers Planning to Diversify
This guide has been created for farmers who are interested in diversifying their farm to include a tourism business.
Enabling Agritourism – Paving the Way for Successful Development Applications
This guide has been created for local governments who want to support agritourism growth in their region
You can watch the recordings of all of the sessions of Australian Regional Tourism’s Agritourism Convention which was held in October 2022. They are available to watch for free for members of Australian Regional Tourism’s free Tourism Hub website. Topics at the convention included learnings from the wine industry, how Airbnb is partnering with farmers, collaboration, scaling up authenticity, agritourism leadership, unlocking supply, and learnings from a couple of successful agritourism businesses.
A presentation at the 2022 Destination Food Conference on Agribusiness to Agritourism - balancing the two to ensure dual success - was recorded too.
Training
Regionality runs an Agritourism Business Development Program
Wine Australia has a free online course to help Australian wineries welcome back international travellers: Wine Tourism Ready.
You can undertake formal training on agritourism online:
Training.gov.au offers a Diploma on Agritourism Operations
ACS Distance Education offers a course on Farm Tourism
Australian Online Courses also has a course on Farm Tourism
DESIGN
Tourism architects Studio S2 Architects offer a three free design guides for agritourism experiences (cellar doors, food tourism spaces, and farm and manufacturing tourism)
Grants
One-off grant opportunities (and training opportunities) open up throughout the year, so sign up for notifications from the federal Grant Connect website and subscribe to your state grant website and your regional and state tourism organisations’ industry newsletters. There were several grants for agritourism development in 2022.
Networking
Join the free Australian Agritourism Development Facebook group to tap into the expertise of agritourism operators for your questions. Lots of resources, case studies and grant opportunities are shared there regularly, and everyone is free to share their success stories and any great agritourism development ideas they’ve seen as well!
States
NSW
The NSW government has simplified planning legislation to make it easier for farmers to use their land for agritourism. Read this simple guide to understand which types of agritourism experiences a farmer can offer on their farm.
TASmania
Tourism Tasmania identified agritourism as a significant opportunity for the state with 70% of visitors experiencing agritourism during their stay.
To make it easier for agritourism businesses to get established in Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government created a toolkit for farmers: the Tasmanian Agritourism Toolkit: Navigating the regulatory process. There’s also an Agritourism Guide for Regulators.
Tasmania has a program to help existing agritourism operators grow and develop their business: the Agritourism Accelerator Program.
Queensland
Queensland has been implementing its Agritourism Roadmap.
Queensland Farmer’s Federation’s Unlocking Queensland’s agritourism potential discussion paper builds on the Roadmap, identifying challenges and opportunities for agritourism as an emerging sector, and proposing a sliding scale of regulation that recognises the different ways farmers engage with agritourism.
According to the paper, Queensland’s onerous and complex land use regulations do not solve the intractable problems and limit the growth of this valuable regional industry. To enable Queensland farmers to innovate, a new regulatory framework that is clear, consistent and easy for farmers to navigate is required to open up the benefits of agritourism.
Queensland Farmers Federation is establishing a peak industry body for agritourism in Queensland to launch in May 2024.
Queensland farmers can learn business, tourism and hospitality skills in free microcredential skill building courses.
Northern territory
With large pastoral properties in the Territory, the NT’s Drive Tourism Strategy identified an opportunity to develop them into visitor experiences. Case studies of station agritourism experiences were developed to share learnings with pastoralists.
South australia
A review in 2021 recommended changes to planning approvals to enable agritourism developments.
Tourism SA now has a new plan for the agritourism sector.
Regional Development Australia Murraylands and Riverland currently have a two-year Agri Food Tourism Development Program to help local agribusinesses to diversify and expand their tourism offerings.
Western Australia
In 2021, WA undertook research to identify agritourism’s target markets.
VICtoria
In Victoria, there has been no state focus on developing agritourism, but Regional Development Australia (RDA) Hume, which covers the Goulburn and Ovens Murray regions, worked with Tourism North East to develop a three-phase agritourism research and mapping project which included
Consumer segmentation research that identified the types of people interested in agritourism and what they expect from their agritourism experience
An industry mapping project which determined which agritourism experiences currently exist, and their associated development opportunities
Industry development to identify the current demand with existing supply, with work underway to support industry and develop new or enhanced agritourism experiences.
This work has resulted in agritourism action plans that provide a strategic way forward for agritourism development in the region. These action plans may result in working with state and federal governments to fund key recommendations.
RDA Hume is also supporting Mansfield Producers Inc to develop a Paddock to Plate Agritourism Alliance Marketing and Implementation Plan.
Stay connected
Join our free Facebook group Australian Agritourism Development to connect with other agritourism operators, ask questions, learn of grant and training opportunities, and learn from case studies of successful agritourism businesses.
How we support agritourism development
Tilma Group’s Director Linda Tillman initiated and led Australian Regional Tourism’s agritourism development work during the years when she was a director on its board.
Today, as regional tourism development consultants, we
support agritourism operators and events with strategic mentoring, identifying viable appealing new experiences and improvements
develop plans for new agritourism experiences and events that appeal to contemporary travellers
secure grant funding for agritourism development projects
write agritourism development strategic plans for regions