7. Contribution of the 7.1 Employment of the poor in tourism businesses
tourism Agrotourism gives rise to two visible impacts in the income of the farm: one
project/company to due to the Df gUided-visit services, and the other due to the sale of
reduce poverty products
Guided visits
Even when used for production activities, the chacra or farm still has "idle capacity" that can be harnesses for the provision of service of presenting its activities. If during the summer season the chacra receives a typical family each day at 5 pesos [2 dollars or 1.3 euros] per person, visits could account for additional gross revenue of 1800 pesos [600 dollars or 470 euros]. If this service is extended to the fall and spring seasons, and the objective of one family visit every two days is reached, the annual revenue from agrotourism could be doubled. Under these assumptions, if the average gross annual revenue of the chacra is 20,000 pesos (6,780 dollars or 5,250 euros), the addition of a visitor service could increase this by 9%.
Sale of products
All the chacras have stalls for the sale of products. Maintaining the above assumptions, if the visitor group acquires products from the chacra in the amount equal to that of the cost of the visit, the additional flow from agrotourism doubles, and could reach 3,600 pesos (1,100 dollars or 940 euros) just in the summer season. Assuming the above level of revenues, the addition of agrotourism could account for a 15% increase in the annual revenues of a chacra.
The above estimates are based on data obtained from 6 chacras or farms during the 2001 -2002 summer season, in three of the four areas in which the Programme was implemented.