Opportunities to revitalise rural tourism through the operation of agrarian cooperatives

Agrarian cooperatives are still in a period of transition. Practice shows that it is necessary to reconsider the business activities performed in the sector. Under the 2015 Cooperatives Act, rural tourism was recognised as a business activity, but the legal move has had no practical implications. In order to identify opportunities for the revitalisation of rural tourism, a study has been carried out based on interviews with the general managers of agrarian cooperatives. Their views have been analysed to gauge their awareness of the effects of rural tourism on rural areas arising from the operation of cooperatives, and the potential of human resources to implement the consequent organisational changes. In addition, the potential of agrarian cooperatives has been explored in the context of external surroundings. The results of the research have shown that the general managers view positively the revitalisation of rural tourism as part of the operation of the cooperatives, and that they are aware of the favourable impacts of tourism on rural areas, but that incompetence of the staff in the cooperatives has been a main obstacle to such a development.