An integrated demand and supply conceptual framework: Investigating agritourism services

The present paper offers an integrated conceptual framework to jointly analyze demand and supply of agritourism firms and aims to identify motivations along with perceptions of externalities that influence the choice of a firm over another. On the supply side, a cluster analysis identifies homogenous groups of agritourism firms. On the demand side, a factor analysis is run on a set of motivations and environmental externalities and a probabilistic model estimates the determinants that influence the likelihood to choose 1 type of firm over the other. The results show that traditional and genuine food, culture, and authenticity are elements that determine the choice of 1 firm over another. A further contribution of this paper is the identification of environmental externalities as determinants of the attractiveness of a firm. From a marketing perspective, linking demand to supply is essential to determine product development strategies capable of satisfying actual and potential customers. Several strategies are proposed to different types of agritourism firms to attract and retain customers.