Agrotourism and Gourmet Tourism in Outaouais
While agrotourism and gourmet tourism are increasingly seen not only as a simple diversification of agricultural incomes, but also as a vehicle for the development of rural communities and an excellent means of restoring the link between consumers (often urban ) and producers, it seems important to support the movement by offering structured support adapted to the needs of companies interested in this marketing channel. Especially since agritourism and gourmet tourism are now a popular product and tourists are actively looking for this service offer when they visit a region.
Indeed, as documented by the study published in the fall 2016 by Lemay Strategies on the economic spin-offs and the importance of agro-tourism and gourmet tourism * in Quebec, this tourism sub-sector has experienced the strongest growth in Quebec the past five years. It is also the one for which the strongest growth is forecast for the next five years.
It is in this perspective that the Table agroalimentaire de l’Outaouais, with the support of the ministère de l’Agricluture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation and Tourisme Outaouais, set up a process to help structure and grow agrotourism and gourmet tourism in Outaouais.