While Pillay and Rogerson (2013, p. 50) observe that the potential for synergetic linkages of agriculture and tourism has been acknowledged by many policy stakeholders, they also admit that so far only “[…] few investigations on agriculture-tourism linkages and their local impacts” (Pillay and Rogerson 2013, p. 50) have been conducted. In addition, in-depth analysis of the use of local agri-food products in the tourism sector is missing in many countries (Ashley et al. 2007, p. 18).
Several studies conducted on linkages of agriculture and tourism have so far focused on the Caribbean (e.g. Bélisle 1983, 1984a, 1984b, Goodwin 1993, Timms 2006; Jamaica (Dodman and Rhiney 2008)). Others exist on other American countries or regions (e.g. Mexico (Torres and Momsen 2004; Torres 2003; Jarquin Sanchez et al. 2017), Hawaii (Bowen et al. 1991; Cox et al. 1995) as well as on Africa (e.g. Tanzania (Anderson 2018), Botswana (Harrison and Maharaj 2013); South Africa (Pillay and Rogerson 2013)), Asia (Shah 2000) with Indonesia (Telfer and Wall 1996), Cambodia (Mao et al. 2014) and Thailand (Choenkwan et al. 2016; Lacher and Nepal 2010), on Europe (Spain (Hermans 1981), the Basque Country (Greenwood 1972), Norway (Frisvoll et al. 2015), Kosovo, Norway and Spain (Arenliu 2015)) and New Zealand (Singh 2012), with highly relevant being those of Bélisle (1983), Dodman and Rhiney (2008), Telfer and Wall (1996), Torres and Momsen (2004) and Timms (2006), among others (Pillay and Rogerson 2013, p. 50).
However, according to the knowledge of the researcher,33 so far no study focusing on linkages
of agriculture and tourism has been conducted on Georgia or the Kazbegi region. Nevertheless, several studies have focused either on agriculture (e.g. GeoWel Research 2015a, Toloraia 2012a) or on tourism in the Kazbegi region (e.g. Heiny 2018, Heiny et al. 2017, Gugushvili et
32 In the Kazbegi region, the diversification of individual income sources is also a strategic objective of the Kazbegi
Development Strategy 2016-2020 (Local Action Group Kazbegi 2016, p. 23 ff.).
33 The terms “the author” and “the researcher” are used interchangeably in this study, since the person who
47 al. 2017, Gugushvili and Salukvadze 2015; GeoWel Research 2015b; Toloraia 2012b; Mamniashvili 2018).
Though not explicitly examining linkages of agriculture and tourism, several authors of these studies point towards potential linkages of the sectors and the need for further exploration. According to Gugushvili et al. (2017, p. 52): “The results of the research show lack of economic linkages between tourism and agriculture sectors in Kazbegi Municipality. As the research revealed […] tourism development increased the need for local agricultural products”. Heiny et al. (2017) also noted that it would be “[…] important to explore chances for generating income regarding agricultural production and touristic services at the local scale” (Heiny et al. 2017, p. 37). Besides this, the reports of development organizations also point in the direction of linkages: “It seems that even locally, a value-chain can be developed so that local producers sell their products in hotels and guesthouses of Kazbegi. But that needs to be accompanied with adequate marketing strategies” (GeoWel Research 2016, p. 14). Thus, though not directly focusing on linkages of agriculture and tourism, these studies provide a solid basis for implementing the current study and show a need for research in this respect.
Independent of the regional focus, in most of the previously conducted research on linkages of agriculture and tourism the focus has been on the demand side (Mao et al. 2014, p. 669). Only in a few cases was the farmer side also interviewed (e.g. Mao et al. 2014, Timms 2006, Singh 2012), with Anderson (2018) interviewing various respondents along the value chain. Contributing to closing this gap, the current study aims at providing insights on both the demand and the supply side of agri-food products.
Thus, this study not only aims to contribute to more knowledge on linking agriculture and tourism as a measure to improve livelihoods in the Kazbegi region, but it also applies an innovative approach of interviewing actors along the agri-food chain in order to obtain an in- depth picture. On a more macro level (again according to the knowledge of the researcher) this is also the only study which analyzes ways of linking agriculture and tourism against the background of rural development and with regard to the adjustment to changes in the sense of the cultural lag of William F. Ogburn.
The overall objective of this research is to identify opportunities for local small-scale agri-food producers to improve their income-generating behavior and adapt to the changing framework conditions for agricultural production, assuming that one way to adjust to the changes could be linking agriculture and tourism via marketing regional agri-food products to the tourism sector in the Kazbegi region. Since “[…] the presence of tourism at destinations does not by itself stimulate sustainable linkages between agriculture and tourism if destinations ignore the importance of creating awareness amongst farmers of the exact requirements of the tourism sector and buyers of the goods and services offered in local markets” (Anderson 2018, p. 171 referring to Mao et al. 2014 and Rogerson 2012), the current study aims at analyzing these requirements and the available agricultural products in the Kazbegi region in detail. This is crucial in order to know what the status for linking agriculture and tourism in the Kazbegi region is and to identify and develop perspective linkages based on the results.
To this end, a closer look is taken at the potentials and hurdles for linking actors of both sectors by analyzing the agri-food chain in the Kazbegi region. Adopting the idea of Kaplinsky (2000,
48 p. 121) that “the value chain describes the full range of activities which are required to bring a product or service from conception, through the different phases of production […], [and] delivery to final consumers, […]”, the main focus of our study is at the stage of delivering the products to final consumers, either directly by the producer or via service providers in the tourism sector, such as local hotels, guesthouses and restaurants. Against this background, the study is based on the following research questions:
What are the current bottlenecks in the agri-food chain in the Kazbegi region, in particular at the stage of selling products to the buyers, focusing on tourism service providers and tourists? What are the opportunities?
How could linkages between the local agri-food sector and the local tourism sector be established?
Which requirements do hotels and guesthouses have with regard to sourcing local agri-food products?34
Which local agri-food products could be suitable for being marketed to the tourism sector?
Which marketing options/ways of linking the sectors could possibly be appropriate to tap potentials?
The overall conceptual framework underlying this research study is shown in the following graph:
34 Please note that in the study at hand the term agri-food product does not only include processed food products,
49 Figure 7: Conceptual framework
Source: Own illustration. V1 stands for variable 1: Framework conditions for agricultural production; V2 stands for variable 2: Income generating behavior of small-scale agri-food producers.
50
4 Empirical Study
This chapter contains a detailed description of the empirical research approach as well as the results of the qualitative study. Chapter 4.1 contains an outline of the characteristics of the applied qualitative research approach, the method of qualitative content analysis as well as the research design. It also includes a description of the preparation of the exploratory study, the focus group discussions as well as the expert interviews. Chapter 4.2 encompasses the implementation of the study phases. In chapter 4.3 the main steps of the analysis are depicted and the structuring qualitative content analysis applied in this study is introduced. Chapter 4.4 contains a description of the results. The condensed findings are presented in chapter 4.5.