It's the May Day travel season again! Would you choose to go to the farmhouse?
Once upon a time, it was the best place for people to relax their minds and bodies when they met with friends on weekends and vacations and took their families to the farmhouse.
However, in recent years, the performance of farmhouse recreation has not been satisfactory.
Prices are outrageous, and some are even more expensive than hotels; Serious homogenization, no new ideas; The uneven quality of waiters has become the biggest reason for people to avoid.
According to the survey of Aiqi, as of March 2024, the number of agritainment enterprises has dropped from 280000 at the most time to 200000, and the number of write offs has exceeded 84000.
It has only been 24 years since the rise of farmhouse music in 2000. Why does it suddenly go out of style?
In the 1980s, sightseeing agriculture and rural leisure tourism began to rise in European and American countries.
These development modes of rural revitalization have given farmers in many regions of China new business ideas.
In 1986, the first agritainment in China was established in the "Nongke Village" in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. With the help of rich natural resources and convenient transportation, it quickly achieved success and was widely praised.
It not only provides a new source of income for local residents, but also promotes the development of local tourism, becoming a new trend of modern rural construction.
The successful case of "Nongke Village" has also stimulated the development of surrounding areas and other regions of the country.
In 2000, with the country's attention to the rural economy, agritainment, as a new way of tourism and leisure, gradually became popular in China and entered the public vision.
All parts of the country are developing in full swing according to local characteristics and local culture.
In Wujiang District, Jiangsu Province, through experiencing the water culture, trying local food and participating in agricultural activities as the main content, it has attracted a large number of tourists.
Lin'an District in Zhejiang Province, with rich mountain forest resources and tea culture, is suitable for developing characteristic farmhouse entertainment, such as experiencing tea picking, tea making, and appreciating landscape scenery. It has become a popular choice for urban tourists to relax on weekends.
Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province, combines the folk culture of Zhuang and Yao to provide accommodation and catering services with national characteristics, as well as folk song and dance performances.
In addition to the local customs, another main reason for the rapid development of agritainment lies in the demand of people who have lived in cities for a long time for "returning to nature".
After a week of hard work, urban people are usually eager to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, enjoy the quiet rural life, and experience the opportunity of intimate contact with nature.
Many tourists drive around the city for an hour or two on weekends in order to find a place close to nature to have a meal, drink tea, enjoy local pure natural and pollution-free food and breathe fresh air.
At this time, Agritainment is also constantly improving the service content according to the different needs of tourists, making the process more standardized and giving customers a better rural experience.
From the initial basic services such as farm dishes, picking, fishing and tea picking, it has gradually developed into integrated services such as accommodation, amusement parks and conference activities, which has also improved the ability of the reception team.
Taking advantage of this trend, many tourism companies have simultaneously launched one-day rural tourism routes, focusing on environmental protection, ecology and leisure.
According to official data, during the decade from 2000 to 2010, the number of rural tourists increased by more than 10% annually on average.
The increase of tourists has also brought about the development of the rural economy. Many rural areas have become rich by relying on farmhouse music.
In combination with terrace culture, there are more than 60 agritainments integrating catering and home stay in Xinhua County, Hunan Province. When business is good, you need to book one week in advance.
In 2019, Ziquejie in Xinhua County was rated as a model village for poverty alleviation in the whole county, which not only reached a well-off level in the whole village, but also became a business card of Hunan folk custom experience.
The earliest "Nongke Village" will receive more than 90000 people during the National Day in 2020, with a total income of more than 7.4 million yuan.
The number of registered agritainments also increased from 26000 in 2010 to 146000 in 2020.
However, the increase in the number has also brought a series of problems.
In recent years, some netizens said that several farmhouses they used to go to were closed due to phone failure.
Many bosses of Agritainment said that they had survived the epidemic for three years. They thought that their business would return to the past, but they did not expect it to remain bleak.
More than half of the employees have left. Now one person is not only a cook, but also a waiter and cashier. In recent years, he has lost money and earned a lot of money. He might as well go out to work.
On the other hand, some netizens complained that the farmhouse is no longer the original farmhouse, and the food quality and service are getting worse.
I wanted to go to the countryside to taste fresh food, but some stores also used prefabricated dishes.
Those so-called native chickens and ducks, the fish they just caught is not fresh and the price is high. Two or three people can spend six or seven hundred yuan for a meal, while the same dish only needs more than two hundred in the city. This gap really makes people lose the incentive to visit again.
Many young people go to the Agritainment just by the way, and the fees are generally AA.
Some netizens said that if a meal costs hundreds of yuan, it would be better to bring more snacks. Nowadays, self heating hot pot is also very common, which can solve the problem of food and clothing.
As for family parent-child travel, the bad experience of farmhouse recreation is that it is homogenized seriously and has no new ideas.
For example, most of the supporting facilities of the farmhouse cannot escape from the straw shed, earth stove, card burning rack, chess and card room, and the activities provided are often limited to fruit picking, animal feeding, rural walking, etc.
Although these activities were once popular, in the long run, the lack of innovative highlights also made tourists uninteresting to these repeated activities.
Tencent News mentioned that agritainment has changed from "original flavor" to "inferior local flavor".
In terms of accommodation, although the traditional rural housing renovation can give tourists a sense of belonging in the countryside, the room layout and decoration style are similar, and also lack of personalization and characteristics.
Inadequate sanitation facilities have also become the most criticized point of rural happiness.
The guest rooms in some farmhouses have no private bathroom, and are lack of disposable supplies and disinfection facilities. These details are difficult to make tourists feel good.
At the same time of reducing costs, the catering and service quality provided by Agritainment are greatly reduced, which makes consumers lose interest.
In addition, from the perspective of consumer groups, the post-70s and post-80s are the main force of agritainment.
Many of them grew up in the countryside and went to the city to study and work. They have a natural feeling for the rural atmosphere of the countryside. They hope to return to the countryside occasionally and feel the joy of childhood.
Therefore, when family dinners and company groups are established, rural happiness becomes the first choice for middle-aged people.
Now, almost all the post-95s and post-00s were born in cities. They have no feelings for the countryside, and they will not run to a remote place for their feelings. Instead, they will feel that the farmhouse is not healthy enough.
The business taste is getting more and more serious, the boss is not a farmer, and the dishes are no longer fresh. These reasons have become obstacles in the development of agritainment.
Since they are no different from those in cities, why do consumers spend time and energy on rural consumption so far away?
According to the data of Aiqicha, as of March 2024, there are 200000 agritainment enterprises in the state of opening nationwide, of which Sichuan and Chongqing are the largest with 44000, accounting for 20%.
At the same time, nearly 84000 enterprises have been cancelled.
In the final analysis, the decline of agritainment has its own reasons, including intensified market competition, unbalanced service levels, food safety problems, serious homogenization, exaggerated publicity and changes in consumer demand.
To reverse this trend, Agritainment also has to work hard to improve consumer experience and satisfaction from the way of operation.
Many owners of Agritainment attributed the bad business to the change of consumer groups, but in fact, this may be just an excuse, and the main reason is that Lack of innovation ability 。
In terms of the innovation of agritainment, we have to mention the "Nongke Village" in Pidu District, Chengdu, Sichuan, the birthplace of agritainment.
Today's "Nongke Village" has become a billion yuan village with an annual passenger flow of 2 million people.
In the environment where many farmhouses cannot sustain themselves, "Nongke Village" can take the lead, and it must have its own advantages.
In fact, "Nongke Village" also experienced the dilemma of reducing from 60 to 40, but after breaking the old ideas, it returned to the public vision after a series of reform and innovation.
While other villages are still using large areas of land for grain production, "Nongke Village" has begun to adjust the agricultural structure, set up laboratories, plant flowers and bonsai, integrate the primary and tertiary industries, and open up a new way for new rural construction.
It also adopts the development model of land governance, home stay cluster, rural reception hall and the whole village, becoming a model of rural tourism in China.
It can be said that the success of "Nongke Village" is the result of holding together for warmth.
Then, will there be no chance for the independent farmhouse entertainment?
Actually not.
At present, young people do not dislike farmhouse entertainment, but lack personalized and eye-catching elements.
Under the concept of consumption degradation, young people pay more attention to the sense of experience with high cost performance, and some distinctive farmyard dishes can instead become their traffic passwords.
For example, Wangba Courtyard, a 300 square meter open kitchen, focuses on "wild ingredients and spicy taste". From Zhuzhou to Changsha, it has attracted many famous restaurants and food critics.
The store's signature braised turtle is sold in limited quantities every day. Each turtle is from its own brand "Longevity A", and can trace its origin through two-dimensional code.
According to the taste habits of local Hengyang people, Xiaoyang Pai stall, interviewed by CCTV, found a balance between dinner and fast food, and produced "light Chinese food" with excellent flavor, bringing traditional craftsmanship to a new level. The affordable price won unanimous praise from customers.
There is also Xixiang Chaimen, an old house located in Guangxu 22 years ago, which combines firewood hotpot with outdoor kitchen, and has attracted many gourmets from the same industry by virtue of the characteristic service of "spot, spot picking, spot killing, and spot making".
Zhang Yong, the founder of Michelin's three-star new glory story, is a frequent visitor of this local restaurant. Here, you can not only feel the exquisite cooking skills of the chef, but also hear the stories of local people in Hunan telling about their hometown food, which reminds customers of their deepest childhood memories.
Behind each featured service, there is a fine planning and practical implementation. The most important thing is to ensure the originality and quality of the service and make it a highlight to attract tourists.
Some farmers' clubs are constrained by the pressure of funds. If they can't reach the high-end, they will start from the in-depth experience.
In Yuanjia Village, Xianyang, there are many artistic creators of cultural and creative work. They rent a small yard and use their own skills to transform the house. They put some four treasures of study, ancient zither calligraphy and painting, and tea fragrance everywhere in the house. After the customers finish their meals, they can also dance literature and ink.
What's more interesting is that the village stipulates that each store is allowed to sell only one kind of food, allowing operators to open their minds and make hundreds of eating methods, which fully satisfies the curiosity of tourists.
Let visitors really experience the happiness of slowing down the pace and feel different fun in the farmhouse.
With the improvement of people's living standard and the change of tourism concept, consumers are increasingly pursuing higher quality and more distinctive tourism experience.
The traditional "one hammer" business mode will also be eliminated by the times, and the transformation of agritainment is inevitable.
Today, with environmental protection and sustainable development, more and more people begin to pay attention to ecological protection and seek a harmonious coexistence with nature tourism, which has brought some opportunities to agritainment.
However, farmhouse fun, which is formed spontaneously by farmers, will also encounter certain challenges in capital investment and innovation.
In order to meet the young people's critical ideas, agritainment should also focus on the young people's needs for ritual sense, novelty, in-depth experience and emotional value.
reference material:
Cover news: "Experts talk about why the" happiness "of farm house is not rising: behind the disappearing is the changing demand"
Netease account: 80000 closed down! The "shelter" of middle-aged men, why fell off the altar
Caijing Langyan: Why don't everyone go to "Farmhouse Fun"
Hourly Hongda: Journey to Xiangcai Tuweiwang Restaurant (Phase II): Finding the "True" Taste
Author: Jin Se
Editor: Liu Ye Daodao
