Our History
Photo courtesy of Eurac Research – Annelie Bortolotti
The Global Agritourism Network (GAN) was officially launched in 2023, but the seeds for GAN were initially planted in Bolzano, Italy at the First World Congress on Agritourism in 2018 organized by Eurac Research.
The First World Congress on Agritourism resulted in profound impacts including several partnerships across countries, a series of webinars through the Covid-19 pandemic, and the International Workshop on Agritourism held in Burlington, Vermont, USA in 2022.
At the International Workshop on Agritourism, we heard a clear and passionate call for greater connection and structure around agritourism collaboration
at an international level.
The founding of GAN was a direct result of that call for action. After the conference in Vermont, agritourism leaders from around the globe came together to discuss the need for international collaboration to support agritourism. The founding leaders of GAN included:
Carla Barbieri
North Carolina State University
Maria Baryamujura
Community-Based Tourism Initiative (COBATI) of Uganda
Lisa Chase
University of Vermont
Chadley Hollas
Cultivating Tourism
Scottie Jones
Farmstay
Scottish Agritourism
Suzi Spahr
NAFDMA International Agritourism Association
Thomas Streifeneder
Eurac Research
Pandurang Taware
Agri Tourism India
Jacqui Taylor
Agritourism Africa
After six months of discussion and planning, the official launch of GAN took place on April 11, 2023 at a virtual meeting with 271 participants from 55 countries.
This network was built on a model of distributed leadership, meaning that we are all in this together – and there is no end to what we can accomplish by collaborating globally while rooted in our local farms and communities!
Photo courtesy of Eurac Research – Annelie Bortolotti