Artifact Caption:
Title: Determining the Economic Sustainability of Mike’s Farm and Restaurant
Author: Chea Johnson
Date: July 25, 2019
Reflection:
“Sustainable Tourism” is the concept that challenges the tourism industry to make a positive impact on the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural of the host community. The final project required that a tourism destination be analyzed to see if they successfully maintained one of the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic, and socio-cultural). The final assignment was completed as a group project between myself ant two fellow classmates.
This final assignment required our group to select a tourist destination an analyze how sustainable they are in one of impact areas (environment, economy, and socio-cultural) of the host community. We selected Mike’s Farm and Restaurant located in Beulaville, just outside of Jackosnville, North Carolina. This destination is a multi-generational family farm that has been a leader in agritourism. We focused on the dimension of Economic Sustainability of Mike’s Farm and Restaurant.
The methods we used to measure the economic sustainability were continuous business growth, seasonal employment for local residents, and maintaining a high percentage of business from military families. Our findings were secured by interviewing the owner, surveying customers, and company website. Through our research we discovered that Mike’s Farm and restaurant had a direct economic impact on the host community by providing salaries to local residents. There were indirect economic impacts, as the farm attracted tourist into the host community which contributed to the economic growth of other businesses within the community.
Through our research we determined that Mike’s Farm and Restaurant was Economically Sustainable for the community they operated in. The assignment gave us a deeper understanding and appreciation for the impact tourist attractions have on their host community. Host can benefit tremendously when tourist attractions are committed to being vested in sharing the economic growth and prosperity with residents in the form of jobs, salaries, improved infrastructure and quality of life.
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