Agro-tourism in Greece: the case of women agro-tourism co-operatives of Ambelakia.

ABSTRACf The term agro-tourism, as used in Greece, embraces tourism activities which are undertaken in nonurban regions by individuals whose main employment is in the primary or secondary sector of the economy. The most prominent of such activities is the supply of tourist accomodation, by upgrading and using spare rooms in private houses or by building extensions to such houses to create additional units or by building indipendent buildings and using theme as gu.est houses. Complementary agrotourism activities may include the establishment and running of communal catering and recreational facilities for tourists, the organisation of cultural events, the production and sale of handicrafts, the sale of agricultural produAgrotourism in Greece is structured around three basic axes: private enterprise, the traditional villages and women's agrotourism co-operatives. The women's agrotourism co-operatives, constitute the most original type of tourism in Greece, both on the level of planning and organization, as well as that of management. In Ambelakia, a mountain village in Central Greece, one of the 12 women's agrotourism co-operatives in the country has been in operation since 1984. The women's cooperative has played an important role in the development of agrotourism in the village as well as in the promotion of the social and economic role of women in the countryside. THE PROMOTION OF AGROTOURISM IN GREECE