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A good connection with urban areas could help and increase the influx of people. In fact, if you organise activities that are occasional or with fixed weekly appointments, it might be necessary that the place is easily accessible and not too far from the city to not discourage participation. However, it depends on what demographic you are targeting.

Networking with local entrepreneurs that preserve traditional products, flavours and customs could add value to your proposal. Local entrepreneurs also hold valuable knowledge which could be a key to the organisation of your activities.

The experience sold must match the rural area that you are operating in. If you are selling beautiful nature, you need to have beautiful nature. If you are selling connections with local culture, you need a local culture that is interesting for people to connect with. To a certain extent this is a matter of marketing and the rural areas brand can be strengthened and disused areas can be restored, but in the end you cannot sell a swamp as a rainforest. However, like Kristianstad in southern Sweden, you can sell tickets to Mosquito Safaris in a swamp.

In a rural area with attractive features, this type of business can be very stable and profitable. Moreover, this type of business is well set up for taking advantage of other businesses creating value that strengthens the rural areas brand.

This type of activity enables the creation of new businesses in rural areas that are prone to abandonment, it can conserve or even create new jobs and generate new income opportunities for farms operating in the same rural area.

It can help make urban citizens more aware of the problems and opportunities in rural areas and can allow them to take a break from city life and have experiences they could not have every day. Through workshops or even simple activities organised outdoors, it could make them realise how important rural areas are and how important it is to our society.

When relevant, this type of activity enables local traditions and culture to be kept alive or to resume and pass on. Rural areas are full of cultural heritage which could go forgotten without the implementation of such activities.

The most important challenges for implementing this type of activity are finding or creating suitable facilities in rural areas that allow the organisation of other activities required by the customer. Often funds may also be needed to renovate and adapt old rural buildings that are characteristic of the place and allow the entrepreneur to improve the service offer and value proposition.

Finding collaborators/employees who are familiar with the local tradition and businesses with which to start occasional or long-term collaborations can be challenging. Hence, it is important to screen which knowledge/skills are necessary to deliver your product or service to your customers.

Long-term partnerships could improve the value proposition and presentation of your project to customers and also improve customer loyalty. This might be even more important when most of the customers are local.

In general, a clear organisation of the proposed activities and the right communication is essential to improve customer relations and loyalty.

• Vivere offers trainings integrated in their rural area: