Curating the rural: organising new forms of cultural and creative tourism

As the experience economy has developed, the range and variety of experiences on offer has become overwhelming. This is good news if you know what you want, but for many consumers this creates ‘choice stress’. Not only do we have to choose from among a vast array of experiences, but our choices will also be judged by others when we post about them on social media.

We are therefore seeing a ‘curatorial turn’ in tourism, with experiences being selected by human experts, influencers and algorithms so that we can avoid the stress of choosing. This is evident on websites such as Tripadvisor, where experiences are rated by thousands of tourists to produce a ranking of the ‘top 10 things to do’ in a destination. In many cities this produces a pernicious effect of directing more and more people to the same ‘top ten’ places, reducing the quality of the experience for all.

Although curation is most evident in cities that offer a myriad of experiences and attract lots of tourists, we are now also seeing the emergence of curatorial strategies in rural areas as well. Rural curation is more likely to be based on expert, human curation than algorithms, because the volume of business is much lower than on urban based platforms. For example, Farm Experience Tours offers a range of creative tourism experiences in Italy, including:

· Tuscany Beekeeping Experience (€51)

· Parmigiano Reggiano Dairy Experience (€26)

· Truffle Hunting & Cooking Class (€348 for a group of at least two people)

The latter experience includes:

· Arrival at the farm and welcome by the farmer

· Truffle Hunting Experience

· Truffle Cooking Class in family kitchen

· Introduction to our organic and biodynamic products

· Wine tasting (4 wines)

· Olive oil tasting (6 kinds of extra virgin olive oils)

· Tasting of the truffles and dessert that you cooked

Not only the suppliers of rural experiences are engaged in curation – increasingly the customers are also undertaking their own curation activities while travelling. A recent study of tourism in remote rural areas identified the rise of isolation as a form of luxury travel. Among the practices identified for the remote luxury traveller include Hoarding – “an atypical luxury travel practice of conscious knowledge-accumulation, cataloguing, curation, and meticulous planning.” No doubt to be found on a social media site in the near future.

Le Collectionist is an accommodation provider offering tailor-made holidays in ‘exceptional houses’. They also provide suggestions about rural tourism experiences linked to these places, including “Agriturismo”. These include truffle hunting, cooking classes with a private chef and a “farmer for a day” experience. You can have this kind of experience at the Masseria Bonaccia in Puglia, complete with swimming pool, organic garden, olive groves, wine and food tastings for 10 guests from €3,510 per week.

A slightly different approach to experience curation is taken by the BeCountry project. “BeCountry is about passion: for good food, for authentic experiences, for the regions of Italy and the excellent products that they offer.” The mission of BeCountry is to strengthen Italian communities, enhance and support Italian farms and encourage local tourism. By concentrating on more local visitors, BeCountry hopes that they “can learn about new farms and, over time, establish ongoing relationships with them. Grow your network of favorite farms where you can buy genuine products from local sources and continue to support long after your experience.” The BeCountry platform mirrors a bigger trend in rural tourism – the idea of giving something back to local communities beyond the immediate economic impact of the visit.

Rural experiences are now also being curated for the mass market by platforms such as Airbnb. Airbnb got into the experience business before the pandemic, only to pause their Airbnb Experiences programme when the pandemic made participation difficult for most consumers. As soon as Covid receded, however, Airbnb relaunched their programme, with a wide range of experiences offered by hosts in different destinations. Airbnb tries to make the choice of accommodation easier through curation, with a range of different categories verified by human experts. There are 56 categories of Airbnb accommodation, including caves, windmills and yurts. The accommodation is placed in a category based on algorithmic and human curation. The algorithm runs through factors such as location and facilities, and these are then checked by a human ‘expert’.

The same kind of logic is now being applied to Airbnb Experiences. Airbnb defines an experience as: “an activity that goes beyond the typical tour or class, designed and led by locals all over the world. Show off your city, craft, cause, or culture by hosting an experience.” These include “food tours by bike, light photography at night, tapas on a boat, or yoga (with goats). Create and curate a unique activity people want to try.” These experiences are also now being given an ‘ethical’ element, presumably to polish Airbnb’s image in the wake of complaints about anti-social behaviour by guests and gentrification. You can “Lead a hike with rescue dogs, or teach ethical fashion. Raise awareness of your cause in a whole new way.” Categories currently available for Airbnb Experiences include Culture & History, Food & Drink and Nature and Outdoor. One advantage of Airbnb Experiences is the offer of liability insurance cover of up to $1M.

Airbnb Experiences are often, but not always, offered by Airbnb hosts in a destination. Rural examples include:

· Italy - A sensory journey in the heart of Chianti Classico

· Trekking, Yoga, Art, Carla & Angelo Wellness

· Explore the Bergamo Alps with outdoor journalists

The latter offers the chance to explore the rural area around the city of Bergamo with journalists Ivan Kuznetsov and Irina Kudres. The experience includes “a walk along a picturesque Imagna river with many rapids and see a permanent community of wild birds”, before “passing through several smaller villages with beautiful Italian names — Cepino, Piazzo, Mazzoleni... — and their even smaller family quarters of just a few ancient houses called "ca", for exampe, Ca' Roncaglia.” Finally, there is a visit to “the most creative local café in a historic building to try some specialties: Taleggio and Branzi cheeses, Casoncelli pasta, apple jam from Imagna farmers, while sharing creativity with Ivan and Irina.”

To underline their status as curational experts, Ivan and Irina recount their 20 years of combined professional experience, and authorship of the book "Beyond the Italy Divide" ("Oltre l'Italy Divide") “the first collection of interviews with bikepacking pioneers in all 20 regions of Italy”. Ivan’s profiles also underlines: “In total, there are 1,000+ publications in my CV and portfolio in almost all genres from news to research, which collected millions of views and rank in the top of the Google.”

The experience developed by Ivan and Irina will set you back €50 per person, or €100 for a group of up to 8 people.

Interestingly, the emergence of ex-pats like Ivan and Irina as curators of the local also mirrors the trend found cities as well. When arriving in a new country, job opportunities are often scarce, so ex-pats often link back to their countries of origin to offer interpretation of their new home to their former compatriots. They have the necessary language skills to provide a bridge between their old and new homes.

All of these curational developments are likely to generate new opportunities for rural and remote areas to develop cultural and creative tourism. These are among the new business models being investigated by the EU-funded Crocus Project. You can download the latest news and reports from the Crocus website and sign up for the newsletter.