Agritourism topic of Visit Vacaville breakfast
By Jessica Rogness, The
Reporter
POSTED: 05/10/17,
6:08 PM PDT | UPDATED: 4 DAYS
AGO
Visit Vacaville
talked tourism over breakfast Wednesday morning at the Opera House.
The 9th annual event
highlighted the positive impacts tourism has on the city’s economy, and the
breakfast included some local products.
Vacaville’s Soul Food
Farm supplied the eggs and High Voltage Donuts had a hearty display of treats.
From Suisun Valley, Erickson Ranch brought homemade jams and King Andrews
Vineyards provided Albarino pet-nat for mimosas.
Erickson Ranch, Il
Fiorello Olive Oil Company, Girl on the Hill boutique vineyard, Morningsun Herb
Farm and Lockewood Acres each set up tables with samples of their products.
Many tourists come to
Vacaville for the Premium Outlets, Nut Tree Plaza and hotels with reasonable
rates, Mayor Len Augustine said.
“We’re very pleased
to see people from the outside coming in,” he said.
Many of those
outsiders come from the Bay Area, people who want to get out of the city and
spend time outdoors, so they also come to Vacaville for the farms.
“Agribusiness has all
of a sudden become a big thing,” Augustine said.
However, Solano has
always been a farm county, he pointed out.
Carl Ribaudo,
president of Strategic Marketing Group Consulting, said agritourism has become
a big part of California tourism, and it started with the wine industry.
Visitors want a
tangible experience when they get to their destination.
“Shake a farmer’s hand,
pet a goat, buy an apple, whatever it may be,” Ribaudo said.
There are many
reasons why agritourism is catching on, according to him.
Farmers are trying to
generate additional revenue and diversify their farms, and bringing in tourists
gives them another way to distribute their products.
But there are also
social trends at work, including the “locavore” moment focused on locally grown
products, that provide growing support for farms and agricultural businesses,
Ribaudo said.
While Wednesday’s
breakfast focused mostly on agritourism, Visit Vacaville CEO Melyssa Laughlin
provided updates on tourism in general in the city.
Hotels have bounced
back from the recession, Visit Vacaville had its biggest restaurant week yet
with 14 restaurants participating in January and they will be having their
third Farm to Table dinner in July in downtown Vacaville.
Alison Best,
executive vice president of member engagement at Destination Marketing
Association International (DMAI), praised Visit Vacaville’s branding of the city
as “Small. In a big way.”
“In fact Melyssa has
really put Vacaville on the map nationally,” Best said.
For this year’s
National Travel and Tourism Week, the U.S. Travel Association put together a
“Faces of Travel” video to highlight the people who work in the industry.
Visit Vacaville
produced their own version, interviewing local hotel managers, business owners
and farmers, including Alexis Koefoed of Soul Food Farm and Ben Lyons of
Lockewood Acres.
