Agritourism in Poland : the legal model and the realities of the market

This paper takes on the legal aspects of the functioning of agritourism farms in Poland. An analasis of legal requirements allowed us to determine the legal criterion of identification of such facilities. This criterion was used to identify the actual number of agritourism farms in the area of Małopolska voivodeship among selected n = 930 facilities that operate under the banner of "agritourism" or use it for marketing purposes. Test results show a considerable degree of misuse of the terms "agritourism" and "agritourism farma" - terms which are not legally registered in Poland in relation to facilities and providing tourism services. Lack of legal protection of a generic "agritourism" in Poland, allows the use of the name "agritourism" for other forms of tourism projects in rural tourism, associated with, but not directly connected with the farm. There is emerging concem, that the lack of clear regulatory and legal terminology in Poland can cause adulteration of the agritourim offer.