Development of Market Potentials for Income-Producing Recreation

Excerpts: The title of my paper begins with the word "development." This term implies that the market for income-producing recreation must be created. With regard to most farmers and rural landowners entering this new business, the implication is true. Selling recreation is likely to be a new experience for farmers and most other rural landowners. Unlike wheat or corn, the "product" is not standardized and there is no established market in the true sense of the term as applied to other more tangible commodities. Farmers or rural landowners going into the income-producing recreation business are selling the use of a facility or a service. This will be a new way of operation for most of them. It will require a new set of skills and abilities. For those used to marketing a commodity--an impersonal product--selling recreation will be different. The operator will now have to meet people, his customers, and cater to their desires. The marketing becomes highly personalized and requires skillful insights as to what people want in the way of recreation services and facilities