Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
herbal products. Lavender farms are temperate climate enterprises. The
Australian Lavender Growers Association (
www.talga.com.au)
has set up a
lavender tourist trail that stretches across the country. Tourists can also go to
the lavender fields at Xuelangshan in Jiangsu Province in China. The advo-
cates will tell you that if you are looking for the best or 'fine' lavender the
place to visit is Provence in France where lavender grows wild as well as
cultivated.
Provence, France in July and August has lavender roads and lavender
festivals, the key festivals being:
•
La fête de la lavande in Valensole;
•
La lavande en fête in Esparron-du-Verdon;
•
La fête de la lavande et du miel in Riez (lavender and honey);
•
Les journées lavande in Digne-les-Bains;
•
La fête de la lavande in Barrême;
•
La fête de la lavande in Thorame basse.
Lavender is a good example of how one product can be developed into
a key tourist attraction. In this topic we talk about 'heros'. Lavender has its
own hero with an interesting story.
The story starts at Bridestowe Lavender Estate
(www.bridestowelaven-
der.com.au)
in northern Tasmania where they developed 'Bobbie the Bear',
a microwaveable bear that turns into an aromatic hot-water bottle. Bobbie
the bear became a hot accessory for Chinese model and actress Zhang
Xinyu who endorsed his qualities on Facebook. Bridestowe received over
45,000
orders for Bobbie and was unaware of what was causing the in-
flux. The team at the farm tells of busloads of Chinese each leaving with
a bear, and tears when they find they are unable to buy more for friends
and family.
'He's now the must-have object in southeast Asia,' Mr Ravens the farm
owner said. 'Every lady under
30
wants one'. Bridestowe has put on four
extra staff to help hand-stuff the bears, believed to be the only ones in the
world containing fine lavender. Adding value and using the Internet as a
major marketing tool, sometimes the success can come before the farmer
knows what is happening as is the case with 'Bobbie the Bear'. This story
highlights the opportunity that can occur to many products sold in the food
tourism category.
Herb gardens
Herb gardens have received a popularity boost in recent years. The sale of
herbs in garden centres has increased with the surge in edible landscaping.
Herbs and spices grow in all the countries involved with food tourism and
herb gardens are a popular food tourist destination. Many locations have a herb
festival and it is a festival where the community can get involved as many
gardeners grow herbs.
