From Farm-to-Fork to Fork-to-Farmer: advancing Permatourism in North Carolina

The erosion of opportunities afforded by manufacturing and tobacco farming in North Carolina towards the end of the last century has lead politicians to ponder tourism, in lack of other credible economic development plan. Top-down approaches fueled by foreign investment are often preferred, but they have failed to engage locals in the tourism economy. Sometimes, counter-hegemonic grassroots tourism microenterprises strive to co-exist, but structural constraints as well as community heterogeneity impede their success. Permatourism is thus proposed as a new paradigm in tourism development, by standing up for grassroots microentrepreneurship and community voice, while acknowledging the outstanding opportunities afforded by corporate-driven, top-down investment. In addition, I will seek empirical validation of Permatourism in the context of Fork to Farmer, a statewide tourism and community development initiative, featuring celebrated chefs and providers of farm experiences, that follows some of the guidelines and recommendations of this model