The websites www.farmstaywest.com.au and www.agritourismwa.com.au are both part of the Western Tourist Radio, WA Visitor Information Portal www.touristradio.com.au which is designed to help you find places to stay and things to do all over Western Australia.

About Farmstay West

Farmstay West is an group of farm accommodation providers. All properties are different, this website includes traditional farm stays and rural retreats although it is not possible to clearly define each property, so we leave the members website to do that. Please ring the owner for a chat to make sure that they provide what you are looking for. All properties listed on www.farmstaywest.com.au are owner operators who want to ensure that you have a great holiday so will return either to their property or another members property. The group was formed from a meeting between a group of agritourism operators in Western Australia, Barry Green from Boronia Farm Organic Farm, Michael Pearce from Lucieville Farm Chalets and Sheila Howat from Tortoiseshell Farm . All three agreed that existing tourism promotion options did not adequately cater for our unique style of properties and that we could provide a more cost effective tool through a cooperative website. www.farmstaywest.com.au is actually a page of the Western Tourist Radio website www.touristradio.com.au which already ranks highly on Google search for farm stay W A and hence receives considerable traffic. Western Tourist Radio is owned by Barry & Dale Green who also own Boronia Farm Organic Farm. To establish this website we have included complimentary links to a number of farm properties that are not yet actively participating in the group. As the group develops all properties will be contacted and provided with information on the number of visitors the site has directed to their website and will be given the option to participate.

Farmstay West Membership

Click here to download a PDF about Farmstay West membership.
Members receive listing on the Farm stay or Rural Escapes page, and other relevant pages of www.touristradio.com.au for just $99.00 per year if they include a link from a major page of their website to Farmstay West. Businesses unable to provide a reciprocal link can be listed for $150.00. For businesses without a website, we can create a site for you. Members believe that by helping people holidaying in WA to find other relaxing farm experiences we will be able to grow the agritourism share of the holiday market. Members are also encouraged to join The Bed and Breakfast Farmstay Accommodation BBFAA , our industry representative body. Membership of BBFAA might make you eligible for a discount from MGIB Insurance, which goes a long way towards covering membership. Tourism Western Australia research ( In-Touch, Issue 221 ) shows that " visitors to Western Australia believe it offers a variety of unique, natural experiences in an unspoilt, pristine environment. WA is renowned for its relaxed, laid back lifestyle and its friendly down to earth locals. Our visitors often comment that WA offers the authentic Australian experience - the Australia they expected and hoped to see. Research has indicated that many travellers believe tourism spots in Australia have become overcrowded and over commercialised. There is also a growing sense of nostalgia for the Australia that existed before the development and commercialisation of recent years. "

The above suggests that people are looking for our style of accommodation, this website aims to help them find it.
Existing participants are regularly receiving 60 to 70 visits per month from this site, most traffic is from within Australia and so are likely to be people seriously looking for places to stay.

Farmstay West member Testimonials :

Although we have only had a link to your site for a few weeks, it would appear that the link generates more hits on our web site than any other site that we use. We are very pleased with the results so far. It is early days yet but we will be extremely pleased if this trend continues. I will let you know periodically. Sue and Matthew of Sunnyhurst Chalets

"Thank you Barry for the affordable option of being Farm Stay West members. We were pleasantly surprised by our first guest booking on the day our Happy Valley Homestead website was launched being linked to www.FarmStayWest.com.au! With a steady stream of enquiries and bookings since opening in February 2010 from Singapore to Sydney in 4 months." Jason & Fiona Jarvis, Donnybrook WA Happy Valley Homestead

Barry,
I have been meaning to write to you for some time to complement you on the websites you have set up for the agri-tourism and Farm-stay businesses. Lavendale Farm has increased the amount of accommodation available, and the services we offer, over the past few years. And I am pleased to say our occupancy has also increased. Every month I examine our “Google Analytics” to see where our referrals come from. On every occasion since I have been on your website, Tourist Radio has featured in the top 5 sites, and often in the top 3 sites, from which new visits can be tracked. I also ask all of our guests, as part of our registration process, how they found out about us. Many say that they just “googled Farmstays in WA” I know that these sites rank highly on Google and am very pleased and proud to be listed on them. Keep up the good work Barry. Our industry appreciates you.
Lavendale Farm

Article from Farm Weekly Ripe insert June 2010