Agro - tourism creates a basis for diversification of agricultural activities and for the rural development at all. In the Czech Republic there are about 500 farms oriented on agro - tourism. The competitiveness of the agricultural sector in Europe is supported by the Common Agricultural Policy also in the programming period 2007 - 2013. The activities for raising the global competitive advantages of European farmers are mainly based on the EAFRD Programme. In the Czech Republic the EAFRD implementation connected with the Rural Development Plan for the period 2007 - 2013 contents also the Diversification of agricultural activities in its Axis III. The main aim of this axis is an emphasis on increasing economic growth, creating new job opportunities and sustainable economic development in rural areas. The diversification means here the improvement of used technologies (but not the raising of production), the start of finalizing food on farms, the offer of local goods, or the providing of services like agro - tourism.
The article deals also with the question how will be this programme used in the South Bohemian Region. The analyses for this research work were carried out in the time period of May 2007 - September 2007 and they will show which activities will be preferred by the farmers, which amount of money will the farmers like to use from the programme in the budget period 2007 - 2013, and which support would they like to get from the regional authorities like the Regional Agrarian Chamber with its advisors.