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If your agritourism business isn't experiencing valueflation, it's probably losing ground

Agritourism, entertainment, and sport venues are all in the business of selling time well spent, where what people buy is the time they spend engaged at the venue.

A good way to measure the value of time well spent is the money value of time (MVT). MVT recognizes that the amount of money customers are willing to pay for any experience is directly proportional to the value they receive for the time they spend there. MVT allows an experience venue charging an admission fee, membership fee, or some other way of charging the customer to measure itself against other experiences using the MVT scale of expenditure per minute.

A film at a cinema usually lasts around 2 hours and costs $12 for a Saturday evening viewing. We value the time spent watching the movie at 10 cents a minute. But if we see it on an IMAX screen, the ticket might cost $18 for an MVT of 15 cents a minute. We consider the IMAX viewing experience to be worth 50% more for the time well spent, so we will pay more for it.

The average standard adult admission price for a one-day ticket to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 2025 is approximately $180. People typically spend 8 to 10 hours in the park, so the MVT averages 34 cents per minute. And this does not include the premium price difference that people pay for food there, which would increase the MVT. People value their time at the Magic Kingdom more than three times greater than the value of attending a blockbuster movie on a regular cinema screen. Due to the Magic Kingdom's high perceived value, they will spend an entire day there.

Other examples of out-of-home experiences with high MVTs include:

• National Football League (NFL) games - the average 2024 ticket price was $132, and the average game length was 3 hours and 12 minutes, resulting in an MVT of 69 cents per minute. The 2024 Super Bowl had a much higher MVT - $47 per minute for the average resale ticket price.

• Music concerts - the average price in the U.S. of the top 100 worldwide music concerts was $136. Assuming a longer concert of three hours results in an MVT of 75 cents per minute. Many concerts had much higher MVTs. In 2024, most attendees had to pay resale prices for Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" concerts in the U.S., resulting in an average MVT of $14 per minute.

The best way to increase revenue at an experience venue is to increase its MVT - its price per minute. This requires raising the experience's fidelity and perceived value, improving its quality, memorability, and uniqueness. When you raise the MVT, you also create a competitive advantage over people's other experiential venue options.

Attractions like the Magic Kingdom are staying highly competitive by raising their money value of time faster than inflation without reducing attendance. This is the valueflation concept introduced by Joe Pine. Valueflation describes a phenomenon distinct from traditional inflation. While inflation typically refers to rising prices driven by increased production costs (such as labor or materials) or by demand exceeding supply, valueflation refers to rising prices driven by the greater value consumers place on specific experiences relative to others.

The Magic Kingdom at Disney World is an excellent example of valueflation. Its average regular one-day adult admission price has, with few exceptions, increased each year at a rate greater than inflation. From 2000 to 2024, the admission price to the Magic Kingdom increased by 224%, almost three times the 81% increase in inflation. And even with such significant price increases, attendance grew from 15.4 million in 2000 to 18.0 million in 2024.

From 2000 to 2004, Universal Studios also experienced valueflation, with its admission price increasing by 159% to 274% depending on the date and demand, and its attendance grew. However, not all theme parks experienced valueflation. Six Flags' average admission price increased by only 54% since 2000, far below the 81% inflation rate, and its legacy park attendance was flat.

Four other examples with nearly consistent annual valueflation from 2000 to 2024 are:

• The top 100 worldwide concert tours saw average admission prices increase by 232%, while U.S. attendance grew by 36%.
• Prices for the top 10 U.S. music concerts increased by 97% on average, with attendance growing by 78%.
• Average admission prices forall sporting events rose by 120%.
• National Football League games saw an average 230% price increase, with a 13% total annual attendance increase.

Out-of-home experiences with high MVT that consistently achieve valueflation are the cream of the crop, the top-notch attractions. They not only achieve annual admission price increases greater than inflation, but also consistently grow their attendance, increasing their market share and taking attendance away from less competitive venues with lower MVTs.

The value of time is higher for people with higher socioeconomic status than for those with lower status. The reason is that people from higher socioeconomic households have the least leisure time (74 minutes less a day than a high school graduate), meaning they will definitely want to avoid wasting it, making time well spent even more valuable. This large customer base can afford and is willing to pay higher MVTs.

A July CivicScience poll this year found that 71% of adults value their time more, versus just 29% valuing their money more.

The poll also found a stark divide between U.S. adults over and under age 30 - 75% of those age 30+ value time over money, far higher than those under 30 (59%).

With time so valuable to them, higher socioeconomic households seek out high MVT experiences to ensure their time is well spent and not wasted. They are the prime market for out-of-home entertainment and sports venues, which includes agritourism. In 2023, 80% of all spending on fees and admissions to entertainment and art venues was by the 48% of households with a person with a bachelor's degree or higher ($146,000 average household income). Their average entertainment and art spending for fees and admissions was more than six times what high school graduate households spent. Bachelor's+ households accounted for 81.5% of all admission fees for sports events.

The opportunity to stand out from the crowded out-of-home entertainment venue market with a top-notch agritourism valueflation venue is wide open. Today, more people value time over money. The higher socioeconomic - the most educated, with the least leisure time who most prioritize time - can most afford and they are more than willing to pay for expensive, premium, top-notch experiences that offer highly valued time well spent.

Top-notch valueflation venues with price increases outpacing inflation have a competitive advantage. They are slowly taking market share away from other entertainment venues. The issue is that the out-of-home (OOH) entertainment market is shrinking in spending and participation. The average household spending on out-of-home entertainment and arts was 15% less in 2023 than in 2000 (inflation-adjusted). The number of people participating in OOH entertainment and arts on an average day has decreased by one-quarter (-27%) since 2005, resulting in the average person spending 44% less time at an entertainment and arts venue in 2024 than 20 years ago. So, the pie has gotten smaller in dollars and time, while the slice for top-notch valueflation venues has increased, so they are getting a larger share of the pie than in earlier years.

Meanwhile, households are spending more on admissions to sports events, up 20% since 2000 (inflation-adjusted) due to their high MVT valueflation.

Contributing to the shrinking market share of most entertainment and art venues are the continually improving, top-notch venues, which are constantly raising people's expectations, and reducing the attractiveness of other venues that do not enhance their perceived value as much.

We see many agritourism venues losing their competitiveness, as their prices have not increased as much as inflation. The inflation rate since 2019 is 27%. That means if an agritourism venue hasn't raised its admission price by 27% since 2019, it may be losing its competitiveness to other out-of-home entertainment venues that people consider a better use of their limited leisure time. We have seen some agritourism venues that warrant valueflation pricing but have underpriced themselves based on their true MVT.

It is important to understand the progression of economic value for value-added agriculture to know how to raise the MVT for agritourism experiences. The progression of economic value starts with raw commodities that are transformed into goods, which are then wrapped in services, then transformed into experiences, and finally into transformational experiences. Each level increases the total value to the customer and, accordingly, the total price the customer is willing to pay. Generally, price sensitivity decreases, profit margins increase, and competition decreases as you move up the progression of economic value.

In addition to the economic value and profitability at the different levels of value-added agriculture, there's another dimension on how people value each level - the progression of time. Goods and services are about time well saved so that a person can free up time for other things. Instead of spending time making an apple pie, you buy it at the farm market and save the time to make one. Experiences are about time well spent. At the 5^th level, transformational experiences, the progression of time takes on a greater economic value to time well invested, as they are lasting improvements to either body or mind. Learning to cook a recipe that includes apples means you have the knowledge to enjoy the recipe for the rest of your life, a great return on the time you spent at the cooking class.

For example, the admission to a fall corn maze/pumpkin patch festival might be $25 for a four-hour experience, an MTV of 10 cents per minute. A transformational pie-cooking class might cost $60, lasting 2.5 hours, for a MVT of 40 cents per minute - four times the MVT for the fall festival.

According to PwC's Voice of the Consumer 2025 report and the Transformational Travel Council, the people most drawn to the highest MVT level - transformational experiences - are Millennials and Gen Z (ages roughly 18 - 40). This group ranks meaningful, authentic, and self-improvement experiences as higher priorities than passive entertainment. They see travel, wellness, and creativity as platforms for self-discovery or emotional renewal. This younger cohorts ties happiness not to possessions or escapist fun, but to personal development and mental well-being. This age group is the primary target market for many agritourism events.

Agritouism farms can charge premium prices and achieve higher MVTs by offering transformational experiences. Transformational experiences can be standalone or combined with other events, such as farm festivals, to raise their overall MVT.

Agritourism transformational experiences include:

• Co-creation events such as hands-on workshops like pie-making, cheese crafting, bread-baking, flower arranging, and jam making.
• Pick, gather, and make workshops and cooking classes that have participants gather or process some of the ingredients themselves have even higher MVTs.
• Guided tastings. Farmer-led tastings of apple, beer, cider, cheese, local honey, and other fruits, especially those that incorporate storytelling about the farm and its history, have much higher MVTs than self-guided sampling.
• Long-table dinners where the chef and farmer share the story of each dish and the farm, with curated wine or cider pairings, can command premium prices of up to $200 per person, exceeding an MVT of $1 per minute.
• Small group or one-on-one encounters with animals, including feeding and grooming, command a high-ticket price.
• Adventure activities such as hiking and birdwatching.
• Wellness activities such as yoga in a lavender field and guided medication sessions in fields and orchards

According to Joe Pine, co-author of The Experience Economy and the forthcoming The Transformation Economy: Guiding Customers to Achieve Their Aspirations, says we're moving from the experience economy to the transformational economy. Joe sees the transformational economy is both real and essential for future-proofing businesses, with customer aspirations, personal growth, and authentic life change as the new frontier of economic value. Joe says, "Creating transformative experiences offers businesses the largest opportunity for creating economic value today."

Those agritourism venues that offer transformational experiences, either individually or in combination with other experiences, will make visits meaningful, not just fun, will command premium pricing and high MVTs, possibly joining the valuation venues gaining market share.

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