Agritourism Integration as a Translation Mechanism: Linking Farm Diversification to Economic Performance in Mountain Rural Systems

Mountain rural regions face persistent challenges related to agricultural fragmentation, demographic decline, and limited market integration. Although farm diversification is widely promoted as a strategy for rural development, the mechanisms through which diversified rural resources generate economic value remain insufficiently understood. This study advances a Tourism Translation perspective, conceptualizing agritourism integration as the mechanism linking farm diversification and economic performance. Using survey data covering 63% of the identified rural household-business population across eleven mountain villages in Northern Albania, the study examines the relationships among farm diversification, tourism integration, knowledge and capacity development, territorial constraints, and economic performance. The analysis combines composite indices, principal component analysis, mediation modelling, quantile regression, threshold analysis, and robustness tests. The findings indicate no significant direct association between farm diversification and economic performance, while tourism integration is positively associated with economic performance. The mediation results reveal a significant but negative indirect pathway, suggesting that diversification and tourism integration may represent distinct rather than automatically sequential upgrading strategies. Additional exploratory analyses indicate potential heterogeneity and non-linearity in the TII–EPI association. Knowledge and capacity development facilitate tourism integration, while territorial constraints influence participation in tourism-oriented activities. The study contributes to the rural tourism and agritourism literature by providing a mechanism-based explanation of economic upgrading and positioning tourism integration as a core process within multifunctional mountain rural systems.