Almost all of the midterm presentations talked about wine
tourism as one of the trends that would benefit the region that they presented,
starting from our midterm on Austria to Mexico, South Africa and New Zealand. Literally regions all over the world. I was curious to know more about wine tourism and found
this interesting article that talks more about it and why it is growing so
fast:
Some quotes from the article:
“The tourism business structure has changed. It used to be
mainly male, mainly people who already knew about wine. These days, we’re
taking couples, younger people and small groups of friends.”
“Travel itself is now cheaper and easier. And wine is almost
always produced in beautiful places to which you’d want to go anyway.”
“Like no other agricultural product, wine also acts as a
passport to the heart of these lands, their culture and past, their food,
festivals, jollity and people. Especially the people.”
Thanks for sharing this Daniela - I noticed the same trend with our classes presentations.
ReplyDeleteIt made me consider a few questions:
-Must a region be 'pre-eminent' to benefit from wine tourism?
-Are tourist truly interested in the quality of the wine, or the tourist 'experience'?
-Does the region even need to produce quality wine to benefit from the trend?
My hunch is that many of the tourists visiting 'emerging' wine regions are not wine connoisseurs. They aren't visiting the region or the vineyard to taste fine wine, but rather to tour beautiful scenery (rolling hills with rows of vines) and to enjoy the experience of drinking wine in that setting.
If that is the case, the quality of the wine becomes less important than the experience and the story that is told by the wine purveyor.
I wonder then if there is an opportunity for non-producers to capitalise on these tourist trends by offering tasting rooms that curate wines from the surrounding region (perhaps even from outside the region) and serve them in a beautiful setting. These entrepreneurs might be best placed focus on providing a superior customer experience.