Wine Tourism in the Mediterranean
wine, wines, wine, tourism, wine, festivals, Spanish Wine, Wine Brands, Wine Countries, Wine Regions, Wine Tourism, World Regions, World Wine, wine tourists, wine festivals
By far the main focus of contemporary wine tourism research has been in ‘New World’ regions. Indeed it appears that wine tourism research in ‘Old World’ wine countries is a very recent phenomenon, very much under development in many regions. The present study adds to this underdeveloped body of research in that it addresses wine tourism development across three prominent ‘Old World’ Spanish wine regions.
A total of seventy six wineries participated in the study and respondents’ answers and comments to date indicate that while many of the participating wineries are several generations, or centuries, old, wine tourism appears to be in its ‘tentative’ stages, that is, starting to gain momentum. Also, respondents’ answers demonstrate that visitation among overseas visitors is very minimal.
Clearly, many of the wineries or the wine regions are far from Spain’s coastal areas, where tourism concentrates, and follows the ‘traditional rituals’ of sun and beach activities.
However, in a country with a very large foreign tourist contingent such as Spain, this finding also illustrates the existence of an almost totally untapped market, and suggests potential commercial opportunities for Spanish wineries. Such an argument is particularly valid, as in the last decade, rural and agri-tourism have been developing in the nation to cater for a diverse tourist market.
In addition, 72.3% of respondents indicated that their wineries are open to the public mainly to generate interest for their wine brands among visitors, and another 59.2% use the cellar door to educate customers, thus demonstrating wineries’ longer-term strategy to ‘convert’ visitors to loyal consumers.
These results are not different from other wine tourism studies. However, given the critical role tourism plays for Spain’s economy, with over 50 million visitors per year, these findings can have important implications for the wine industry in many of the nation’s wine regions.
WINE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SLOVENIA
Wine tourism development in Slovenian wine regions is analyzed and compared with similar research on determinants for life-cycle of wine tourist products and growth of wine tourist providers in world class tourism and wine tourism destinations (Getz & Brown 2006). The high quality of wine production is an important element for initial, an introductory stage in wine tourism development.
In the second stage of development a part of wine production is sold in a bottled form as well as there are introduced additional offers, which lead to a shift from traditional winery into an open winery with wine sales. In the third stage, progress made in wine quality and growth in winery progress follows, which requires improvements in marketing. This is accompanied with investments into tourist accommodation facilities in the winery to provide n additional employment of other members of households for tourism activities.
Finally, in the fourth mature stage of wine tourism development, tourist activities become the main source of income for the winery, which requires establishing of family or similar run firm, which is engaged in tourism and wine marketing at domestic and international markets.
At the same time tourist supply is becoming more specialized targeting different segments of wine tourists such as activities for lovers of culture, families, active tourism, cycling, lovers of nature, and similar. In this developed stage, the tourist supply is well integrated into a tourist supply of the destination. This means that from the initial wine farm it becomes one of the important players and innovators of tourist supply in the tourist destination.
The life cycle of wine tourist product and growth of wine tourist providers are analyzed in the case of Slovenian wine region. The importance and growth of wine tourism product and wine tourism providers will be quantified by the investigation of the number of wineries and employees in wine tourism, the number and diversification of recognized and specialized tourist products in association with wine tourism (e.g. wellness, ecological and similar tourism), the significance of wine sales in the wineries and wine exports, the use of different marketing tools and the role of wine consortiums.
NEW WORLD AND MEDITERRANEAN WINE TOURISM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Contextually, wine tourism seems underdeveloped in Europe – even though wine has a long history there. This paper will examine the future for wine tourism research in the Mediterranean region given that, until now, there has been a greater focus on New World, particularly Anglophone, countries. Based on an analysis of past research the paper therefore highlights potential inter-cultural similarities and differences and offers suggestions for future research programmes.
Specifically, the following will be explored:
1. Different production contexts. In New World countries many wine regions have only developed in the last 30-50 years, with the resulting ‘pioneer spirit’ influencing the co-operative and dynamic approach to wine tourism.
2. Related to this, the use of appellation systems to guarantee regional quality may affect how wine tourism is viewed (both operationally and for branding). This links to the effectiveness of regional branding.
3. Consumption patterns are changing, with expansion in New World countries and rapid reductions in Europe. This may be linked to the use of wine as a lifestyle product, which in turn is attached to the lifestyle pursuits of travel and placeattachment.
4. Attitudes to land ownership and use vary – based on differing views of individual ownership and community benefit.
5. It has been suggested that small European wine producers, who sell wine at their property, often do not think that they are involved in wine tourism. This idea bears further research.
6. In the New World wine tourists seek an overall experience rather than just a focus on wine. The existence of this attitude in the Mediterranean region could be crucial.
7. Possibly, in Europe, producer wine tourism involvement only develops when there is a drop in sales, and is only used to prop-up economic activity rather than for longterm branding.
wine, wines, wine, tourism, wine, festivals, Spanish Wine, Wine Brands, Wine Countries, Wine Regions, Wine Tourism, World Regions, World Wine, wine tourists, wine festivals
WINE TOURISM POTENTIAL OF THE AEGEAN COAST OF TURKEY: A REGIONAL APPROACH
Turkey is one of the most important countries in the field of viniculture. The reason for this suggestion comes from some numbers: in world rankings Turkey is 5th in total vineyard area, with 600.000 hectare, and 6th in grape production. However, most of the harvested grapes are being used for consuming as table grape, raisin, drying and making molasses. Only 2 % of the grapes harvested in Turkey are used to produce wine, and the 60 million liters of wine Turkey produces makes up a meer 2% of the world’s total production.
Most of the Turkish citizens prefer drinking rakı or beer than wine – annual consumption of wine is 6.8 liter per citizen. The consumption figures in Turkey are very low when compared with French (65 liter), Spain (39 liter) and Greece (31 liter). The low level of wine consumption in Turkey could be explained, in a large extent, to religious inhibitions. The proclamation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 lead to the repeal of the inhibition of wine production and consumption in 1926.
Thereafter, Muslim entrepreneurs became interested in wine production, which had been strictly limited to those citizens of Greek and Armenian decent. Turkey’s most developed and productive wine regions are Marmara, Aegean, Central and Southeastern Anatolia. It is the aim of this study to examine Aegean viniculture. Although Aegean is better known for it’s production of dried and table grapes, it accounts for 20% of Turkish wine production.
The most prestigious grape in the region is the “Bornova Misketi”, cultivated around Izmir by a member of the Muscat family. Other types of grapes from this region are Carignan, Grenache, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay and Semillon which are foreign origin grapes and some indigenious ones like Çalkarası and Sultaniye. Additionally, in the 1990’s Sevilen, established near Ovacık/Çesme, and Pamukkale in Denizli spearheaded varietal (monosepaj) wine production.
Today, traditional small scale wine production continues in some villages and towns. The most well known are Sirince, which is located near Izmir, and Gökçeada and Bozcaada islands on the North Aegean.
WINE ROUTES IN SPAIN
Spain is a country with an enormous wine-growing tradition and with a huge tourist industry, although it has not made the importance of wine tourism profitable, up to now, as much as other geographical areas have.
Thus, it was not until the year 2000 that different official wine routes seem to appear (at the moment, there are 13), with the objective, among all others, of helping develop rural areas where wine producing is of crucial importance, and of offering other options to the traditional sun tourism. In this paper we present an analysis of wine tourism in Spain in the idea that wine (and regional cuisine) may be, and very frequently is, the main attractive to visit a certain area, and it is not necessarily a secondary (and complementary) activity of the trip.
In order to investigate this, we present the results of an empirical study carried out in one of the official wine routes of Andalusia, a region in Spain with a very important tourist activity based on sun tourism and on its rich heritage.
We analyzed how this tourist route is bringing out worth-to-note socioeconomic changes to the geographical area, and helping identify at the same time the main pros and cons. Our methodology consisted of the realization of a field study based on a questionnaire to the companies involved in the wine route in order to know their opinion about the impact and influence of the route.
The main results of the study show the necessity to consolidate the development of such routes by means of the collaboration between public institutions, and by means of getting all the different social actors involved, in order to make the tourist product even more attractive.
WINE TOURISM IN GREECE: THE CASE OF THE WINE ROADS OF NORTHERN GREECE
Cultivating the vine and producing wine has a long tradition in Greece. Archaeological findings confirm that these activities date back at least four thousand years ago. Greek mythology is replete with deities such as Dionysus and other beings such as the Satyrs that were connected with the production and consumption of wine. Rituals and festivities such as Panathenea, the Eleufsis Mysteries were events where feasts attracted people in great numbers.
Wine was also consumed in great quantities in symposia and other social gatherings. Since antiquity and to the present day, there are regions in Greece that are renowned for producing grapes and wine. Among these regions, Northern Greece is established as one of the areas where high quality wine is produced. Although, most vineyards and wineries have been open to the public, this was not done in a systematic way. Wine tourism was virtually unknown in Greece until the beginning of the 1990’s.
The first such attempt was materialized by 28 winemakers, who established in 1993 the Wine Producers Association of the Vineyard of Northern Greece. The prime initiative of this association was the development of the network with the trade name “Wine Roads of Northern Greece”. Eight separate and distinct routes were selected traversing the whole Northern Greece, from the region of Epirus to the North-West, the region of the
Greek Macedonia, in the middle and the region of Thrace in the North-East. A mall part of Northern Thessaly is also included as part of the Wine Road of the Olympian Gods. This paper describes the past, the present and the future of this initiative, which, so far, has shown a potential for further development.
WINE TOURISM IN ITALY: NEW PROFILES, STYLES OF CONSUMPTION, WAYS OF TOURING
In 2008, for the first time, Italy produced more wine grapes than France. The 20% of the word production (33% of the European Union production) is Italian. This interesting news is strongly related to the greater importance that this market has for Italian agricultural production, and, above all, for the Italian GDP.
The annual wine production is on average of 51 million hectoliters, 33% of which are exported. Moreover, wine sales proved the most lucrative for the Italy wine market in 2008, and the performance of the market is forecast to accelerate, for the five-year period 2008-2013.
First exporting country for quantity (Italy exports on average 18 million hectoliters per year) only 1,200 out of 770,000 firms can reach the international market. In this picture, the importance of wine in Italy is not only related to production and consumption but also to the attractiveness of this product so connected to the territory. Wine tourism in Italy represents a very important source of income for small firms and generally for regions.
Apparently around five million people contribute about 2.5 billion euro to wine making territories, according to data published after Biteg 2008. In this paper the focus will be not on the quantification of the number of wine tourists, but we will try to make an “identikit” of the potential wine tourists in Italy, highlighting not only the demographic characteristics, but also the attitudes, values and the connection among wine, food, territory, art and culture and how this connection creates a virtuous circle for promoting new perspectives in tourism preferences.
Data from different sources will be presented: starting from data on wine production, we present some data on tourism in Italy, and we try to identify some very important connection among different kinds of tourisms, with a special focus on Tuscany.
WINE PRODUCERS’ PERCEPTION OF WINE TOURISM
Wine tourism is significant part of both wine and tourism industries. There are many definitions about wine tourism in literature. Most of definitions have different point of view to wine tourism. For the purpose of this paper, wine tourism is defined a marketing opportunity for wineries to educate, and to sell their products, directly to consumers.
Wine tourism also facilitates producer–consumer interaction and involves education about and experience of wine products and wine regions including local cultures and winescapes. Wine tourism can be the core business for many small wineries. For others wine tourism may be secondary part of their business operation, though potentially serving roles as a sale channel a promotional channel and or a means of educating the customer.
Wine tourism is therefore an important component of the potential marketing and selling mix of wineries and wine businesses. For small wineries wine tourism is an opportunity for increased margins and brand awareness. On the other hand for large wineries wine tourism is extra costs and management time.
The aim of this study is determining perceptions of wine producer about wine tourism. It is important because wine producers are an important part of wine tourism. Due to importance, wine producers’ perceptions are a determinant of wine tourism success for a region. A questionnaire is applied to wine producers in Turkey.
There are 101 registered wine producers in Turkey, and they are grouped according to production volume. In this study firstly a factor analysis will be applied to results and then ANOVA analysis will be applied to determine differences between groups.
International Conference on Tourism Development and Management
Kos Island, Greece
