Keywords

1 Introduction and Definitions

It is only recently that both the wine and the tourism industry have developed their interactions beyond the supply chain and into a collaborative complementarity. This shift in perspective, led to the creation of a growing form of leisure, an emerging attraction and activity and identified wine regions as potential destinations [1]. The emerging form of alternative tourism has been identified as wine tourism, or viticultural tourism or enotourism and was classified initially under agro-tourism [2]. Food and wine production are closely linked to the culture and traditions of a particular local context and are the result of a know-how that has been developed locally and passed down over time [3].

The definition of the term wine tourism is not homogeneous, as it can be analyzed from different perspectives. From an academic perspective, this form of special interest tourism [4] is emerging as a growing area of interest; however, there is not one universal definition. This is to be expected as tourism itself is assigned many different definitions according to the point of view and the focus of every research, thus emphasizing its multidisciplinary and cross disciplinary nature. Focusing on the demand side of leisure and tourism and consumer behavior, wine tourism is considered as the experience associated with visiting vineyards, wineries and wine demonstrations where wine tasting is the main element [5]. On the other hand, wine tourism is conceived as a strategy to develop a specific geographical area and an opportunity for wineries to promote and sell their products directly to consumers [6], which is more related as a definition with the supply side and the attractions mix of the destination. Wine tourism is a multifaceted industry that involves the production and consumption of wine while offering a unique blend of tangible, intangible, and experiential marketing elements.

The aim of this research is to analyze the level of participation and the importance of each element (tangible, intangible and experiential) in a successful marketing strategy for wine tourism. The emphasis in this preliminary study is to identify understand the visitor’s views in order to inform the future research and to better match the service provided by wineries with the consumers needs and desires. The results of this research will provide the necessary insight that wine tourism businesses need in the formulation of a marketing strategy that will benefit the individual business but also the region as well.

Amongst agro-production and gastronomic experiences, wine is the product that “grows deeper roots” with its territory of origin and it defines as much as it is defined by its location [7]. The latter is seen not only in terms of geography, but also includes the historical and cultural aspects in the production, and consumption process [8]. In the process of rediscovering a territory wine becomes the carrier of identity and social relations. These, in their turn, affect the new experiences of cultural tourism, agro-tourism and wine tourism.

2 The Different Marketing Elements of Wine Tourism

As analyzed in the previous section, wine tourism is a complex matrix of elements that are related to the production phase, consumption and recently visitation of wineries. The marketing matrix for wine tourism involves a careful integration of these elements to create a unique and compelling visitor experience. Wineries often employ strategies such as storytelling to convey their history and values (intangible), offer guided tastings and tours (experiential), and sell wine-related merchandise (tangible) to engage and retain customers. In Table 1 the tangible, intangible and experiential elements of wine tourism are summarized.

Table 1 Tangible, intangible, experiential elements of wine tourism—author’s interpretation based on previous work [9,10,11]
Full size table

Successful wine tourism destinations should understand the delicate balance between these elements, creating a holistic and immersive experience that goes beyond merely selling wine [12]. The complexity of all the different factors included in a wine tourism experience can only relate to what is described by the concept of ‘touristic terroir’ [13]. The concept combines all the unique physical, cultural and natural environment that gives each region its distinctive tourist appeal, or in marketing terms its unique selling point. This approach helps build customer loyalty and encourages visitors to become brand ambassadors, promoting the winery through word-of-mouth and social media, further enhancing the intangible and experiential aspects of marketing in the wine tourism industry.

3 Methodological Approach

The main objective of this study is to investigate how tangible, intangible and experiential elements co-exist in wine tourism and the level of importance and participation of each element should have in the final marketing strategy. To achieve this objective, it is important to understand the behavioral patterns of visitors participating in wine tourism. Motivation is an important part of this complex equation as are the steps in the purchasing process. Although identifying the wine tourist has been an important dimension in previous studies, information about wine tourism consumer behavior is rather limited [14]. For the purpose of this study a questionnaire was constructed aiming in the first part at behavioral patterns and preferences of visitors participating in wine-tourism pre-experience and in the second part assessing satisfaction post-experience Assessing consumer behavior and satisfaction with a good degree of accuracy requires multiple methodological tools both qualitative and quantitative. For the preliminary stage of the study that this paper is based on, only qualitative data was collected via internet questionnaires to visitors that had participated anytime in the past in a wine tourism experience. The study uses a sample of convenience, which although does not entail a high level of accuracy, it is considered suitable and acceptable for the preliminary stage of the study. The results will provide the platform and the data for designing and focusing the next steps of the research.

Overall 286 questionnaires were collected over the internet using a combination of suitable platforms. The platforms were configured to access people that have, according to their statement, participated in wine tourism experiences and winery visits in Europe. Based on their analysis method two types of questions were used. The first type of questions was statistically analyzed questions with a set of predefined answers and the respondents were asked to choose one. For this preliminary, simple statistics were used to analyze the results and test basic theory concepts. These types of closed end questions are suitable for analyzing preferences and behavioral patterns amongst the participants and determine in a hierarchical way what they consider most important. The second set of questions was based on a Likert unidimensional scale in order to collect respondents’ attitudes and opinions [15]. When responding to an item on the Likert Scale, the user responds based explicitly on their agreement or disagreement level. These scales allow for determining the level of agreement or disagreement of the respondents. For the purpose and the level of accuracy required in this particular research, a standard five point scale was used allowing for a neutral or indifferent option.

4 Results

The results were evenly distributed demographically amongst men (140) and women (146) that took part in the survey, but this was expected as it was part of the initial configuration in the data collection platforms. The demographic characteristics of the participants were considered not important for this initial stage of the research as the main focus was to collect indications and trends in behavioral patterns. This initial survey will act as a focusing tool for the research to follow.

Participants in their majority (93%) (Fig. 1) expressed that they are very likely or likely to purchase the products they were tasting in the winery but they considered almost equally important (76%) (Fig. 2) to be able to buy the products in their home environment either in a store or online. The results from Fig. 1 were expected, as tourist, as the theory suggests, have the tendency to buy memorabilia or tangible objects in order to remember their travel experience. In the case of wine tourism this is related to buying regular bottles of wine, wine glasses or even miniature specially made wines, thus demonstrating a similarity with any other tourism experience and the respective visit to the gift shop. This kind of consumer behavior is very well documented and analyzed. The results in Fig. 2 are also supported by previous similar studies, concluding that wineries may focus on their customers’ and visitors’ choices and attract target groups that are interested in buying the wine not only at the premises but online [16], but also for enogastronomic visits at the venue.

Fig. 1
A horizontal bar graph plots the percentages as follows. Very likely 60%, likely 35%, neutral 5%, not very likely 2%, and unlikely 4%. Approximated values.

The percentage of respondents based on their likelihood to buy the products from their wine tourism experience during the experience

Full size image
Fig. 2
A horizontal bar graph plots the percentages as follows. Very likely 55%, likely 22%, neutral 12%, not very likely 7%, and unlikely 6%. Approximated values.

The percentage of respondents based on their likelihood to continue buying the products from their wine tourism experience in their everyday life

Full size image

The location of the wine tasting and wine experience was also very important to the visitors. As tourism are moving towards the co-creation era of the experience they feel the need to participate in experiences as authentic as possible in-situ. Only 27% of the sample considers wine tasting in any other location (hotel, restaurant etc.) as a wine tourism experience. In agreement with the multiple definitions provided in the first section of this research, the majority of the participants define wine tourism as happening in wineries and vineyards. Still wine pairing and the combination of wine tasting with gastronomy is concentrating 69% of the respondent’s choices compared to the 31% that is interested in actively participating in the wine production process. This finding is supported by the theory that there is a clear shift from agro-tourism market in the case of wine, towards a niche gastronomy and fine dining market [17].

Brand knowledge and brand awareness were not very important for the respondents. Only 26% replied that they chose to visit a winery because they knew the brand prior to the visit. Accordingly, a very small percentage (19%) stated the visit to the winery as their main purpose or motivation for their trip. These answers emphasize the role and the concept of the wine-terroir and the importance of wine tourism as complementary activity to the overall visit and exploration of the wider region.

5 Discussion and Conclusion

From the analysis of the literature and the research it becomes obvious that the tangible element of wine is very important for wineries as wine tourism can increase sales both during the visit but also when visitors return to their home locations. Distribution channels can increase to benefit the company but also place branding expands for the entire region. Wine tourism is an opportunity for rural areas to develop high end tourism products and activities through a niche market and not just as agro-tourism destinations [17]. The role of intangible and experiential elements is closely related to the locality and emphasizes the need for authenticity in the way and the location for the actual wine tasting experience. An interesting issue that requires further exploration refers to the way that meaning is assigned to the specific wine brand after a wine tourism experience and the role of a wine tourism experience in assigning meaning to a locality. The sense of ownership and a strong bond that is formed between visitors and a destination can evolve in many different ways. Repeat visitors, like in the case of hotels or restaurants, are quite rare in the case of wine tourism emphasizing more on the experiential factor and not as much in the comfort and convenience [18]. Still similar benefits to repeat or loyal customers are more related to the tangible product and the buying motivation that occurs when the tourists return to their usual environment. Intangible and experiential elements tend to be prevailing during the actual participation in wine tourism.