First thing to remember, wine tourism concerns all activities related to touristic journeys in wine regions with objectives to discover a wine region and its terroirs, taste different wines and meet wine-growers. The wine industry is a fascinating sector which gathered passionate people who only want to share their enthusiasm in a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Through their work, wine-growers give the wine a human story.
World wine tourism has great potential to grow in coming years, thanks to several factors
1. The increase in the World wine consumption
Since 2015, a new increase in the World wine consumption is noticed. Five countries represent almost half of the wine consumption in the World; USA, France, Italy, Germany and China. Inspired by European countries, some countries from the New World involved wine in their lives. China is the most growing example. Presently, wine is not only consumed for special occasions; consumers are becoming younger, more experienced and open-minded. For more information about wine business click here.
2. Wine tourists changed
Now it’s not only male or people who are experts in wine, but younger people, couples and groups of friends. New consumers are more connected to their smartphone and they are attracted by new activities like discovering of the terroir, sport and culture. These changes bring a rise of the wine tourists number in the producers’ regions around the World.
3. Travel is cheaper and easier
Nowadays, travel around the World is cheaper and easier. People can go wherever they want by different means. All the tourism industry is more accessible for everybody, different prices, types of trips, the way of traveling and so on, which allow people to travel in their country or others whatever their budget.
4. Wine is more accessible than ever.
Thanks to the fact that the wine industry is more visible and transparent. This is one of the explanations that younger people are more attracted to wine especially wine tourism.
5. Development of new types of activities
These new expectations entail the development of different types of activities from the simplest to the most original. Whether it is in the Old-World vineyards or in the New World vineyards, the experience could be done by many ways. By vintage cars in the Loire Valley, by bicycle in the Tuscany wine region, hot-air balloon in the Napa Valley, participate in the Winery Running Festival in the Hunter Valley and so on.
Hot-air balloon festival in the vineyard, California
6. Social networks allow staying in touch
At the present time, the development of social networks allows to stay in touch with people and to promote activities via free media. Everybody can share his/her experiences on the different social medias the winery used. Visual mediums are necessary for a company to attract people, the best example is the power of Instagram. People are more attracted and convinced by visual communication. In the wine business, traditional charms of the Old-World appeal tourists.
7. Development of marketing in the wine industry
The development of marketing in the wine business enables wineries to improve their communication and visibility around the World. This is crucial for the wine industry to use marketing in their strategy, it took time to set it up, but it is in a way to revolutionize this fascinating industry.
8. Wine tourism allows the promotion of local products and heritage
In fact, the producers’ countries understood that and implemented labels and aid to develop wine tourism. One good example is the label Vignobles & Découvertes in France. It enables, in a wine region, to find easier accommodation, a restaurant suggesting wine pairings or local products, and even activities about wine tourism.
9. Visiting a winery sounds like sharing a good time
People are looking for sharing a good time when they visit a winery. They will speak to their family and friends about the fabulous experiences they lived, to convince them to go there. To summarize, this word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best ways for wineries to develop their renown and gain people’s trust.
10. An increase of wine tour operators
In the last 10 years, an increase of the number of wine tour operators is observed in the World. This interest gets as aim to expand wine tourism in the producers’ countries. Appealing people by new type of tourism which gathers pleasure, passion and discover, wine tourism is becoming very attractive in today’s World.