Wine tourism - a special sort of experience which is created differently and lasts longer than others
Author: Wolk Andrzej
5 Commentries
Wine tourism offers an unusual experience as the wine itself is a factor which, playing a major role and engaging the sense of taste, smell and sight, engages a tourist entirely. Wine tourism is a perfect example of a tourism which engages all the senses, and, in addition, not only in one place at one time, but providing a longer process on and off the site. 'Wine is not only a beverage. It has become a lifestyle product and it has a high degree of complementarity with food, hospitality, entertainment, the arts and tourism (Winemakers' Federation of Australia, 1996). Being a relatively young form of tourism, the wine tourism seems to differ from other, more usual ways of perceiving the industry. The reason why it differs is that the whole sector is created around the central factor, which in this case is the interest in wine itself. The experience of the wine tourist turns out to be created in a different way compared to a standard visit to a tourist destination. There is more to wine and wine tourism than the simple consumption of a beverage and the experience is not limited to the senses and emotions associated with the wine alone (Hall et al., 2002) It is not associated only with the site which is visited, neither. What is more, the whole experience seems to be something larger and less tangible. Some wine lovers say that 'every time we pull the cork from the bottle we are all wine tourists'. (Hall et al., 2002) Thus possibly the wine tourism experience does not start at the winery, and does not end at the moment of leaving it, but lasts much longer than that? Wine tourism experience is created by several factors and as it can be pointed out, it is highly dependent not only on what occurs on-site but also on the experiences off-site.
As for creating this experience, the tourist's profile, lifestyle, preferences, motivations and also background are important as the determinants. All the wine tourists with different psychographic profiles will also have different motivations and, therefore, different experiences. Visitors to wineries and wine regions differ in their interest and their expertise on wine (Hall et al., 2002) A knowledgeable wine lover for instance, will arrive at the site prepared and a purpose of his visit will probably be also educational, not only recreational, as it will be with regards to a person who simply treats wine tourism as an escape from busy city life.
In order to depict the whole process of experiencing wine tourism, a model proposed by Mitchell (Hall et al., 2002) can be applied. This model takes into consideration the important elements like setting, stage of travel and activity of tourism. These three elements shape the overall wine tourism experience. The experience itself can be divided into pre-visit experience (for instance sampling particular wine or grape variety at home before visiting particular site, studying about wine, or watching a TV program about it), wine on site (learning about wine at cellar) and wine after the visit ( for example at home recalling the winery and drinking the wine purchased there).
Accordingly, the overall understanding is not limited to a particular site or attraction and several elements of the wider perception of a region will impact on the on-site experience (Johnson, 1998). It is particularly pertinent to the wine tourism. 'Wine itself is a tangible, transportable and durable product which can be experienced in a number of locations before, during and after the on-site winery experience (Hall et al., 2002) even though, undoubtedly, a significant part of wine tourism occurs in winescape. For that reason, the overall experience is the sum of the elements mentioned above. One sole element does not decide about the winery experience. (Hall et al., 2002)
Last but not least, it has to point out how important it is to anyone having at least a small interest in wine, while buying or drinking wine, to know its origin. It only proves the theory that wine itself is a very important part which highly influences our overall wine tourism experience.
What do you think fellow students? Is wine a normal product and thus its attributes do not really matter or is it decisive regarding the wine tourism experience? Or conversely - is it a factor which entirely changes the way the wine tourism experience is created and the way it lasts?
References
Hall, M., Sharples, L., Cambourne, B. and Macionis, N. (2002). Wine Tourism Around the World. 2nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.
Johnson, G. (1998). Wine Tourism in New Zealand - a national survey of wineries, unpublished Dip. Tour. Dissertation. University of Otago.
Winemakers' Federation of Australia (1996), Strategy 2025. Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal. 11(3).
As for creating this experience, the tourist's profile, lifestyle, preferences, motivations and also background are important as the determinants. All the wine tourists with different psychographic profiles will also have different motivations and, therefore, different experiences. Visitors to wineries and wine regions differ in their interest and their expertise on wine (Hall et al., 2002) A knowledgeable wine lover for instance, will arrive at the site prepared and a purpose of his visit will probably be also educational, not only recreational, as it will be with regards to a person who simply treats wine tourism as an escape from busy city life.
In order to depict the whole process of experiencing wine tourism, a model proposed by Mitchell (Hall et al., 2002) can be applied. This model takes into consideration the important elements like setting, stage of travel and activity of tourism. These three elements shape the overall wine tourism experience. The experience itself can be divided into pre-visit experience (for instance sampling particular wine or grape variety at home before visiting particular site, studying about wine, or watching a TV program about it), wine on site (learning about wine at cellar) and wine after the visit ( for example at home recalling the winery and drinking the wine purchased there).
Accordingly, the overall understanding is not limited to a particular site or attraction and several elements of the wider perception of a region will impact on the on-site experience (Johnson, 1998). It is particularly pertinent to the wine tourism. 'Wine itself is a tangible, transportable and durable product which can be experienced in a number of locations before, during and after the on-site winery experience (Hall et al., 2002) even though, undoubtedly, a significant part of wine tourism occurs in winescape. For that reason, the overall experience is the sum of the elements mentioned above. One sole element does not decide about the winery experience. (Hall et al., 2002)
Last but not least, it has to point out how important it is to anyone having at least a small interest in wine, while buying or drinking wine, to know its origin. It only proves the theory that wine itself is a very important part which highly influences our overall wine tourism experience.
What do you think fellow students? Is wine a normal product and thus its attributes do not really matter or is it decisive regarding the wine tourism experience? Or conversely - is it a factor which entirely changes the way the wine tourism experience is created and the way it lasts?
References
Hall, M., Sharples, L., Cambourne, B. and Macionis, N. (2002). Wine Tourism Around the World. 2nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.
Johnson, G. (1998). Wine Tourism in New Zealand - a national survey of wineries, unpublished Dip. Tour. Dissertation. University of Otago.
Winemakers' Federation of Australia (1996), Strategy 2025. Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal. 11(3).