Wine Tourism Experience and Consumer Behavior: The Case of Sicily

Abstract

Wine tourist behavior-based research is essential to the development of wine tourism and to help wine producers to manage wine tourist demand. Wine tourism has increased substantially in the last decade throughout the whole Italian peninsula. Sicily, which represents an area becoming ever more a center of attraction concerning wine tourism, so far lacks research regarding winery visits and wine tourists in general. This article focuses on the wine tourism experience and consumer behavior, aiming to explore attitudes and characteristics of wine tourists in Sicily. To better understand the wine tourism phenomenon a survey was carried out in 16 member wineries of the Movimento Turismo del Vino, using a self-administered questionnaire. This research is exploratory and the results are very similar to those observed in other surveys. Hence, the Sicilian wine tourists are likely to correspond to the wine tourist's profile defined on the basis of similar research.

Wine tourism: Motivating visitors through core and supplementary services

“…Wine tourism also provides a reasonably low-cost distribution channel for the sale of wine and associated products directly to consumers (Getz & Brown, 2006, p. 147). By adding complementary visitor-oriented services, wine businesses build brand loyalty, improve consumer awareness and knowledge, create a positive image of the wine product, and develop strong consumer relationships through planned on-site experiences (Asero & Patti, 2011;Bruwer & Alant, 2009;Yan, Morrison, Cai, & Linton, 2008). Researchers focusing on this area have suggested that many of the issues related to consumer interest in wine tourism have yet to be revealed (Bruwer & Lesschaeve, 2012) and warrant additional research on the wine tourism consumer base (Getz & Brown, 2006;Hall et al, 2000;Yan et al, 2008).…”

Why wine tourists visit cellar doors: Segmenting motivation and destination image

“…Although there is no single theory that defines tourist experience, the hedonic view of tourism consumption underlines the relevance of its theoretical framework to understanding the experiences sought by tourists. This prompted Quadri‐Felitti and Fiore (, p.5) to conclude that this “affords a logical connection to wine tourism with its emphasis on senses, emotions, and enjoyment of pastoral settings.” Few wine tourism studies have focused on the total experience aspect, in other words, what reasons other than the obvious “to taste” and “to buy wine” actually motivated them to visit (Asero & Patti, ; Chen, Bruwer, Cohen, & Goodman, ).…”

Perceived Benefits and Challenges to Wine Tourism Involvement: An International Perspective

“…In tune with the various developments taking place regarding wine tourism development in Europe, academic research has also grown significantly (Asero and Patti, ; Alonso and Liu, ; Gómez and Molina, ; López‐Guzmán et al ., ; Marzo‐Navarro and Pedraja Iglesias, 2012). A central theme in many wine tourism studies has been the various socio‐economic benefits that might be achieved through wine tourism development (Beverland, ; Getz, ; Hall et al ., ; Mitchell and Hall, ).…”