Study of the major supply factors and business choices affecting the growth rate of wine tourism in Greece

Wine tourism is considered one of the alternative forms of tourism internationally. Wine tourism combines wine production with tourism activities, mainly in agricultural areas, as it embraces the tourism interest for wine production and the enjoyment of vineyard activities by the tourists. Greece, as a well-known tourist destination, is actually a new wine tourism area that has still a long way to go before claiming that it can render high-quality services in this very competitive sector. The objective of this paper is to examine and present the extent of wine tourism development in Greece, the characteristics as well as the main business choices related to wine tourism supply, aiming at highlighting the necessary key elements that can play a decisive role in its further growth. In terms of this paper, we attempt to examine the Greek wine producer's viewpoint of wine tourism by setting out data related to the development of the product, the satisfaction of businessmen involved, the means used to promote the product, the difficulties faced by and the expectations set by wine producers. In order to achieve the aforementioned goals, a research was conducted by means of a constructive questionnaire sent to all major Greek wine producers from April to June 2007. The participants in the wine tourism industry in the country were considered a major source of information.     

Wine tourism research: a systematic review of 20 vintages from 1995 to 2014

This paper provides a review of 176 papers on wine tourism published between 1995–2014, highlighting research fields, wine regions studied, theory and methodologies used, journals and authors publishing wine tourism research. This paper aims to provide a reference guide for future researchers through a systematic review of wine tourism research over 20 years. The study contributes to the existing literature reviews of wine tourism and consequently, identifies key gaps for further study. Wine production and wine tourism have very different business foci within wineries. However, the findings reveal the importance of strengthening the synergies between wine production and tourism to be successful. In addition, findings revealed different research agendas between New World and Old World wine countries, where the former has a focus on wine tourism while the later on wine production. There has been an increase in theory building which highlights the complexity of the wine tourism experience. Based on this review, the wine tourism research framework developed by Carlsen (2004) has been extended to include two themes: regional development and the experiential wine tourist. The results reveal relevant findings for academics, winemakers and tourism managers regarding the background and future trends of wine tourism.     

Is tourism just another staple? A new perspective on tourism in remote regions

According to recent research, countries may have a positive image from a tourism perspective, but they may be seen as lacking from an economic or political viewpoint. As governments and destination management organisations spend large sums of money in promoting tourist attractions, the question of whether these activities also influence other aspects of a country's image becomes relevant. The objective of the research is to determine the effect of tourism promotions on the image of the country and that of the destination as two separate concepts, in the case of Israel, a country subject to continuous conflicts. A 2?×?2 quasi-experimental design is utilised to investigate the influence of tourism promotional brochures. Additionally, a comparative perspective is used to determine whether people from diverse countries and backgrounds may be affected differently by the same information. The findings confirm that tourism brochures influence not only the image of the destination, but also that of the country. These effects are found to be different for respondents from the two different countries compared. The article focuses on understanding how tourism communication strategies may also be used to improve the image of a country, with potential benefits for international marketing and international relations.     

Editorial

Partnerships are becoming increasingly important in the tourism industry especially for small and medium sized enterprises. The development of an ale trail, similar to a wine route, represents an important tool to facilitate the building of partnerships for organisations linked to culinary tourism. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the rise and fall of the Waterloo-Wellington Ale Trail located in south central Ontario, Canada. Qualitative analysis of key informant interviews is presented to examine why the decision was made to discontinue the Ale Trail despite its success.     

Current Issues in Method and Practice

Australians are not taking up their full allowance of annual holidays which could, in time, lead to issues of community health as well as impact on the viability of the domestic tourism industry. As a response, government tourism organisations in Australia have allocated funds to encourage domestic holidays. However, competition for discretionary income from other sources of recreational activities will continue to impact on this sector, requiring more than direct tourism promotion. This paper considers one such competing aspect of discretionary spending, namely gambling, and its likely effect on tourism expenditure. It examines the role of demarketing as a means to limit gambling expenditure and increase tourism. A range of demarketing and remarketing strategies are proposed as integrated elements of gambling and tourism planning. Such a proposal has the potential to restructure regional communities in such a way as to contribute to the building of community and personal well-being.     

Experiential and involvement effects on the Korean wine tourist's decision-making process

This study's core purpose is to understand the behavioural intention (BI) of wine tourists using the Extended Model of Goal-directed Behaviour (EMGB). Specifically, the Model of Goal-directed Behaviour (MGB), an advanced version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), is extended to EMGB by incorporating experience and involvement towards wine tourism to better understand wine tourists' intention to participate in a tour. The sample was 211 Korean wine tourists. Results revealed that two constructs related to wine tourism, namely, experience of a wine tour and wine tourism involvement, formed positive and significant relationships with attitude towards participating in such a tour. Attitude, subjective norm, and positive anticipated emotion influenced tourists' desire to participate in a wine tour, which, in turn, influenced their BI. Contrary to expectations, the frequency of past behaviour does not have a significant effect on desire and BI, and perceived behavioural control has no significant effects on BI.     

Determining the Critical Success Factors of the Wine Tourism Region of Napa from a Supply Perspective

Napa is a renowned region for wine tourism and demonstrates how wine can be an instrument to develop tourism. The purpose of this research is to identify the critical success factors that have shaped the area's rise and growth, and its unique competitiveness in both the domestic and global marketplaces for wine tourism destinations. The findings from the research provide the foundation for a proposed conceptual model of success factors in wine tourism research and as insight to practitioners/suppliers. Findings reveal an aligned marketing effort and strategic partnerships among suppliers of Napa wine tourism. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Supranationalist Alliances and Tourism: Insights from ASEAN and SAARC

This paper examines the influences of international free-trade alliances/regional trading blocs on tourism development. While relatively few of these coalitions mention tourism specifically, most of them deal with issues that are directly pertinent to tourism, such as environmental conservation, flows of people, regional promotion, infrastructure and transportation and trade in goods and services. This paper scans these issues in the tourism context as they pertain specifically to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). While the paper argues primarily that such alliances have potential for positive outcomes, their negative effects are also considered and many of the roadblocks to achieving successful multilateral regional blocs are highlighted.     

The role of a non-profit organisation-run public bicycle-sharing programme: the case of Kitakyushu City,Japan

Public bicycle-sharing programmes (PBSPs) are experiencing enormous growth as an increasing number of cities worldwide are adopting the scheme. PBSPs are managed and operated by the private sector; by local community groups, including non-profit organisations (NPOs); and by local governments. In many Japanese cities where private bicycle sharing is high, the scale of PBSPs is relatively small, leading to challenges such as difficulty in securing funding and appointing operators. This paper proposes that NPOs may have the capacity to operate and effectively manage PBSPs in conjunction with other non-profit activities to promote community development. Using a case study approach and implementing a user perception survey, this study examines the experience of a small-scale, NPO-run PBSP in Kitakyushu City, Japan. Findings show that NPO management and operation added value to the PBSP. In addition, some users were interested in the PBSP beyond its role as a means of transport. These users tend to engage in local activities more frequently than other users. Finally, almost all of the users were satisfied with the bicycle-sharing service, regardless of their reasons for using the programme. The insights gained from these results may help improve small-scale PBSP implementation, policy, and planning, both in Japan and beyond.     

Wine Tourism in Spain: Denomination of Origin Effects on Brand Equity

This research focuses on the analysis of wine tourism in four Spanish regions. Specifically, its main purpose is the development of a model to study the influence of the denomination of origin brand image, as a regional brand, and destination image on wine tourism destination brand equity. Due to the importance of destination marketing strategies, this study has been carried out from the wine industry's perspective. The conclusions obtained are applicable to the tourist sector and, particularly, to those wineries that wish to start a new line of business: wine tourism. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Partial Industrialisation in Tourism: A New Model

Certain forms of human activity, such as sport, education and tourism, can be described as being partly industrialised; they are supported partly by organisations with industrial relationships to the particular activity (e.g. tourism industries, sports industries, and so on), and partly by other factors. The latter includes business organisations whose relationship to the activity might be direct and commercial but is non-strategic, non-industrial. Partial industrialisation in tourism (PIIT) has been explored by a handful of researchers interested in its nature, causes and implications. However, the diagrammatic model used in the exploratory studies is awkward, a defect that probably helps explain why PIIT has not become widely recognised in the community of tourism researchers. A new model enables clearer insight and should facilitate understanding and greater recognition. Using the new model, an empirical research project in a mass destination provided substantial evidence for PIIT. Implications arise for many issues, including how tourism is conceptualised, strategic business management, destination competitiveness, destination development and promotion, seasonality, environmental activism, employment numbers, vocational training, planning and government policy.     

Situating the tourist gaze: from appropriation to negotiation

For decades, scholars have emphasized the power of the Western tourist gaze to construct Third World destinations as the ‘Exotic Other'. Scholars have also shown that ‘Third World’ tourism fuelled by media fantasies of the Other represents neo-colonization in the twenty-first century. However, considering all its intentions/claims of impartiality, tourism research has generally travelled in only one direction (from the West to the East). In this study, conducted in Goa and Puducherry, focusing on the social contexts in which people are viewed and photographed, we ask – what do the ‘Third World’ people think of Westerners gazing at them, and their surroundings? How do Western tourists react when photographed by domestic tourists? What are the power relations within which the photographer and the photographed are located? We recognize that no simplistic analyses are possible in the postcolonial context. Directing a critical lens at the tourist gaze, this essay moves from an understanding of the gaze as appropriating to that of the gaze as negotiated.     

Interorganisational Relations in the Protected Area – Tourism Policy Domain: The Influence of Macro-economic Policy

A considerable body of work suggests that sustainable tourism development may only be achieved when sectoral fragmentation is overcome and collaborative planning achieved. This paper describes the findings from research that identifies obstacles to and opportunities for collaboration between two key stakeholders in a tourism policy domain. Specifically, the paper focuses on the influence of government macroeconomic policy on interorganisational relations between two government agencies. Generally, economic policy and practice provides not only the context, but also the rationale and legitimation of certain activities, and therefore shapes the nature of interorganisational relations, particularly when those organisations are reliant on state funding. Using an interorganisational relations framework, two federal government organisations in Canada involved in the 'national park – tourism' policy domain were studied to identify the influence of fiscal policy operating through a range of facilitating and inhibiting factors, on the formation and maintenance of relations between the organisations. The material for this paper has been drawn from a larger study that considers relations between a wider group of stakeholders in the Canadian 'national park-tourism' domain.     

Domestic tourism encounters in the Masurian lake district: multiple tourism moralities,reversible relationships,and social well-being in contemporary Poland

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on different moral economies of domestic tourism encounters in late-post-socialist Masuria, in the rural Northeast of Poland. An ethnographic study of three different tourism entrepreneurs brings to light different, concurring legacies of the ‘good’ tourism encounter in the area and indicates a shift of tourism discourses and social aspirations of living well together in contemporary Poland. In a climate of mutual stigmatisation and boundary drawing, rural tourism entrepreneurs mobilise the encounter with domestic tourists to subvert evolving power asymmetries in Poland and to offer alternative readings to dominant narratives of inequality in the transforming country. However, their proposed alternative tourism socialities with the national ‘other’ do not arrive naturally: relationships in tourism are shown to be ambivalent and reversible to their participants; their performance demands much moral work and requires a degree of cultural complicity or compatibility with the other. The article contributes to current debates on the moral economy of encountering in anthropological literature of tourism, post-socialism, and morality.     

Expanding the destination image: wine tourism in the Canary Islands

Tourism to the Canary Islands is centred around competitively priced holidays focused on the sun and beach mass tourism experience. A restructure of the islands' wine industry offers opportunities for developing new tourism alternatives based on gourmet products and traditional landscapes. This paper examines the potential of wine tourism from winery operators' perspectives. Challenges to overcome in the development of a successful sustainable local wine tourism industry include the need for expansion of the destination image to reflect the region's wine‐making history and scenic qualities; a shift towards independent high‐yield travellers; and reintroducing local produce in the mass tourism product. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tourism Policy,Tourism Organisations and Change Management in Alpine Regions and Destinations: A European Perspective

Tourism is of great economic importance and significance for the European East Alpine regions. But to an increasing degree, low productivity resulting from the small-business structure of the Alpine region weakens the economic and social leadership of tourism. In the last few decades overcoming these difficulties often included substantial supporting of institutionalised tourism organisations by tourism policy, with the intention to bundle forces and to achieve growing global competition. Change in international tourist markets demands the pursuance of completely new strategies, particularly because the small-business structure of Alpine tourism in the past has always been the basis for its many positive effects for the local and regional population alike. By keeping its function of balancing regional economic growth, tourism policy's main responsibility for the future in the East Alpine region will be to create the prerequisites required for an adaptation to the new situation in the tourist markets. In addition, the support of tourism organisations is needed for achieving corporate success, which cannot be realised by individual entrepreneurs in the tourist industry owing to their small-business structure. The key to adaptation lies in the improvement of qualifications. This improvement should lead to the development of new skills for tourist cooperations as a basis for the strategic transition from institutionalised tourism organisations to flexible and market-oriented destination management companies.     

Pro-Poor Tourism: From Leakages to Linkages. A Conceptual Framework for Creating Linkages between the Accommodation Sector and ‘Poor’ Neighbouring Communities

The concept of pro-poor tourism (PPT) has in recent years received attention from academia, key industry and donor organisations. While several ‘How to…?’ manuals have been written, little emphasis has so far been given to situating the PPT debate within the general literature on tourism and development. This paper contributes to the PPT debate by linking macro-economic concepts such as leakages and multipliers to micro-economic action opportunities for the mainstream accommodation sector in developing countries. As such it brings together the well-established tourism literature on economic impacts on the macro level with the more recent PPT literature that focuses on action on the ground. A conceptual framework for analysing and developing linkages between the accommodation sector and ‘poor’ neighbouring communities is suggested. This framework is based deductively on a critical review of the literature, coupled with first-hand experience in PPT action-research. It is suggested that PPT action opportunities encompass both core and non-core activities within the accommodation sector. Bringing together a wide range of past and present research, four types of potential linkages are proposed which are (1) employment; (2) sourcing and procurement; (3) SMME development and outsourcing; and (4) other types of partnerships such as donations.     

Hungry for Growth? Small and Medium‐sized Tourism Enterprise (SMTE) Business Ambitions,Knowledge Acquisition and Industry Engagement

Differences are identified between the preferred information and learning channels of small and medium‐sized tourism enterprise (SMTE) proprietors, who have an interest in business operations (growers) or who have relatively less interest (lifestylers). Lifestylers sign up frequently to tourism industry associations, whereas growers have a tendency to join generic business groupings. The most common information for both groups is marketing related, and intensive use is made of online information to support day‐to‐day business operations. In aggregate, SMTE proprietors are avid information seekers, attaching importance to the advice provided from experienced and trusted sources. Growers proactively gather information about general management as well as tourism‐specific knowledge. Adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach to providing information for the SMTE sector is unlikely to be effective. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The experience of forming business relationships in tourism

This study examines the formation of business relationships among tourism organisations. A phenomenographic study conducted with 25 managers drawn from regional tourism organisations in Queensland, Australia revealed three qualitatively different but interrelated ways of experiencing relationships: as competition, co‐operation and collaboration. Differences among experiences were accounted for by the way managers defined the meanings of several dimensions common to each experience. The results suggest managers' experiences can be developmentally ordered on a continuum of relationships that demonstrate progressively more complex and inclusive approaches to forming relationships. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.