Wine tourism: a business opportunity for winemakers

Abstract

Wine tourism can contribute to the development of a tourism destination. This is particularly true in southern Italy, which boasts not only excellent grape growing activity and wine production, but it is also a region of great value in terms of historical-cultural and natural heritage. Winemakers have understood the potential of core business and have recently used it as a vehicle to diversify their businesses and to increase sales. The general purpose of the paper is to gain insights into the current state of wine tourism in Campania, and to identify possible areas of intervention with a view to promoting further development. Our work is mainly focused on an empirical research study. The research aimed to investigate the orientation of winemakers towards wine tourism, and their entrepreneurial aptitude. Our analysis provides evidence that winemakers do not fully take advantage of this opportunity and that tailored educational programmes should be provided.