The World of Great Wines: The Douro Valley Experience

Authors: A. Oliveira-Brochado, R. Silva, C. Paulino

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to use an experiential view of wine tourism to develop a battery of items that can potentially capture the overall Douro Valley experience from the tourist’s perspective. The Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage region located in Portugal, was the target of this study. The research took a mixed approach using both qualitative and quantitative designs. Firstly, we combine the literature review on service quality scales with a content analysis of five in-depth interviews with winery managers and a focus group with wine tourists to identify the main dimensions of the overall tourism experience and to develop a battery of items for each dimension. Eight dimensions of the overall wine tourism experience came out, as follows: winery service and staff, winery facilities, winery service, wine product, wine region environment, wine region accessibilities, wine region´s offerings, and the wine region and winery reputation.

Keywords: Wine tourism, Douro region, survey, wineries, experience.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1091984

References:

[1] Jaffe, Eugene, and Hanoch Pasternak. "Developing wine trails as a tourist attraction in Israel." International Journal of Tourism Research 6.4 (2004): 237-249.
[2] Getz, Donald, and Graham Brown. "Critical success factors for wine tourism regions: a demand analysis." Tourism management 27.1 (2006): 146-158.
[3] Qiu, Hanqin Zhang, et al. "Wine tourism phenomena in China: an emerging market." International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 25.7 (2013): 1115-1134.
[4] Koch, Jasmine, Andrew Martin, and Robert Nash. "Overview of perceptions of German wine tourism from the winery perspective." International Journal of Wine Business Research 25.1 (2013): 50-74.
[5] Brown, Graham, and Donald Getz. "Linking wine preferences to the choice of wine tourism destinations." Journal of Travel Research 43.3 (2005): 266-276.
[6] Bruwer, Johan. "South African wine routes: some perspectives on the wine tourism industry's structural dimensions and wine tourism product." Tourism management 24.4 (2003): 423-435.
[7] Carlson, Prof Jack. "A review of global wine tourism research." Journal of wine research 15.1 (2004): 5-13.
[8] Charters, Steve, and Jane Ali-Knight. "Who is the wine tourist?" Tourism management 23.3 (2002): 311-319.
[9] Alant, Karin, and Johan Bruwer. "Wine tourism behaviour in the context of a motivational framework for wine regions and cellar doors." Journal of Wine Research 15.1 (2004): 27-37.
[10] Alonso, Abel D. "Are travellers interested in wine tourism in New Zealand?"International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research 3.1 (2009): 13-24.
[11] Carmichael, Barbara. "Understanding the wine tourism experience for winery visitors in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada." Tourism Geographies 7.2 (2005): 185-204.
[12] Cohen, Eli, and Livnat Ben-Nun. "The important dimensions of wine tourism experience from potential visitors' perception." Tourism and Hospitality Research 9.1 (2009): 20-31.
[13] Charters, Steve, Joanna Fountain, and Nicola Fish. ""You Felt Like Lingering...” Experiencing "Real” Service at the Winery Tasting Room." Journal of travel research 48.1 (2009): 122-134.
[14] O’Neill, Martin, and Steven Charters. "Service quality at the cellar door: implications for Western Australia’s developing wine tourism industry."Managing Service Quality 10.2 (2000): 112-122.
[15] O’Neill, Martin, Adrian Palmer, and Steven Charters. "Wine production as a service experience–the effects of service quality on wine sales." Journal of Services Marketing 16.4 (2002): 342-362.
[16] Mitchell, Mark A., and Robert A. Orwig. "Consumer experience tourism and brand bonding." Journal of Product & Brand Management 11.1 (2002): 30-41.
[17] Marzo-Navarro, Mercedes, and Marta Pedraja-Iglesias. "Profile of a wine tourist and the correspondence between destination and preferred wine: a study in Aragon, Spain." Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 26.7 (2009): 670-687.
[18] Johnson, G. "Wine tourism in New Zealand–a national survey of wineries."Unpublished Dip. Tour. Dissertation. University of Otago (1998).
[19] Hall, M.; Sharples, L.; Cambourne, B. and Macionis, N. (2000). "Wine Tourism around the World – Development, Management and Markets”. Elsevier.
[20] Getz, Donald, et al. "Critical success factors for wine tourism." International Journal of Wine Marketing 11.3 (1999): 20-43.
[21] Charters, Steve, and Jane Ali-Knight. "Who is the wine tourist?" Tourism management 23.3 (2002): 311-319.
[22] Grybovych, Oksana, Jill Lankford, and Samuel Lankford. "Motivations of wine travelers in rural Northeast Iowa." International Journal of Wine Business Research 25.4 (2013): 285-309.
[23] Mitchell, Richard, and C. Michael Hall. "The Post-visit Consumer Behaviour of New Zealand Winery Visitors." Journal of Wine Research 15.1 (2004): 39-49.
[24] Simpson, Ken, Phil Bretherton, and Gina de Vere. "Lifestyle market segmentation, small business entrepreneurs, and the New Zealand wine tourism industry." Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism 5.2-4 (2005): 157-188.
[25] McCutcheon, Emily, Johan Bruwer, and Elton Li. "Region of origin and its importance among choice factors in the wine-buying decision making of consumers." International Journal of Wine Business Research 21.3 (2009): 212-234.
[26] Bruwer, Johan, and Ray Johnson. "Place-based marketing and regional branding strategy perspectives in the California wine industry." Journal of Consumer Marketing 27.1 (2010): 5-16.
[27] Mitchell, Richard, and C. Michael Hall. "Wine tourism research: the state of play." Tourism Review International 9.4 (2006): 307-332.
[28] Tassiopoulos, Dimitri, Nancy Nuntsu, and Norbert Haydam. "Wine tourists in South Africa: A demographic and psychographic study." Journal of Wine Research 15.1 (2004): 51-63.
[29] Carlsen, J. and Charters, S. (2006), "Introduction”. International Wine Tourism Research, Issues and Cases, CABI Publishing, Oxford, 1-16.
[30] Dodd, Tim H. "Opportunities and pitfalls of tourism in a developing wine industry." International Journal of Wine Marketing 7.1 (1995): 5-16.
[31] Bruwer, Johan, and Karin Alant. "The hedonic nature of wine tourism consumption: an experiential view." International Journal of Wine Business Research 21.3 (2009): 235-257.
[32] Alant, Karin, and Johan Bruwer. "Wine tourism behaviour in the context of a motivational framework for wine regions and cellar doors." Journal of Wine Research 15.1 (2004): 27-37.
[33] Pettigrew, Simone, and Steve Charters. "Consumers' expectations of food and alcohol pairing." British food journal 108.3 (2006): 169-180.
[34] Scherrer, Pascal, Abel Alonso, and Lynnaire Sheridan. "Expanding the destination image: wine tourism in the Canary Islands." International Journal of Tourism Research 11.5 (2009): 451-463.
[35] Getz, Donald. Explore wine tourism: management, development & destinations. Cognizant Communication Corporation, 2000. New York, NY.
[36] Cronin Jr, J. Joseph, and Steven A. Taylor. "Measuring service quality: a reexamination and extension." The journal of marketing (1992): 55-68.
[37] Nowak, Linda I., and Sandra K. Newton. "Using the tasting room experience to create loyal customers." International Journal of Wine Marketing 18.3 (2006): 157-165.
[38] Churchill Jr, Gilbert A. "A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 16.1 (1979).
[39] Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia, and Francisco Javier Miranda González. "Perceived quality in rural lodgings in spain and portugal: the ruralqual scale." Portuguese Journal of Management Studies 14.1 (2009).
[40] Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia, and Elisabeth Kastenholz. "Corporate reputation, satisfaction, delight, and loyalty towards rural lodging units in Portugal." International Journal of Hospitality Management 30.3 (2011): 575-583.