Abstract
This chapter explores the interaction between wellness tourism and the wine industry, identifying potential to address challenges, particularly harnessing global industry trends. The authors conducted a literature review to define wellness and characteristics of wellness tourism. Through research on consumer behavior in wine consumption and segmentation of wine tourists, the study presents consolidated profiles with attention to background literature on consumers' motivations for both wine and wellness tourism. The convergence of wellness into wine tourism experiences is illustrated through four case studies analyzed. The chapter integrates a cross-referential approach to discern convergence points between selected wine tourism experiences and wellness motivations. Furthermore, the study reveals a positive correlation between wine tourism motivations and wellness values.
TopIntroduction
Wine tourism has become a significant element of the wine industry, contributing to the economic development of wine regions whilst preserving cultural heritage. Wine tourism is defined as that in which visiting vineyards and wineries, participating in wine tastings, and experiencing the culture and traditions associated with wine production of a particular region are the main objectives (Hall & Mitchell, 2000). The wine tourism industry was estimated to be worth around 8 billion euros in 2020, and despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the market size is expected to grow significantly, with forecasts predicting it to reach nearly 29.6 billion euros by 2030 (Statista, 2023a). This growth reflects the increasing popularity of wine tourism as a leisure activity and its importance to the global tourism industry.
Tourists' interest in health is growing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is wellness tourism that is benefitting from this increased interest, becoming a major aspect of tourism growth in many nations as well as the focus of academic interest is growing congruently with the sector (Roscoe, 2009). The Global Wellness Institute (2023) defines wellness tourism as travel aimed at preserving or improving one's own well-being. As the Global Wellness Institute claims, with so much unwellness inherent in today's travel, it is wellness tourism that holds the possibility of overcoming those negative characteristics and transforming travel into a chance to preserve and improve our overall health (Global Wellness Institute, 2023). The global wellness tourism industry is predicted to be worth around 1 trillion euros in 2030, a significant increase from the 47 billion euros market size in 2022 (Statista, 2023b).
The wine tourism market is dynamic, with new trends and consumer behaviors emerging, such as the increasing interest in sustainable and eco-friendly tourism practices, the desire for personalized and authentic experiences, and the integration of technology in the tourism experience (Madeira et al., 2019). The wellness experience for wine lovers is a niche within wine tourism that has the ability to focus on the health and relaxation aspects of the wine experience, integrating activities such as spa treatments, yoga sessions, and healthy dining options alongside traditional wine tourism activities (Koncul, 2012). Many wine regions and tourism destinations have recognized that the benefits of wine tourism reach well beyond the cellar door, into almost every sector of the regional economy, and into the metropolitan centers that attract the bulk of wine travelers. The fundamental aspects of the wine tourism offering are wine, cuisine, tourism, and the arts, which constitute the lifestyle package that wine tourists aspire to and desire to experience (Carlsen, 2004). The wellness experience in wine tourism holds the potential to address current challenges in the sector, such as enhancing sustainability practices (Scorrano et al., 2019), improving profitability, fostering growth, and creating a competitive advantage. However, whilst wellness tourism is a new field of research, with the crossing of wine and wellness being completely nascent in academic findings (Duan & Ma, 2023), there still remains a research gap in understanding how wellness experiences can be effectively integrated into wine tourism to achieve these goals and to which target they should be catering towards. More knowledge is needed to guide managers in developing strategies that leverage wellness experiences to meet the evolving demands of wine tourists, which this study aims to address. Motivated by the identification of several wine tourism products and experiences related to health and relaxation, the authors were interested in exploring the potential involvement and impact of wellness tourism in the wine industry. The main objective is to explore a relatively overlooked market segment with insight into consumer personas, utilizing the potential to assist managers in crafting or improving wine tourism experiences to better satisfy consumer needs and foster a deeper emotional bond with the winescape.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Motivation: Motivations are driving forces of behavior. They comprise internal and external factors that trigger individuals’ actions. Disciplines such as psychology and marketing often explore motivations to explain behaviors. Moreover, management and business disciplines use customer motivations to better design strategies to attract and satisfy customers.
Sweet Spot of Experience: According to Pine and Gilmore’s framework, “sweet spot” is an experience that encompasses the four realms of experience, providing a rich and complete experience, able to satisfy a wider set of customer motivations and offering more value to customers.
Wellness: Complementary to health and well-being concepts, wellness refers to a holistic state of well-being (e.g., physical, mental, emotional). In line with this, the wellness industry comprises a broad range of products and services that promote the wellbeing of individuals, from healthy lifestyles to prevention care and holistic health practices.
Sustainable Tourism: Based on the three pilars of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic), sustainable tourism encompasses practices, activities, and offerings in the tourism sector domain that are focused on protecting the natural environment, as well as contributing to the well-being of the local communities and fostering economic growth.
Wine Tourism: Any touristic activities or services related to all stages of wine production and consumption, including but not limited to experiences in vineyards, wine festivals, visiting wineries, or attending wine-tasting events.
Experience: According to Pine and Gilmore’s framework, the tourist experience can be categorized into for realms, based on the tourist’s level of participation and connection. The four realms are: Entertainment, Escapist, Educational, and Aesthetic.
Winescape: From an experience economy perspective, winescape comprises all the elements of a wine tourism environment, including physical, cultural, social, and sensory dimensions.