Wine tourism: for the sector to grow, there need to be more points of contact between supply and demand. Direct link between Germany and Tuscany

As far as destinations are concerned, Tuscany remains the undisputed favourite: Chianti is the most sought-after destination, chosen by 38 per cent of respondents, followed by Montepulciano with 33 per cent. In third place is Mount Etna, with 23 per cent, ahead of Montalcino (20 per cent). The list continues with Bolgheri, Valpolicella and the Amalfi Coast, all on 18 per cent, followed by the Cinque Terre (16 per cent), Monferrato, Valdichiana and Gallura (14 per cent).

“The markets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland represent a well-established source of business for Italy, but they also prompt us to rethink our development model. These travellers are mindful of the value for money: 61 per cent state they have a budget of no more than 40 euros for a visit to a winery including a tasting. We cannot, therefore, focus solely on exclusive experiences,” comments Roberta Garibaldi, “but must build a diversified, accessible offering capable of meeting different needs. I hope that in the coming years, Italian wine tourism will evolve from a collection of individual centres of excellence into a genuine system of organised destinations, where wineries, accommodation providers, restaurateurs, guides and transport operators collaborate, sharing services, digital tools and commercial opportunities. The aim must be to promote small producers and lesser-known regions as well, ensuring the benefits of tourism are more widely shared. I would like us, in future, to measure the success of wine tourism not only by the number of visitors to wineries, but by its ability to generate longer stays, employment and lasting value for local communities.”

One of the issues preventing the faster development of food and wine tourism lies in the lack of a proper intermediary market where supply and demand can easily meet. According to another study presented in Riva del Garda by Winedering in collaboration with Wine Meridian for Fine Italy, there is an anomaly that sets wine apart from all other forms of tourism: ‘Wine tourism experiences are sold almost exclusively directly – via the winery’s website, over the phone or by turning up at the gate. The channel that drives much of organised tourism – namely travel agencies and tour operators – has remained on the sidelines in the wine sector.’

According to the research, ‘75 per cent of operators have received enquiries about wine-related experiences in the last twelve months, and 78 per cent have drawn up at least one quotation that included them. However, only 61 per cent subsequently managed to secure at least one sale. The gap widens when looking at volumes: 43 per cent of agencies receive three or more enquiries a year, but only 20 per cent close three or more sales’.
According to the researchers, the bottleneck “is not demand but knowledge of the supply: 67 per cent of agencies state that they can confidently recommend, complete with a price and booking details, a maximum of five Italian wineries, or would be unable to say how many. Out of tens of thousands of wineries in Italia, the average travel agent knows how to sell just a handful.” And when they do sell, they sell very little: “in 65 per cent of cases, the winery visit is an add-on to a trip organised for other reasons, and for 73 per cent of operators, the ‘wine’ component of a booking is worth less than 250 euros”.

Agencies blame the wineries: 64 per cent say the winery sells directly at a lower price than the one it offers the agency; 60 per cent and 59 per cent, respectively, complain that there is no price list for agencies. Other obstacles include the lack of a sales representative to speak to (52 per cent) and the wineries’ lack of familiarity with the rules governing business-to-business trade (51 per cent).

“For a long time, we have talked about wine tourism primarily as an opportunity to bring people to the winery, introduce them to the local areas and create a more direct relationship between producers and visitors,” commented Fabio Piccoli, editor-in-chief of Wine Meridian. “ All this remains fundamental, but today we must take a step further: we must ask ourselves not only how many experiences we are able to offer, but also to what extent we are capable of making them accessible and marketable through the channels that already capture tourist demand . The results of this survey highlight a paradox: on the one hand, there are agencies receiving enquiries and keen to offer wine-related experiences; on the other, there are wineries that often lack the necessary commercial tools to reach those customers. It is not necessarily a question of the quality of the offering or public interest, but rather of bringing together two worlds that struggle to speak the same language.”