Wine tourism

Regional products in the spotlight of tourism marketing

Tourism in Germany can benefit from the changes in travel behavior after Covid-19, such as the trend towards vacations in one's own country, regionality and sustainability. Regional products in particular, such as wine, beer or regional meat and sausage specialties, are a good instrument for raising the profile of a tourist destination. Many of the small producers already offer guided tours or tastings, but are not prepared to meet tourist demand in a structured way. They lack a clear idea of how their own region and typical products can be transferred into a regional and holistic marketing concept.

Project duration: 05.10.2021 - 31.01.2022 (05.10.2021 - 30.11.2021 funded project period)

Funding of the project as part of the program "Increasing Performance & Innovation Promotion in Tourism - Studies and Concepts for the Future of a Reinvigorated Tourism" (LIFT Knowledge) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection

The aim of the project is therefore to identify success factors for intensifying the marketing of regional products in tourism using the example of wine tourism and the #opendoorwein initiative. #opendoorwein is an initiative in the Palatinate wine region that aims to establish a concept of "open wineries" based on American wine tourism together with stakeholders from the wine industry and tourism in order to make greater use of wine as a tourist product. The result should be a manual that shows how such a concept can be developed in general to optimize the marketing of regional products for tourism.

The following research areas are of particular interest:

• Structuring and management of tourism marketing of regional products in a tourism destination
• Success factors for the tourism marketing of regional products

Transferability of the concept of "open wineries" from the USA to Germany to strengthen wine tourism in German wine-growing regions.