WINE FESTIVALS- THE WAY TO ATTRACT YOUNG MARKET

Wine Festivals- The Way to Attract Young Market



Wine festivals: the way to attract young markets

Introduction

The overall aim of the research is to investigate into the wine market towards younger consumers and analyse possible aspects to attract them. Wine tourism is defined as the visitation to vineyards, wineries, wine festivals and wine shows for which grape wine tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of the grape wine region are the primary motivators (Carlsen and Charters, 2006; Hall, Johnson and Mitchell, 2000). This area of research is of growing importance to both the wine and tourism industries. Wine tourism creates better synergies with the development of regional economies (Carlsen, 2004; Gammack, 2006; Hall, Johnson and Mitchell, 2000), builds greater brand awareness and involvement (O'Neill and Charters, 2000) and increases post visit purchase behaviours (Johnson and Bruwer, 2007; Mitchell and Hall, 2006). However, the early body of research in the area is largely conceptual in nature, lacking in theoretical underpinning and empirical application (Carlsen, 2004; Mitchell and Hall, 2006).

A loosely used construct in wine tourism literature is the 'winescape' (e.g. Bruwer and Alant, 2009; Carmichael, 2005; Peters, 1997). Generally, the winescape refers to attributes of a grape wine region (Peters, 1997). Specifically, the winescape encapsulates the interplay of “vineyards, wineries and other physical structures, wines, natural landscape and setting, people and; heritage, towns and their architecture and artefacts within them” (Johnson and Bruwer, 2007, p. 277). Conclusions drawn from these studies suggest that the winescape is what primarily motivates and drives wine tourist behaviour (Carlsen and Charters, 2006; Hall, Johnson and Mitchell, 2000). The concept of a winescape was first proposed by Peters (1997) as a way of defining a wine region with elements such as the presence of vineyards, wine-making activities and wineries where wine is produced and stored. However, in the last 13 years, only a small body of empirical research has been accumulated in the literature, and where research does exist (e.g. Sparks, 2007), the scope of work tends to be limited. This is largely due to fragmented studies which have not integrated the extent of the attributes that constitute a winescape. For instance, some studies have examined localised attributes such as vineyards, wineries and wines (e.g. Peters, 1997), whereas others have examined regional elements such as wine festivals and wine attractions (e.g. Getz, 2000; Hall, Johnson and Mitchell, 2000). Yet others have examined aesthetics such as natural landscapes, heritage towns and architecture (e.g. Johnson and Bruwer, 2007), cultural and social elements (e.g. Getz and Brown, 2006), while the rest have examined people for their contribution to the winescape (e.g. O'Neill, Palmer and Charters, 2002). To date, little research exists that integrates all these winescape attributes and empirically tests their application in a model involving post visit purchase behaviours. Therefore, it is the main aim of this paper to integrate theoretical underpinnings from the services, tourism and wine tourism marketing literature and to conceptualise a winescape framework that can account for wine ...