Proceedings of the 19th International Academic Conference, Florence

THE IMPACT OF WINE TOURISM BUSINESS: CASE STUDY OF NEWFOUNDLAND WINERIES

ROSELYNE OKECH

Abstract:

Wine tourism has been defined as the visiting of vineyards and wineries where wine tasting and purchase of the wines are the main purpose of the visit. Over the past quarter-century, Canadian vintners have increased their production of high-quality wines. Although Canada is not a major wine producer by global standards, the industry has evolved into a niche maker of internationally-respected ice wines and late harvest wines due to cool-climate influences. The study of wine tourism and their management offers many opportunities to reflect on the importance of sustainability and the possibilities of implementing new tourism approaches in a new direction in the province. Newfoundland province has only two wineries and could be a major player in this type of tourism. However, literature of wine tourism in the province is lacking even though the results in this study reveal there is sufficient interest and knowledge of wine tourism industry. Hence, this research has attempted to conceptualize the growth of wine tourism products, experiences, impacts and their management in the Newfoundland region. The research which adopts both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative approaches (interviews and participatory approaches) examines the potential impact of wine tourism in Newfoundland and how wine tourism is being managed based on the two distinct case studies in the Province. The findings of this research therefore have implications for wine tourism development and promotion in the Province, in Canada and internationally. As with all research, this study had some limitations which will serve to identify and future research needed. Since the data was collected through purposive sampling approach, it would be suggested that any generalizability beyond this context of study be used with caution.

Keywords: Canada, Impact, Newfoundland, Tourism, Wine

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2015.019.100

PDF: Download