Profiling wine tourists, more than just demographics

Abstract

Purpose - Services are mostly intangible making them difficult to evaluate until the moment of consumption. As a result, decision making is often based on other cues or the image of the services (Kleijnen et al., 2005). The objective of this research is to provide a more detailed profile of wine tourists by analysing key image constructs of wine tourists, as the call for more consumer based research into wine tourism is needed (Charters and Ali-Knight, 2000, Hall et al., 2000). These constructs include: the impact of self-image, image of wine tourists and the impact of wine involvement. Design/methodology/approach - A quantitative approach was used, where 5,000 surveys were distributed. Data was collected from a total of 696 wine consumers within Australia through mail self-administered surveys and online/email self-administered surveys. Data analysis techniques used included exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factory analysis (CFA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), and structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings - The demographic profile of wine tourists was extended through the analysis of their level of self-image congruity with a typical wine tourist, and level of wine involvement. These had significant differences in their attitudes and intentions to visit a wine region. Practical implications - The outcome of this research is relevant to tourism state and regional authorities, associations and wine producers with cellar doors. The implications include recognising the relevance of self congruity and the image of wine tourists themselves, in future promotional activities.