Four wine tourist profiles

Abstract

?Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide greater understanding of wine tourist behaviour through profiling wine tourists. Demographic segmentation alone is a poor predictor of tourist behaviour (Prentice et al., 1998), whilst there is a general preference for psychographic segmentation. Many studies have evaluated wine region attributes, however, it is important to recognize that the importance of these attributes differ based on the wine tourist profile in question. Profiling also includes attitudes toward wine regions, satisfaction of previous visits and future intentions to visit. ?Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach was used, collecting data from a total of 650 wine consumers within Australia through self-administered surveys and online/email self-administered surveys. Data analysis techniques used included exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and analysis of variance (ANOVA). ?Findings Four wine tourist profiles were explored: the wine lover, the wine interested tourist, the wine curious tourist and the disinterested wine tourist. Significant differences were found between the four wine profiles with regard to important wine region attributes, satisfaction and attitudes toward wine regions and future intentions to visit a wine region. ?Practical implications The outcome of this research provides greater understanding of wine tourist segments. Profiling wine tourists provides wineries and cellar doors the opportunity to build strong relationships with each wine tourist profile through understanding their expectations of the wine tourism experience.