Technologies have always been the means of supporting, enriching as well as transforming wine experiences and propositions, wine tourism actors as well as wine tourists themselves. The necessity of survival, resulting from the competition of the actors, businesses and destinations involved in wine tourism, on a global level, especially after the restart from the COVID-19 crisis, imperatively lead the market to evolve and diversify using the technological innovation, at the level of production and management. The proximity, connections and ecosystem building between the tourism wine industry and the technology sectors have proven how crucial they are in building mutual synergies and partnerships between these two sectors, as well as the need to make the sector more sustainable and resilient.
The book includes 16 chapters and case studies of cutting-edge research (macro, meso and micro) on the latest technological developments and advances, that are revolutionizing the wine tourism sector and transforming the way wine tourism is designed and deliver wine tourism experiences in various wine regions worldwide including Portugal, Greece, Australia, Canada and France. In addition, the concluded case studies show how wine tourism operators and destinations can cultivate, support and implement innovation at various levels, including experience, process, business model and/or ecosystem. Ecological wine tourism systems will not only lead to faster, more efficient and productive wine innovation, but also to more flexible, adaptive and resilient tourism operators.
The book consists of two sections:
1) The first section refers to the usage, development processes, benefits and risks of emerging and critical technologies in wine tourism. The eight chapters of the module focus on the three critical technologies in the wine sector, namely:
- social media,
- on smartphone and mobile apps and
- in virtual reality
2) The second unit of chapters is related to innovation and innovative processes of wine tourism. The six chapters gathered in the second part of the book deal with two main topics related to innovation in wine tourism:
- the factors influencing innovation at macro, meso and micro level,
- the types of innovations in the field of wine tourism
In the third chapter with the contribution of Marianna Sigala and Dimitris Stergiou, evidence is provided, through the global network of wine regions, called Great Wine Capitals, on how to institutionalize the wine business awards.
Tags: Wine Tourism, Marianna Sigala
