Event Motivation Study of Wine Festival Visitors in Maharashtra

Considering the growing interest among Indian travellers in  wine  tourism  within  the  country  and  outside,  it becomes  pertinent to examine  the  wine  enthusiasts‟ consumer  psychology  in  order  to  have  a  deeper understanding of the wine tourism market in India. This study  is  conducted  with  a  three-fold  objective  of (a) Profiling  wine  festival  visitors  based  on  socio  – demographic characteristics; (b) Examining whether any motivational  differences  exist  across  male  and  female visitors of the festival; and (c)Identifying major driving factors  that  attract  visitors  to  the  wine  festival. Seven motivating factors were identified and ranked, of which, unwinding& relaxing, exploring new wines and spending time with family and friends were ranked most important motivators  for  participating  in  the  wine  festival. Friedman‟s Rank Sum Test was performed for confirming significance. In  order  to  analyse  the  motivational differences  across  male  and  female  visitors, Mann- Whitney  Test  was  used  to  test  for  any  significant differences. The socio-demographic profiles of the wine festival visitors were assessed in order to understand the market segment of wine consumers who present a high conversion  possibility  as potential  wine  tourists.  The study is aimed at forming the basis for further research on wine  tourism  management  in  Maharashtra  and  also contributing  to research  literature  in  wine  tourism  in India