Between the vines: a comparative analysis of wineries’ attitudes towards wine tourism in New Zealand

This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of wineries’ attitudes towards wine tourism in New Zealand from the supply-side perspective. It is based on a survey of New Zealand national wineries’ conducted in 2010, and follows up to two previous New Zealand National Wineries’ surveys conducted by Hall and Johnson (1997) and Christensen et al. (2004). This research benchmarks changes which have taken place in the New Zealand wine industry with respect to wine tourism since 2003, as well as examining new elements of the contemporary wine tourism environment with respect to winery attitudes towards innovation, the environment, biosecurity and sustainability. The incorporation of questions from previous New Zealand National Wineries’ Surveys allows for longitudinal information to be presented between the 2010, 2003 and 1997 surveys. This comparative analysis of the survey time series provides value to the existing New Zealand wine tourism research by illustrating how wineries in New Zealand have used tourism as part of their business strategy. The findings reveal that there are many significant gaps in what is known about the character of the New Zealand wine tourist, and also of the industry itself. Biosecurity and sustainability issues are examined, and for the first time in wine tourism research anywhere in the world a section dedicated to innovation within the context of wine tourism is also included. Though the nature of wine tourism in New Zealand appears to fluctuate, the generally positive attitude of the wine industry towards tourism indicated in this study suggests that there is still unrealised potential within the industry, provided that it is both safeguarded against external threats, and is also promoted correctly through the appropriate channels in order to assure future growth