Strategy around oenotourism in France: associate cultural services with an agricultural production

International audienceVine growing has a long history in France. It has experienced several steps in evolution, from a mixed to a more predominant farming in some areas. It also has lived through challenging times: phylloxera crisis, mechanization and now competition in the globalization context. Nowadays, a new turning point is in progress: oenotourism development. Which strategy is being set up in order to promote this kind of tourism, to associate cultural services with an agricultural production? Are the wine producers the only actors involved of this strategy? The research was conducted between 2010 and 2016 in several vineyards located in Loire valley. It associated field surveys, observations, interviews with analysis of website and other tourism mediums. It appears that alongside wine growers, other private and public actors are involved in oenotourism development. All of them highlight the vine landscapes, which are considered as a visual asset by most people. Moreover, these agricultural landscapes have strongly contributed to the fact that part of the Loire Valley is now on the list of the Unesco world heritage sites. Consequently, vine has become omnipresent in the landscapes, beyond vineyards, with landscaping on the wine theme. The oenotourism actors also highlight the vineyards history, leading to transform the vine landscapes into heritage. They thus intend to respond to the desire of authenticity expressed by tourists. As an example, the vine houses, which are nowadays unused, are being restored for aesthetic purposes and the historic elements are put forward, leading to exaggerate a little the past importance of vineyards. This kind of tourism implies to associate cultural services with an agricultural production. Vineyards become places where several activities are organized: celebration of traditional grape harvest, hiking and other sport activities, etc. These activities are sometimes difficult to reconcile with agricultural practices and the tourists welcoming also implies new competences for the wine growers. But the economic consequences are positive, for the producers as well as for the whole local community. It probably explains that oenotourism development is encouraged in other countries, like Viet Nam for example