SEGMENTATION OF WINE TOURISTS: THE CASE OF PORTUGAL

Abstract

The wine tourism gains increasing importance for the wine regions as a sector promoting growth and giving profit. However, the wine tourism remains underdeveloped and one of the causes indicated is the lack of research on the cellar visitor’s behaviour and characteristics. The present work aims mainly at determining the demographic and psychographic profile of the visitors who go to farms, wineries and cellars and also the wine tourists’ segmentation in the Portuguese case. To reach the above mentioned objectives, a survey was applied to tourists who visited farms, wineries and cellars of the 12 existing wine routes in Portugal. The data were subjected to parametric tests and multivariate statistical techniques, so that different clusters were obtained. Four wine tourists segments were obtained and were named by: the tourist in love with the wine, the tourist curious about the wine, the tourist interested in the wine and the indifferent tourist. The conclusions indicate that the increasing knowledge about the wine tourists and their aims and motivations to visit the region allows to improve their satisfaction and the interaction with them, supporting marketing strategies, so that the motivation and the appeal of wines and farms can be reinforced.