Elisabeth Kastenholz is Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, at the University of Aveiro, where she teaches Tourism and Marketing-related subjects, also integrating the University’s Research Unit GOVCOPP (Governance, Competitiveness and Pubic Policies). She holds a PhD in Tourism Studies, an MBA, a Licenciatura in “Tourism Management and Planning” and a bachelor in “Public Administration – Specificity Foreign Affairs” (Germany). She is member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tourismuswissenschaft e.V. and of  the Portuguese Society of Rural Studies.

She has coordinated and participated in multiple research projects, in the fields of accessible, senior, social, rural, nature, cultural and sustainable tourism, innovative tourism education, cross-border tourism initiatives and regional development. Amongst her most important research initiatives are: the Erasmus+ project “E-Cul-Tours”- Managing Cultural Heritage in Tourism (2017-2020) (coordinated by Werner Gronau) – as local coordinator; her coordinating role in the three years (2010-2013) research project “The overall rural tourism experience and sustainable development of local communities’ and the recent project ‘TWINE – Co-creating sustainable Tourism & WINe Experiences in rural areas’ (2018-2022). She has also been actively involved in supervising numerous master and doctoral projects.

Her current research interests lie in sustainable tourism destination marketing, the “overall destination experience”, consumer behaviour in tourism, sustainable tourism, accessible tourism, rural tourism and related topics like food & wine, slow and nature-based tourism.

For more information, particularly her research see: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elisabeth_Kastenholz?ev=hdr_xprf

Abstract

How do visitors experience Portuguese wine routes? Lessons for more appealing and sustainable wine route development.

Elisabeth Kastenholz

University of Aveiro- DEGEIT, Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism; Research Unit GOVCOPP (Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies), elisabethk@ua.pt

Wine regions increasingly attract visitors for a diversity of reasons, with studies worldwide revealing a growing interest in wine and terroir experiences (Hall et al, 2000). Portugal has been increasingly recognized as a country with high quality wines, being however still not well-known as a wine tourism destination. To enhance its appeal, wine tourism businesses and destinations, sometimes developed along routes, need to better understand visitors’ motivations, travel context, experiences lived at the destination, to increase their success as well as sustainability through well-designed experience products (Kastenholz & Lane, 2021). After a brief conceptualization of the wine tourist experience, this communication presents survey results from the research project TWINE, undertaken in three Portuguese wine routes (Bairrada, Dão and Beira Interior), between 2018 and 2022 (N=1591). Results permit an assessment of the visitor profile, the nature and dimensionality of visitor experiences, considering Pine & Gilmore’s experience realms adapted to the wine tourism context, visitors’ wine involvement and patterns of interaction with staff, residents and other visitors, as well as their satisfaction and, importantly, their loyalty to the visited destination and respective wines and local products. Since the latter is most relevant to economically and culturally sustainable destination development, a multiple regression analysis is applied to identify the determinants of destination and product loyalty (dependent variable), based on the previously mentioned independent variables (experience dimensions, wine involvement and interaction patterns). Results are finally discussed as potential input to more successful and sustainable wine route development.

Keywords: rural wine tourism; tourist experience; loyalty

Hall, C., Sharples, M. L., Cambourne, B., & Macionis, N. (2000). Wine tourism around the world. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford

Kastenholz, E., & Lane, B. (2021). Delivering appealing and competitive rural wine tourist experiences. In R. Sharpley (Ed.), Handbook of the Tourist Experience (pp. 508–520). Routledge

There are no conflicts of interest.