Purpose

This paper focuses on the wine tourist market in the central region of Portugal, and it aims to analyze the wine tourist’s demographic and travel behavior and preferences profile, based on their level of wine involvement.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents results from an exploratory study with a quantitative design, including a total of 1,029 survey responses from visitors of three wine routes. A K-mean cluster analysis was carried out, and the emerging groups of wine tourists were statistically compared (ANOVA or Chi-squared test).

Findings

Participants present a demographic profile of the wine route visitor similar to that found in other studies, with an average involvement with wine. There were three clusters of wine tourists, with different levels of involvement with wine: less wine-involved; medium wine-involved; and highly wine-involved. Significant differences between the three mentioned categories are visible for gender, age and attractions visited and expenses, suggesting the possibility of a differentiated market approach. Additionally, most respondents report high interest in a variety of attractions that are not exclusively wine-related. This finding supports the conceptualization of (particularly rural) wine tourism as “terroir tourism.”

Research limitations/implications

The pandemic context in which data collection was undertaken led to a smaller sample than expected, which was also more domestic than would have been in “non-COVID” times.

Practical implications

This study provides relevant insights about visitors of wine routes in Central Portugal, which may resonate in other wine tourism destinations. Implications for both theory and practice are also discussed.

Originality/value

This paper fulfills an identified need to study the wine tourism market in the Central Region of Portugal and expands our understanding about wine tourists’ profiles, behavior and interests, adding with empirical findings to the debate on heterogeneity in the wine tourist market, the role of wine involvement and of terroir.

中文翻译：

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根据葡萄酒参与度分析葡萄牙葡萄酒之路游客的多样性

目的

本文以葡萄牙中部地区的葡萄酒旅游市场为重点，旨在根据葡萄酒的参与程度分析葡萄酒旅游者的人口统计和旅游行为及偏好概况。

设计/方法/途径

本文介绍了一项采用定量设计的探索性研究的结果，包括来自三个葡萄酒路线的游客的总共 1,029 份调查回复。进行了 K 均值聚类分析，并对新兴的葡萄酒游客群体进行了统计比较（方差分析或卡方检验）。

发现

参与者展示了与其他研究相似的葡萄酒路线游客的人口统计资料，平均参与葡萄酒。共有三组葡萄酒游客，他们对葡萄酒的参与程度不同：较少参与葡萄酒；中度酒味；并且与葡萄酒高度相关。上述三个类别之间在性别、年龄和参观的景点以及费用方面存在显着差异，这表明差异化市场方法的可能性。此外，大多数受访者表示对与葡萄酒无关的各种景点非常感兴趣。这一发现支持将（特别是乡村）葡萄酒旅游概念化为“风土旅游”。

研究局限性/影响

进行数据收集的大流行背景导致样本比预期的要少，这也比“非 COVID”时期更多的是国内样本。

实际影响

这项研究提供了有关葡萄牙中部葡萄酒路线游客的相关见解，这可能会在其他葡萄酒旅游目的地引起共鸣。还讨论了对理论和实践的影响。

原创性/价值

本文满足了研究葡萄牙中部地区葡萄酒旅游市场的既定需求，并扩展了我们对葡萄酒游客的概况、行为和兴趣的理解，将实证研究结果添加到关于葡萄酒旅游市场异质性的辩论中，葡萄酒的参与和风土。