How to promote wine tourism: an exploratory survey of the Wineries in the province of Turin (Italy).

In recent years, the international wine market has faced significant challenges, including a drop in consumption and an increasing erosion of wineries' profit margins. According to data from ISTAT, the UIV-ISMEA Observatory and the Centro Studi Management DiVino, the same dynamics have been recorded in the Italian market with declining production of 39 million liters in 2023 and a per capita consumption of 37 liters, while wineries have seen an increase in the costs of raw materials and energy that has further eroded operating margins (Beltramo et al 2024, Nomisma 2023). This situation has prompted many Italian wineries to look for new ways to maintain profitability and wine tourism has proven to be an increasingly important channel for maintaining profitability. This growing interest is reflected in the current landscape, where wine has become not only an economic asset but also an asset to preserve and enhance the authenticity of the local cultural heritage and landscape (Fatichenti and Fiorillo, 2015). Moreover, numerous stakeholders are involved in territorial policies besides producers, tour operators, restaurateurs, visitors and the local community (Gonçalves and Maduro, 2015; Rabbiosi, 2016). According to data from Ismea and Aite (Italian Food and Wine Tourism Association) in the first survey on food and wine tourism in Italy, wine tourism involves around 13.4 million Italians, now representing the motivation for travel for many foreign tourists (Garibaldi 2021). Wine tourism offers wine lovers and travellers seeking unique experiences the opportunity to immerse themselves in viticulture and wine production, exploring local traditions, vineyard landscapes and the unique flavours of regional wines (Amaral et al., 2024; Rašan et al., 2024). This type of tourism goes beyond wine tasting and encompasses a wide range of activities, including visits to wineries, outdoor walks among vineyards, and participation in wine-related events (Martínez-Falcó et al., 2024; Sthapit et al., 2024). Among the main Italian wine-growing regions, Piedmont plays an important role especially for quality wines with 60 Geographical Indications including Barolo and Barbaresco, representing 15% of geographical indications at national level. In Piedmont, the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria have a territorial vocation for quality wine production both in volume and value. On the other hand, wine production in the province of Turin is limited compared to the other provinces with a wine-growing ecosystem composed of more than 50 companies with 7 geographical indications among which the best known wines are “Erba luce di Caluso PDO” and “Freisa di Chieri PDO”. The Piedmont Region has developed tourism policies over the last 20 years and is now one of Italy's main tourist destinations with over 6 million arrivals, 2.7 of which come from the province of Turin (Beltramo et al 2024). Moreover, tourists recognise wine and food as one of the strengths of Piedmont's tourism offer. In this context, public and private stakeholders in the province of Turin are collaborating to develop wine and food tourism, with wine companies playing a central role. As part of the research activity, a survey was conducted on wineries in the province of Turin (Bregoli et al., 2016; Festa et al., 2020; Mamalis et al., 2020). The research team developed a questionnaire, which was subsequently validated by a group of experts. The questionnaire for wineries was designed to investigate mainly the following aspects: the types of wine produced; the sales channels used; the communication and promotion strategies employed; the proposal of tourist activities accompanying the wine production and sale activity; the wine tourism promotion initiatives. The survey was administered using CAWI methodology from January to March 2023 and in second stage interviewed. 22 wineries participated in this research. The main results have been summarized in a SWOC analysis. The strengths are market differentiation, the economy of experiences, and Turin and its province, along with all of Piedmont, becoming a tourist destination. The weaknesses are strategic dilemmas for smaller wineries, wines from the province of Turin little known to the public and offer of wine tourism experiences not yet particularly developed. The opportunities are growth potential, digital and environmental transition, some vineyards in marginal territories and generational change of owners. Finally the main challenges are inclusive communication, partenership with other territorial stakeholders and wine tourism and global market. This exploratory survey allows us to gather useful information on the area's wineries and enables us to state that wine tourism in the province of Turin is still at an early stage and that it is necessary to develop a pathway in which wine can be included in a structured way in the territorial tourist offer in order to enrich the experiences that tourists can enjoy.