Visitor’s Motivational Framework and Wine Routes’ Contribution to Sustainable Agriculture and Tourism

Marzia Ingrassia (), Luca Altamore, Claudio Bellia, Giuseppe Lo Grasso, Paula Silva, Simona Bacarella, Pietro Columba and Stefania Chironi
Additional contact information
Marzia Ingrassia: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 4, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Luca Altamore: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 4, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Claudio Bellia: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Università degli Studi di Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
Giuseppe Lo Grasso: CORERAS—Consorzio Regionale per la Ricerca Applicata e la Sperimentazione, Via Libertà n. 203, 90143 Palermo, Italy
Paula Silva: Laboratory of Histology and Embryology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira n. 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
Simona Bacarella: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 4, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Pietro Columba: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 4, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Stefania Chironi: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 4, 90100 Palermo, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-35

Abstract: Wine Routes develop inside the larger context of wine tourism (WT), which is increasingly important for rural communities. Italy is one of the most important countries in the world for wine production and tourism. Sicily is one of the leading regions in Italy for wine production and wine tourists. This study focuses on the Sicilian wine routes (SWRs) and gives an excursus of their development during the last ten years, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, the study wants to make an attempt to bridge the existing gap in the literature and highlight the nature and extent of the contribution of the SWR to the development of the WT ‘product’ from the perspective of the increasingly booming sustainable–rural tourism. Face-to-face interviews were conducted along the SWRs with 283 wine tourists, 65 wine enterprises, and eight expert stakeholders. The motivations for tourists to visit the first time and their intention to return were investigated by the explorative factor analysis. Moreover, the wine tourist profile was highlighted. Findings outline some specific features of the general experience economy model where visitors’ emotional involvement and local cooperation appear crucial for the integrated territorial development of the backward rural areas of wine regions in different parts of the world. Managerial implications of findings are discussed.

Keywords: wine tourism; sustainable rural tourism; territorial branding; wine regions; wine lovers; consumer’s behavior; consumer’s purchasing behavior; territorial marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12082-:d:924011

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