Wine tourism development in China

Abstract

Wine tourism, including visits to wineries, wine museums or to view the landscape where grapes are grown, has become a valuable source of brand awareness and opportunity for relationship building in many wine regions of the world. It has also become a popular leisure activity for many tourists. There has been considerable research over two decades exploring the nature of the wine tourism experience from the perspective of consumers and wine industry stakeholders, but there has been little research to date exploring the emergence of wine tourism in the burgeoning Chinese wine industry. This chapter explores the current state of wine tourism in China and suggests possible future avenues for its development in coming years. The chapter begins by outlining the nature of wine tourism experiences and then discusses current knowledge about the engagement of the Chinese market in wine consumption and wine tourism. These sections are followed by a brief overview of the wine industry in China, before a more detailed overview of wine production and wine tourism in three Chinese regions: Shandong, Ningxia and Hebei. The chapter concludes with an assessment of scenarios for the future of wine tourism in China for both domestic and international markets.