Younger wine tourists: a study of generational differences in the cellar door experience.

Abstract

This chapter reports on research examining the perceptions and experiences of visitors to winery cellar doors in one wine region (Swan Valley) of Western Australia. It particularly focuses on the perspective of younger wine tourists who, for current purposes, are defined as those that are members of the Generation X and Generation Y cohorts; and compares their cellar-door experience and expectations with those of older wine tourists. Participants in this study included 24 mystery shoppers sent out in four groups, each group consisting of three generationally defined pairs (one pair each of 'older wine tourists', Generation X and Generation Y). The findings suggest that the older visitors place a greater emphasis on the product (shown also in their preference for 'space' in which to taste), while younger visitors (Generation X and Y) give more importance to the overall experience and the service they receive and can be explicit that the quality of the wine is secondary to them.

Expenditure-based Segmentation of Visitors to the Wacky Wine Festival

“…These are both intrinsic motives and therefore hold important implications for marketing the festival in order to attract the high-spenders. The results found for the low-spending cluster confirms the notion stated by Charters and Fountain (2006) that the younger wine tourist values the overall tourist experience and not only the quality of the wine.…”

Small Winegrowers’ Views on their Relationship with Local Communities

“…For decades now some regions, including Western Australia's Margaret River and Swan Valley have become rural icons, developing their wine and wine tourism industries and attracting many visitors in the process. Because these regions have become well-known for their wine tourism, they have also attracted the attention of many researchers (see for example, Hall et al, 2000b;Macionis and Cambourne, 1998;Charters and Ali-Knight, 2002;Shanka and Taylor, 2004;Yuan et al, 2005;Charters and Fountain, 2006;Taylor, 2006).…”

Generation Y as wine tourists: their expectations and experiences at the winery-cellar door.

“…A growing body of research has explored the significance of age or generational groupings as a factor in the wine tourism experience over the past decade (Charters and Fountain, 2006;Dodd, Yuan, and Kolyesnikova, 2006;Mitchell, 2002;Nowak, Thach, and Olsen, 2006;Treloar, 2004;Treloar, Hall, and Mitchell, 2004). In relation to younger wine tourists" experience at the winery cellar door, Mitchell"s (2002) study found no significant generational differences in satisfaction.…”