Wine Production and Tourism

Tourism to the world’s wine-producing regions has grown rapidly in recent years, as travelers seek the opportunity to sample wineries’ products at the cellar door. The key to the continued growth and success of such enterprises lies in meeting customers’ expectations for service and products. One way to determine whether that is occurring is through an Importance Performance Analysis, which reveals how well an operation is performing on the attributes that are most important to guests. A study of wineries in Western Australia that used a modified SERVQUAL methodology found that operators are, on balance, performing well on the most important product and service attributes, based on a sample of 353 visitors to two wineries. The chief disconnect between the customers’ expectations and the wineries’ product was that the tourists expected a chance to taste the wineries’ premium products, but those vintages were not always available for tasting or incurred an additional charge.