Wine and food tourism, one in three travellers is inspired by drinks and delicacies
Wine and food tourists have increased by 9% over the past year, and one in three Italian travellers has done at least one trip inspired by drinks and delicacies.
(Manarola - Sede-, 10 Apr 18)The data are included in the First Report on Food and Wine Tourism in Italy, which outlines the characteristics and trends of a sector that is growing all over the world.
According to the Report, 41% of the travellers have visited a viniculture farm during their travels in the last three years, and 35% have participated in a related event. Even more numerous are those who wished to do it, but didn't: 68% wished to visit a winery, 60% would have liked to participate in an event. Italian wine, together with pasta, pizza, and coffee, are the main products that Italians abroad can't do without.
Roberta Garibaldi, who coordinates the project and the monitoring system, comments: "Tourism offer in Italy is extremely rich from many points of view. But there is still room for improvement: the First Report on Food and Wine Tourism in Italy shows a gap between experiences that are wished for and those that are actually tried, as well as an increasing interest. This is therefore an opportunity and, thanks to the recently adopted laws that finally recognise wine tourism and govern this sector with clear criteria, it is now possible to tap its potential."
In Italy there are no less than 169 Routes of Wine and Taste (Strade del Vino e dei Sapori), and 57 of them are located in just three regions: Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. There is also plenty of wineries targeting tourists.
According to the latest General Census on Agriculture (ISTAT, 2010), viniculture farms in Italy are 388,881. In collaboration with Seminario Permanente Luigi Veronelli, the farms reviewed in the "I vini di Veronelli 2017" wine guide were analysed. They are mostly located in Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto and Lombardy; such distribution differs from the national one, where most farms are in southern Italy.
Out of 2,050 analysed farms, 1.350 (i.e. 66%) offer some form of tourism service (public opening of the cellar for tastings, guided visits of the farm upon booking, lodging). As far as the type of services is concerned, 1,230 farms (60%) are open to the public on weekends, for visits, tastings or other events at the cellar; 917 (45%) organise guided visits of the farm upon booking; 487 (24%) offer accommodation of various type.
Nowadays, wineries have an even wider offer: "la Montina", in the Franciacorta area, houses the Remo Bianco Museum, and now organises in its spaces an unusual exhibit on Australian aboriginal art; "Foresteria Planeta" reopens after renovation works showing some of the most significant works of contemporary art created in the framework of 'Viaggio in Sicilia', a project of nomadic residence for artists that celebrates this year its seventh edition; others organise hikes in the Barolo vineyards or along the Terlano wine itinerary, or among Cinque Terre's vineyards clinging to the mountain slopes and sea-facing dry stone walls.
