Mémoire de fin d'études, M2 inseec, Audrey Sénéchal

MEMOIRE DE RECHERCHE APPLIQUEE

Présenté et soutenu par
Mlle Audrey Sénéchal

Le 10 septembre 2013

HOW IS LUXURY WINE TOURISM DEVELOPED IN THE NEW WORLD AND
WHICH LESSONS CAN FRANCE LEARN FROM THESE MARKETING
STRATEGIES TO CATCH UP?

MASTER « Tourism management et Marketing des Services »

Nom de l’entreprise : Luxury Wine Tourism, Château Pape Clément, Grand Cru Classé de Graves
Tuteur de stage : Mme Claire Ballarin
Tuteur de mémoire : Mr Paul Dawson

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is a pleasure to thank those who have made the completion of this dissertation possible.
I am deeply grateful for the guidance to M Dawson (director of the tourism and marketing
program in INSEEC) who helped orienting and developing this project. Thank you for your
patience and willingness to invest your time, and energy for me.
I would like to thank Mme Daquin (CEO of Luxury Wine Tourism), the daughter of M.
Bernard Magrez (owner of Château Pape Clément) and Mme Ballarin (manager of Luxury
Wine Tourism), the company where I did my internship who have provided me a real insight
of this particular industry.
A heartfelt thank you the different wineries based in California, South Africa and New
Zealand which have taken time to complete my questionnaire for data analysis on the wine
tourism market abroad.
Great Wine Capitals network thank you for the information provided about this international
network of wine cities and Catherine Leparmentier Dayot, permanent secretary (Great Wine
Capitals Global Network in Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce) for having inform me about
the International Research Grant for this year.
I would like to honour my parents and parents-in-law. Thank you for believing in me.

3

How is luxury wine tourism developed in the New World
and which lessons can France learn from these marketing strategies to catch up?

The present research concentrates on the wine tourism aspects in the New World as in the
Old World and we deduce that this concept is not really used in the same way by cultures.
Wine tourism is more exploited in some countries and less developed in others. The
interesting idea here is to emphasize the fact that there is a lack of wine tourism
coordination in France seen as a very old wine producer from Antiquity and the
worldwide tourism destination the most visited.
To start with, an investigation is carrying out on the different wine tourism marketing
strategies used in wine-growing areas of the New World. Indeed, three wine world areas
have been studied (USA, New Zealand and South Africa) due to the quality of the wine
produced in the area and the ability to attract wine tourists and we have tried to understand
how the tourism structure is performed abroad to create a successful luxury wine offer by
the tourist actors.
The final aim of the report will consist in knowing how these previous strategies can be
applied in the Old World, especially in France, for a riche clientele (niche). In fact, the
report demonstrates that there is a problem of interaction between French tourism
institutions in order to attract the clientele and reposition France as the first wine tourism
worldwide destination.
Key words: Wine tourism, Marketing strategies, Luxury tourism offer, Adaptation to the
premium clientele, Old Word and New World

4

Comment l’œnotourisme de luxe est développé dans les pays du Nouveau Monde,
et quelles leçons la France peut-elle déduire de ces stratégies pour rattraper son retard?

Cette recherche se concentre sur les aspects du tourisme du vin dans les pays du Nouveau
Monde et de l'Ancien Monde et nous en déduisons que le concept de l’œnotourisme est utilisé
très aléatoirement par les cultures du monde. Cette activité dans certains pays est moins
développée que dans d'autres. L'idée intéressante ici est de souligner le fait qu’en France qu'il
y ait un manque de coordination dans ce secteur en France, pays considéré comme l’un des
premiers producteurs de vin au monde depuis l'Antiquité et destination touristique mondiale.
Pour commencer, une enquête a été menée sur les différentes stratégies marketing du tourisme
du vin utilisées dans les zones viticoles du Nouveau Monde. En effet, trois régions sont
étudiées (Etats-Unis, Nouvelle-Zélande et Afrique du Sud) du fait de la qualité du vin produit
et de leur habilité à attirer l’œnotouriste, et nous essayerons de comprendre le succès de
l’offre œnotouristique construite à l’étranger et analyser l’interdépendance entre les acteurs
qui la composent.
En réalité, cette étude démontre qu'il y a un problème d'interaction entre les institutions du
tourisme français afin d'attirer la clientèle et repositionner la France comme première
destination œnotouristique dans le monde. A la suite de quoi, nous proposerons une mise en
place de stratégies spécifiques en France pour une clientèle riche (niche marketing).
Mots-clés: tourisme du vin, stratégies de marketing, offre touristique de luxe, adaptation à
une clientèle haut de gamme, Ancien monde et Nouveau monde

5

CONTENTS
Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 8
1. Wine tourism, powerful marketing tool for wine professionals ................................ 10
1.1 Historical overview and originality of the concept ................................................10
1.2 Who is the international wine tourist?....................................................................12
1.3 Great Wine Capitals network .................................................................................16

2. France, one of the oldest finest wine producer in the world but extremely late in the
interaction of its tourism offer ...................................................................................... 18
2.1 France: the land of wine and gastronomy .............................................................. 18
2.2 France: between tradition and new challenge pressure of the New World ............19
2.2.1

A curious and demanding clientele ............................................................ 19

2.2.2

Territorial tourism stakeholders and professionals ....................................20

2.2.2.1 Controlled tourism regulations: a guide for French strategies .............20
2.2.2.2 Châteaux, wine properties from Bordeaux as an example ...................22
2.2.2.3 Agencies and tour operators from Bordeaux as an example ................22
2.2.3

Tourism offer and practices starting to be galvanized ............................... 23

3. Practices of the luxury wine tourism in the New World ............................................25
3.1 Napa Valley | California ...................................................................................... 25
3.1.1

California: the international pioneer in the wine tourism experience ........25

3.1.2

The legendary Napa Valley and the tourism offer .....................................26

3.1.2.1 Institution and organization ..................................................................27
3.1.2.2 Wineries ............................................................................................... 27
3.1.2.3 Luxury accommodation and restaurants ..............................................28
3.1.2.4 Spa & Wellness, Sports ........................................................................29
3.1.2.5 Arts, Music, Culture, Food ...................................................................29
3.1.2.6 Transportation ...................................................................................... 30
3.1.3

Who is the customer in Napa Valley? ........................................................ 30

3.1.4

What’s make USA unique from the others ................................................32

3.1.5

Marketing strategy of the USA ..................................................................33

6

3.2 South Island | New Zealand .................................................................................35
3.2.1

Wine tourism in New Zealand, an important contributor in the economy .35

3.2.2

The clientele ............................................................................................... 37

3.2.3

Example of actors and tourism offer .......................................................... 38

3.2.3.1 Receptive agencies ...............................................................................38
3.2.3.2 Wineries – wine properties in the south of the island .......................... 39
3.2.3.3 Exclusive Accommodation – Winery lodging .....................................39
3.2.4

Events as a dynamism for the region ......................................................... 39

3.2.5

What’s make New Zealand unique from the others ...................................40

3.3 Cape Town | South Africa ...................................................................................41
3.3.1

Introduction of wine, the wine region in South Africa and the interest of
wine tourism ............................................................................................... 41

3.3.2

The clientele ............................................................................................... 42

3.3.3

Very upscale tourism actor and offer ......................................................... 43

3.3.3.1 Wine Estates ......................................................................................... 43
3.3.3.2 Accommodations and Spa ....................................................................45
3.3.3.3 Wine roads............................................................................................ 45
3.3.4

Marketing strategy used in South Africa.................................................... 46

3.4 Quantitative study of the New World .................................................................47
4. Study and recommendations to improve the interaction of French luxury wine
tourism offers because of a strong competition of the New World ........................... 52
4.1 Marketing environment and strategies already put in place by Atout France around
the luxury offer in France ....................................................................................... 52
4.2 Recommendations ..................................................................................................55
4.2.1

Select correctly the offer to target the high-end wine tourist ..................... 55

4.2.2

Structure and identify a premium offer by highlighting a real "plus
product" differentiation ..............................................................................56

4.2.3

The creation of the luxury wine tourism label: a harmonization of the
luxury French offer through a national award ............................................56

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 60
Bibliography and references.....................................................................................................61
Glossary....................................................................................................................................64
Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 65
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INTRODUCTION
World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) defines tourism as “the network of businesses
that are engaged in the transport, accommodation, feeding, entertainment and care of the
traveler” (2008) “Wine tourism is a new form of alternative tourism, is the visitation to
vineyards, wineries, wine festivals and wine shows for which wine tasting and/or
experiencing the attributes of a wine region are the prime motivating factors for visitors.”1
Since the 1st wine tourism conference held in Australia in 1998, wine tourism has emerged as
a strong and growing tourism sector throughout the world. Within the ten previous years,
wine tourism experience has changed and evolved to a high position. Nowadays, we have to
examine the fact that the entry of the New World2 on the wine market, in part from the
globalization and the boarders opening, has created a strong wine competition with the Old
World3 with the application of efficient wine marketing campaign and the emphasis of wine
tourism. Indeed, wine tourism has become a new form of tourism and an essential component
in the development of a tourism destination through different roles which are economic,
educational, cultural, gastronomic and environmental. The author of this thesis has already
started her professional path within the wine tourism sector three years ago now and has
decided to investigate for the first time on the other tourism marketing practices outside of
France on the luxury market.
So, the main objective of this research study was to investigate on the backwardness of France
in terms of interaction between institutions and to study the methods used abroad as a
reference, to apply an efficient strategy in the hexagonal country. The actual research of this
report affirms that France has a complete structured offer in terms on accommodation,
restaurant, activities based on wine, transports but the offer is not enough synchronized. In
fact, a lack of organization and cooperation is shown between the French tourism actors
which are not creating an efficient interaction for an efficient wine tourism offer. To remain
competitive, the tourism industry needs more than ever adaptation, flexibility and in the
report, a creation of a label is suggested, a brand name for the luxury wine tourism in France.

2
3

USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa…
France, Italy and Spain

8

Information of this analysis have been collected due to researches analysis made by
individuals and professionals, through books of wine tourism travelers and a questionnaire
which has been specifically design for wineries situated in the New World.
To argue on the question “How is luxury wine tourism developed in the New World and
which lessons can France learn from these marketing strategies to catch up?” an overview of
the wine tourism sector will be introduced. The second part will be reserved for the study of
the French wine tourism offer and the actual actors. On the third part will demonstrate the
success of the marketing wine tourism strategies used in the countries of the New World:
California, New Zealand and South Africa. To finish, recommendations will be suggested to
improve the French luxury wine tourism marketing for a national and international clientele.

9

1. Wine tourism, powerful marketing tool for wine professionals
In parts 1 and 2, qualitative study has been carry out to explore the wine tourism sector, to
know the high-end customer attitudes and motivations through researches and analyses as
references.
1.1 Historical overview and originality of the concept
Wine tourism took its origins from the Greek and Roman times in 146 BC but it took its real
dimension as a specific travel interest in the middle of the 19th century due to the transport
and social revolution, tourism boom and globalization.
Wine tourism belongs to a tourism category and is seen as a special interest tourism in visiting
a region. In fact, wine and food will have a low or high impact on the making decision of the
tourist. For example, the Gourmet tourism usually refers to high-quality restaurant such as
Michelin star or Gault & Millau and usually attracts an elitist clientele whereas Gastronomic
tourism extends to a wider dimension taking into account the food product with the external
context (cultural and landscapes…). Compared to these two forms of tourism related to wine
and food, Culinary tourism is narrow to the notion of cooking and cuisine (cusine du Sud
Ouest for instance). In the rural and urban tourism, food and wine is an important factor but is
not the main motivation of traveling. Wine and food is a necessity element, not a wish for the
traveller.

10

Figure 1: Wine as a special interest and as a niche in the tourism
Source Novelli M, 2005, p74

Developing wine and food tourism bring identification in the destination through the product
coming from a terroir which is unique from a country to another. This form of tourism is a
tool of differentiation and insures a high market positioning for promotion of heritage.
In any form of tourism, wine is sold to the consumer through various distribution channels, as
wholesalers and retailers, mail order, restaurant, wine shops, cellar door sales and food and
wine festivals, which form part of the concept of wine tourism. Moreover, the definition
quoted in this part illustrates the fact that wine tourism is a new form of tourism used by wine
firms as a tool for building brand loyalty and other tourism institution communicate on it to
enhance the image of a winery and a destination.
Wine tourism is seen as an opportunity for the development of wine and tourism industry
because it involves a new and specific clientele, direct and indirect economic benefits to local
stakeholders (restaurants, tour operators, travel agencies, bed&breakfast, hotels, lodges),
institutions that care and target people interested in viticulture and wine. Moreover, it is an
opportunity for wineries to educate their clients and directly sell their wine. To confirm this
idea, an international research by Chaney (2004), Dodd and Howley and Van Westering
conducted in the USA, Spain and Australia has already demonstrated that the wine tourism
development has a positive financial effect (good benefits) for the wineries.
From a marketing perspective, wine tourism means identifying the needs of current and
potential wine tourists”.4 In terms of marketing, its originality is thus a means of
differentiation of the vineyards is an alternative to the mass communication required by
competitive pressure in the global wine market. Moreover, it allows for professionals a direct
contact with the consumer and to realize direct sales. In addition to promote the local
economy and the installation of public and private infrastructure, it strengthens cultural
identity and brand image of a region.
Since few years, a real demand of personalization of tourism product has merged due to the
change of customer behavior and it seems increasingly to take the appearance of emotional
4

Definition from the report “Wine tourism – an opportunity for the development of wine industry”, The Bucharest university
of economic studies

11

experience goods. This tendency stimulates the wine tourism sector and obliges the
professionals to adapt their offer to a specific niche: the high-end clients.
1.2 Who is the international wine tourist?
The wine tourist is not like any other traditional or classical tourist. We can define the profile
of the high end wine tourist: “he has a reasonable knowledge of the product, an average age of
about 40, a high income, and usually travels as a couple or with friends or “Couples with no
children and those with higher education and incomes in professional occupations”, (South
Australian Tourism Commission, 1997). Dodd (1995) asserts that a winery visitor is generally
of higher educational level and income comparing to an average traveler.
Their motivations of traveling may be professional (purposes related to work) or for leisure
(purposes of leisure and recreation, visiting friends and relatives or special interest in tourism,
relaxation, experiencing a diversity of pleasures in local food and wine to find interesting and
special wines).
Usually, wine tourists spend more than the average tourist: a competitive position for
destinations that ensures good economic returns for the entire offer system.
According to Hall & Macionis (1998) the market segment is divided into 3 types of
customers: the wine lover, the wine interested and the curious tourist. Appendix 1: Wine
tourism market segment descriptions
Wine tourist's characteristics, motives and preferences are different from countries. According
to a study made on the market segmentation in wine tourism “a Formal Wine Tourist in
Europe, usually travels in an organized tour whereas in the New World countries such as
Australia and New Zealand, a highly educated wine tourist does not travel in an organized
tour compared with the Wine Interested or the Wine Curious”. (Charters & Ali-Knight, 2000;
Charters & Ali-Knight, 2002; Charters & Carlsen, 2006).5
And the luxury wine tourist?
The luxury industry has become an increasingly complex and competitive market, in which
we are all committed to serve demanding customers and delivering excellence every day.
Today, the luxury travel has become for the customer “what I want to do when I want to do
5

Maria Alebaki, Olga Iakovidou, “Market segmentation in wine tourism: a comparison of approaches” (2011)

12

it”. It’s involves private service, elegant amenities, high quality of product (wine and tourism
services…).
Moreover, with the economic situation, specifics segments of travelers are getting richer and
their purchasing power is increasing which make their luxurious trip more frequent. Most of
research supports the assumption that luxury wine tourists are younger, highly educated and
have high-income.
Currently, the luxury market is taking a new direction due to the globalization and a growing
demand from Asian countries and Russians.
The graph shows that having special experiences is what luxury tourists appreciate the most.

Table 1: The expectation for luxury tourists according to experts in the sector
Source Paulino Cristiano (2009)

This luxury clientele (socioprofessional group plus (CSP+)) tend to stay from one day to one
week, has a high budget for their travel and do not hesitate to go in luxury places such as
palace, small luxury hotels or being accommodated in Châteaux or eating in gastronomic star
Michelin restaurants….
The standard of living has risen, contributing to the growth of the nouveaux riches. New rich
emerging countries (Africa, Russia, India and Brazil are creating) have led to the appearance
of a new type of customer looking for private, exclusive and the best travels, in non-common

13

areas through the multiplication of short stays. However, this clientele look for authenticity,
simplicity and respect for the environment.
Nevertheless, Asian countries (China, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan) are still foreground
countries for luxury clientele who are interested in wine.
According to AFIT, 88% of wine tourists declare wine buyers.6 Among them, wealthy clients,
usually sheltered from economic fluctuations have a luxury lifestyle does not hesitate to spend
over 100€ a bottle of wine (seen as a luxury product over 50€ a bottle).
The luxury wine market segmentation is as well divided into 3 types of customer:
 The wine lovers with a high level of interest in wine and are highly knowledgeable or
knowledgeable about wine who does not hesitate to afford for a luxury trip with wine
tasting.
 Wine interested with a high interest in wine but not sole purpose of visit to destination,
familiar with winemaking procedures
 Wine novice: wineries seen as “just another attraction”
The high-end wine tourist’s interest in wine makes him want to see the place of production
(especially for “great” wines), and then he is attracted by the landscape, the local culture, the
cuisine, and not least by the artistic heritage.”7

6
7

According to a 2001 survey by the French Tourist Engineering Agency (AFIT)
According to Censis data on wine tourism for 2006

14

Usual practices of the wine tourist

Premium offer used by a niche

Wine tasting and purchase

Private meal in fascinating areas with the wine expert

Visits of wineries, cellars and

Tasting legendary vintages

châteaux, matched with the tasting

Fly over the prestigious wine appellations in a

Discovery of landscapes,

helicopter

architecture or wine villages on the

Accommodation in Châteaux or unusual places away

wine route, by car or hiking

from the crowd

(walking, cycling, horse)

Sports: golf, horse riding

Visit to the wine museum

Spa and relaxation

Meals with wine-grower

Private concerts

Event (eg Medoc marathon)

Transportation: Private jet or drive in luxury cars
Private Chef cuisine courses

Table 2: Standard and luxury tourism practices comparison, customers’ wants.
Source made by the writer of this report

The standard wine tourist will be more sensitive to the quality, reputation places whereas the
luxury one would be more touched by the exclusivity of services and private comfort.
However, the two types of clientele appear to be in authentic and character settings.
Here are key words that refer to Luxury and often used to structure a tourism offer:
Prestigious, Exclusivity, Unique, High quality, Dream, Desirable, Elegance, Aesthetic,
Private, Exceptional…
Five common aspects to a luxury offer perceived by the luxury clientele are:
 Aesthetics: composed by design, color and style; in other words, the dimension of
beauty was of primary importance
 Quality: often considered the main criterion leading to a luxury purchase
 History: it doesn’t refer to the authenticity or tradition but to the brand expertise in the
sector
 Self-pleasure: luxury makes the client feel comfortable and gives him pleasure,
security and harmony
 Expensiveness: to pay a high price for expensive materials and handcrafted products
that ensures quality and longevity
15

Although he is standard or luxury, the wine tourist will be directly and indirectly guided by
tourism institutions such as the Great Wine Capitals, a network of wine capitals that promotes
the worldwide wine regions.
1.3 Great Wine Capitals network
Founded in 1999 at the initiative of chamber of commerce of Bordeaux, the network of Great
Wine Capitals is the only organization connecting the wine regions of the "Old Europe" and
"New World".
The committee member of Great Wine Capitals is composed of famous representatives being
part of the great wine cities of the network and they altogether take initiatives to promote
destinations. Four commissions have been set up to concentrate on different missions: wine
tourism, business investment, training and researches, and the last one based on marketing
and communication of the GWC network.
This promotion is not only based on the "wine" product but on the tourist destination and its
culture. In other words, it aims to promote cultural heritage and legacy of its members 10
large cities of the world wine such as Bordeaux (France), Porto (Portugal), Christchurch /
South Island (New Zealand), Florence (Italy), Mainz / Rheinhessen (Germany) Mendoza
(Argentina), San Francisco / Napa Valley (USA), Bilbao / Rioja (Spain), Cape Town / Cape
Winelands (South Africa) and Valparaiso / Casablanca Valley (Chile).
In the following parts of this thesis, three main international wine areas have been studied:
-

France | Bordeaux + General

-

San Francisco | Napa Valley

-

Christchurch | South Island

-

Cape Town | South Africa

The student has decided to concentrate on these capitals for different reasons. Firstly,
Bordeaux is the city where the student is living and has already worked in three wineries in
the wine tourism sector so she already has knowledge about the market. Then, a part of her
family is living in Berkeley near San Francisco in USA so, information about wine has been
told and California is the precursor in the international wine tourism. Christchurch and Cape

16

Town have been chosen depends on data available on internet and in books. The study of
these areas was a complete discovery for the writer.
Information has been get from Catherine Leparmentier from the GWCGN (Bordeaux CCI)
and the student has participated at one of the worldwide wine show in Bordeaux in June:
VINEXPO 2013. In the case of her internship, she has attended to the Château Pape Clément
stand and the GWC Wine Tourism Conference.

Map 1: Wine areas of the GWC global network studied in the report
Wine tourism sector has been overviewed in a general manner, the types of clientele on this
market have been compared and we have seen the importance of GWC. In the following part,
the old wine producer, France is introduced under the strong New World competition.

17

2 France, one of the oldest finest wine producer in the world but extremely late in
the interaction of its tourism offer

2.1 France: the land of wine and gastronomy
Known as a very old traditional wine producer, France has become the first country with Italy
to produce finest wines since the Antiquity. In people mind, wine is always attached to the
values of France, its vineyards and its lifestyle. However, within the years, the relationship of
wine and its consumption has changed in the previous decades; wine consumption is
declining in France and its perception has changed due to the road safety campaigns and
lifestyles changes on the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Appendix 2: The evolution of
wine consumption in France 8.
The French vineyard surface is wide with 850,000 hectares and 5,000 cellars that welcome the
public for an average volume of 1,500 persons a year. The richness of French soil, the wines
and the geographic diversity of its 17 vineyard regions9 is enhanced by famous regions. To
understand and analyze the choice of wine tourism destinations by visitors, ATOUT France
has created two categories of regions:
1. "Wine and vineyards play a decisive role in the choice of destination for customers".
Alsace, Aquitaine, Burgundy, Champagne, among others, appear as renowned wine
tourism regions, where tourist stay for wine and for discovering the vineyards.

10

Indeed, Alsace is precursor of its activity with a 170 km wine road and Bordeaux has a
high end positioning with the reputation of the big names (Margaux, Rothschild,
Yquem…). However in Gironde vineyards, these big names are not traditionally open
to the public, the media is even reputed to be quite closed.

2. "People come first for other assets such as climate, heritage, nature and wine is a
possible additional activity". PACA, Loire Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon and RhoneAlps are areas where people come for green tourism and wine is an additional
attraction.

8

Source : Viniflhor – Inra – UM2 Enquêtes sur la consommation du vin en France
French wine regions : Aquitaine, Alsace, Bourgogne, Champagne Ardenne, Languedoc Roussillon, Provence Alpes Cotes
d’Azur, région Rhône Alpes, Val de Loire.
10
Burgundy and Alsace with the wine roads registers around 1, 5 millions of tourists per year  Report “L’œnotourisme : un
potentiel à explorer face à la crise", Victoire Rabineau
9

18

Paradoxically, while France is the world's leading tourist destination and the largest producer
of wine, wine tourism has just started to develop only few years ago. This is probably due to
the weight of an ancient winemaking tradition, which is reluctant to see wine a leisure
product.
2.2 France: between tradition and new challenge pressure of the New World

2.2.1

A curious and demanding clientele
Is the wine consumer similar to the wine tourist in France?

The wine consumer has changed since 1980. In fact, from this time, we notice a decrease of
regular consumers and an increase of casual ones. Today the client is willing to pay more than
15€ a bottle of wine and prefers to drink it for special events and occasions by enjoying a
special moment with some friends. However, in addition of being casual, he is very faithful,
not loyal as before (attached to a specific brand), and this is a challenge for Châteaux to keep
their customers.
In addition of spending a high amount in a bottle, the customer wants to find out what is
behind the bottle and the label, expect to know the product he consumes in order to talk about
it. This is the concept of wine tourism in France and this new clientele is not only abroad, but
is more and more local one.
In 2050, the demand for wine will be global and should be even more complex and
sophisticated than today.11
According to a survey made by ATOUT France in 2010, in the hexagonal country, the wine
tourist is usually on weekend or holiday in the wine region wand has a high purchasing power
and three quarts consume wine at least once a week.12 The visitor is staying in hotel, B&B or
in secondary residence between 2 to 5 days and is visiting in couple or family by using a
private car. His first main reason to come is because of the wine and vineyards discovery,
then the notoriety of the area and the terroir products and gastronomy quality. 1,000€
expenditure per stay. Depends on the wine regions and the countries, the profile of the tourist
may differs from the location.

11
12

Le Vin dans le monde à l’horizon 2050, Les enjeux du marché du 21 ème siècle – Prospectives- setp 2009, CCE
9405 respondents

19

ATOUT France analyzed in 2011 the cellars frequentation and has estimated at 24 million
people, 6 million foreigners (with 27% of the Belgian, 21% British, 15% Germans, the Dutch
11%, and 4% of Americans) and 18 million of French.13
According to ATOUT France, we observe four wine tourists profiles in France:
 16% of "experts"  mainly interested in wine
 20% of "explorers"  looking for pleasure before wine
 40% of "connoisseurs"  admire the soils and landscapes associated with wine
 24% of "classical"  priority of the discovery of wine heritage
Connoisseurs seem to be the most typical wine tourist who consume and visit in France.
2.2.2

Territorial tourism stakeholders and professionals

In addition to local governments such as Regional Council and Regional Tourism Committee,
General Council and Departmental Tourism Committee, and City Tourist Office, Chambers
of commerce, we find other organizations:
2.2.2.1 Controlled tourism regulations: a guide for French strategies
ATOUT France, before called Maison de la France, is a competitive intelligence organization
which concentrates since 1999 on the development and the modernization of tourism offer for
international clientele. The mission of this agency is also
observing, developing, through engineering (ODIT France)
and promoting the France’s image on the national market
and abroad.
For the wine tourism economy, this public institution insures communication and notoriety of
France by realizing engineering project and by qualifying tourism offer and of course by
targeting the wine amateurs.
Conseil Supérieur de l'Oenotourisme: created in 2009, the council contributes to the
coordination of proceedings relating to wine and works on a
proactive policy for operational approaches. In order to distinguish
individual or collective actions by actors specialized in the wine,

13

Data from Club Tourisme Vitivinicole, assemblée générale 2012

20

tourism and heritage, the council has created the Prix National de l’Oenotourisme which is
awarded to the most deserving. This national tourism is closely managed by the Ministry of
Agriculture, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture and supported by the famous hotel
group ACCOR with Paul Dubrule.
A plurality of marks or approaches coexists: some are developed by different institutions (the
Aquitaine region with “Destination Vignobles”, the General Council of Gironde with
“Vignobles et chais en Bordelais”. For instance, the label “Vignobles & Découvertes” is a
brand given for 3 years to a wine region destination that is providing complete offer (activities
and services) in terms of accommodation, restaurants, cellar tour and wine tasting, museum,
monuments, agencies and tourist offices, events on the theme of wine. Today, 24 destinations
are labeled; their offer is clarified as well as the frequentation and consumption.
The aim of all these institutions is based on a control on reliable and quality services which
the tourist is in contact with.
In addition to these institutions, others actors contribute to the wine tourism offers:
Indirect professionals
Regional tourism council

Direct professionals
Chateaux, wineries, Co-ops, Wine Merchants

Department tourism council

Hotels, other accommodations

Tours operators and travel agencies

Restaurants, wine bars

Conseil Interprofessionnel des vins de…
(wine region) (CIV…)

Wine Shops, cellars
Tourism Office of cities and wine unions (local)

Other professional Wine Associations

Receptive agencies
Others wine tourism centers (Salon des
vignerons indépendants, Oenoland…)
Guides, independent and accredited

 A study by the Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne estimated that 26%
of wine producers invested in wine tourism have gained new customers, 29% have
increased their turnover and 23% gained notoriety.14

14

Data from Luxury Wine Tourism Industry in France, report of the author for INSEEC marketing project in 2012

21

2.2.2.2 Châteaux, wine properties from Bordeaux as an example
Although in recent years a number of French wineries have made significant investments in
infrastructure to receive the visitors on place, the boost is far from the whole vineyard and
remains inaccessible to the public. But, for instance, wine tourism in Aquitaine is still closed
because the experience is limited at the inside of the winery: the welcoming in the wine
tasting room and the setting up of wine routes more or less structured. In Bordeaux, the wine
is seen as an elite and expensive product and this image is amplified with Propriétés privées
that we still find in front of the wine properties. Now the cliché is getting improved but is still
slow. To counter this idea, few wine properties such as Smith Haut
Laffite, Grand Cru Classé des vins de Graves (Bordeaux) has decided
to

develop

a

second

luxury

activity

with

Les Sources

de

Caudalie hôtel*****, spa vinetherapy based on vine seeds care and a
Michelin star restaurant La Grand’Vigne. By these facilities, the
establishment already selects its niche by suggesting high quality of
product and services.
Notes: the 1855 Classification of the Wines of the Medoc has reinforced the quality and
regional characteristics of Bordeaux wines. This classification represents nowadays a strong
marketing tool for Gironde and identified specific chateaux as classified growths which in
themselves became visitor attractions. These wine properties attract top-end customers who
do not hesitate to spend more than 50€ in a wine bottle.
2.2.2.3 Agencies and tour operators from Bordeaux as an example
An emergence of specialized wine tourism operators such as Luxury Wine Tourism or
Bordovino or Bordeaux Executive Travel are the pioneer in the high quality tourism product.
Created in 2007, Luxury Wine Tourism based in Château Pape Clément, Grand Cru Classé
des vins de Graves (where the author is doing her internship) has started to develop short
tailor maide trips based on the owner’s chateaux network. The target is a niche with a staying
offer per person which exceeds 1,000€ for 2 days, the company has deliberately wanted to
reach a rich clientele.
The complexity of actors and their level of intervention confirm that the offer is hard to read
and disseminates.

22

2.2.3

Tourism offer and practices starting to be galvanized

Designed to chance opportunities, and without a real knowledge of the public whom it is
addressed, the French offer may disappoint a customer ever more demanding, but also
younger and more female. An offer which is not correctly adapted may decrease the customer
satisfaction and then having a negative image of the destination. Moreover, French and
European have changed their ways of traveling through the development of short stays, last
minute shopping… but still insufficiently exploited.
In France, the offer is still inadequate in terms of futures prospects and suffers from:
 “A lack of accommodation merchants in the vineyard;
 The difference in culture between the wine world and the world of tourism, leading to
a lack of collaboration between the two types of actors;
 The concentration of tourism professionals in the wine regions with a strong
reputation;
 The fragmentation of initiatives, which do not always appear united by a common
approach identifiable from the outside;
 The lack of media opportunities to practice the wine tourism, which is thus essentially
a tourism picking, fed by passing customers;
 The uneven quality of the signage and the lack of documentation on the proposed host
sites” information from the French Senate”15
Then in the hexagonal country, the information flows poorly between tourist offices and
properties (about the opening and closing hours of tourism places for example). Moreover,
information and promotion tools on the theme of wine are most often disconnected from those
used for tourist destination (specific guides, maps ...).
In 2010, between 2,500 to 3,000 on 60,000 areas where practicing wine tourism activity. "The
structural diversity of the French vineyard, which is divided between thousands of players
each with a strong historical legitimacy. Today, the major challenge, especially for the
Conseil Supérieur de l’Oenotourisme, lies in networking all of these areas and the structuring
of a global offering."
That is why tourism promotional events have started to redefine the wine tourism experience
for visitors. Here are two examples of initiatives:
15

from www.senat.fr

23

 Destination Vignobles (Business to business) is the largest operation undertaken
with tourism partners and French wines. This initiative crowns an ambitious
program to increase the marketing of the "France vineyards and wines." This
event suggests a major appointment for French and foreign professionals
specialized in wine tourism every 2 years.
 Bordeaux fête le Vin (Bordeaux) (Business to Customers) is the 1st manifestation
wine tourism in France with 500,000 French and foreign visitor. Economic
benefits estimated at 20 million € on these 4 days.
These festivals may offer different perspectives on wine consumer behavior from other wine
product/experiences. Indeed, one possible area for examination is the role that origin
appellations play in ensuring quality tourism as well as wine and food product.

Table 3: France tourism worldwide position
Source The travel & tourism competitiveness report 2013
Even the country has lost 4 places from 2011 to 2013, the country still continues to be
attractive with its rich cultural heritage facilitated by a ground transport infrastructure which
is one of the best in the world (particularly good roads and railroads as well as good air
transport infrastructure). This classification is based on 14 pillars. Appendix 3: Travel &
Tourism competitiveness enablers and change drivers

With the emergence of strong international competition due to the emerging producers (New
World) whether tourist or related with the wine, the development of tourism activities have
been multiplied. In the following part of this thesis, studies of tourism practices in the New
World have been carrying out.

24

3 Practices of the luxury wine tourism in the New World
In contrast with the Old World, wine tourism is very present in destinations such as the USA,
South Africa and New Zealand: regions that have been able to maximize their resources by
creating highly competitive wine tourism offer. In fact, the interdependence between wine and
tourism is explicitly recognized in several regions.

3.1 Napa Valley | California

3.1.1

California: the international pioneer in the wine tourism experience

Since the Judgment of Paris in 1976, a blind tasting of French and Californian wines
organized by experts by the British Steven Spurrier (owner of Cave de la Madeleine),
Californian wines have took the first place in this competition and that have created a
disruption about the quality of wine of the New World. From this time, California was not any
more considerate as a second class land and Chile, South of Africa, New Zeland and Australia
have started to open their doors.16
Nowadays, California is the dominant player in United States wine production with 318,000
ha planted with vines; a global giant (4th place)
which

represents

90%

of

American

wine

production.17
Classified on the second tourism attraction after
Disneyland region is worldwide recognized since it
attracts every year over 20 millions of visitors.
Moreover, this country is famous to deliver an
experience to guests drawn by the easy access to
tourist facilities: wineries, hotels, restaurants,
healthy wine center in the vines quality of the
wines, Michelin-star dining, arts scene, and healthy
lifestyle activities.

Map 2: California
Source from The Napa Valley Legendary website

16

Delphine Moussay-Derouet & Christophe Derouet (2007), Tour du monde des vignes et des vins, Récit d’une odyssée
viticole.
17
Report on the “Vin et marché américain 2010”, Ifv Sud-Ouest

25

San Francisco city, one of America’s greatest dining cities, is a pillar for the region with its
image of the top food and wine destinations in the world. Tourists from abroad are coming
there to enjoy this “art de vivre” with the interest of enjoying a typical Californian wine.
Californian is divided into four famous wine regions:
 Central Valley with 73% of the production of California (mass wine production)
 Santa Barbara (south of San Francisco) which produces 12%
 Sonoma Valley 6%
 Napa Valley with 4% of the production state (mostly on high quality wines, similar
to Bordeaux wines). This is the region that we are going to study in this part.
Varieties of grapes produced are mostly Chardonnay is significant (27%), followed by
Cabernet Sauvignon (16%), Merlot (13%) of White Zinfandel (10%) and Sauvignon Blanc
(4%). Syrah, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir complete the grape varieties.

3.1.2

The legendary Napa Valley and the tourism offer

Napa Valley an American Viticultural Area, or AVA located in the north of San Francisco (an
hour driving) encompasses 8 distinct small wine regions, including Calistoga, St. Helena,
Yountville and Napa, each with a myriad of wineries and is only 35 miles. Appendix 4: Napa
Valley Winery Map
Today Napa Valley offers experience to visitors, drawn by the temperate climate, the quality
of the wines and varied activities, including Michelin-star dining, arts scene, and revitalizing
spa and health care. “With a history of welcoming visitors that stretches back to the late
1990s, the Napa Valley was the world’s first region to embrace wine tourism.”

18

The success

of Californian wine tourism is mostly due to a strong cooperation between companies and
institutions and has a strong position on internet. California’s Napa Valley is a major draw
card for tourists who spend more than $1 billion annually (Napa Valley Destination Council,
2008).
In some cities (eg.Youthville) a sign is positioned at the entrance of the town for enhancing
wine tourism facilities: wineries, wine shops, gastronomic restaurants, picnic stop and
18

From Great Wine Capitals : http://greatwinecapitals.com/capitals/san-francisco-napa-valley/introduction

26

therapeutic and healthy lifestyle activities. A clever panel to inform the visitors on the
different places they can visit in the region  a simple initiative which is not very weel
developed in France.
3.1.2.1 Institution and organization
The California Wine Institute essentially promotes international and domestic wines from
California through its six offices in the U.S. and 16 international offices. The association is
closely linked with tourism associations to encourage tourists to visit California and to taste
its wines. Today, it has more than 1,000 wineries members who represent 63% of the wine
produced in the USA.
Moreover, two organizations have been set up in California in order to make the wines of
Napa known outside of the region: The Napa Valley Vintners trade organization (NVG) (local
vintners) and the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association (marketing initiatives).
3.1.2.2 Wineries
“With more than 400 wineries, 95% of which are family owned and operated, it is the
epicenter of fine wine production in the U.S.”19 The famous 29 Road called Silverado Trail is
concentrating over 200 wineries
Here are two examples of famous wine properties and their tourism initiatives:
Created in 1966, Michael Mondavi Family Estate based in Oakville is the pioneer in wine
tourism on the American market and receives every year thousands of visitors who are
coming for curiosity and notoriety of the property. The business focuses today on a
sustainable agriculture development which is definitely improving the
image of California wine from quantity to quality. Every year, the
wine estate organizes Robert Mondavi Winery Summer Music
Festival (July & August) a musical event which attracts hundred
persons from local and abroad areas.
Another wine estate galvanize wine tourism, Clos Pegase in Calistoga (wine producer)
welcomes its guests in an artistic environment. In addition of wine tasting, the winery offers a

19

From Great Wine Capitals : http://greatwinecapitals.com/capitals/san-francisco-napa-valley/region

27

vision of postmodern art through the architecture of the installations: a criterion of
differentiation in Napa Valley.
In the south of Napa, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars produces one of the best wines of the valley,
Sterling Vineyards with one of the grounds of the valley's major cities in the Napa Valley is
the historic town of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena, Oakville, Rutherford and Calistoga, known
for its hot springs.
 Each winery is adapting its offer to the type of customers (new fan to connoisseur)
coming on place. These wine estates are clearly represented and referenced on
regional websites such as www.visitnapavalley.com, an opportunity to promote and
differentiate each place among the 400 wineries.
Since 2004, California has developed the VINIV concept (before called CRUSH PAD) which
allows to amateurs of wine to take in charge their own premium and personalized wine
production. People can create their own wine, watch at their vineyards, elaborate their own
wine making process planning, harvest, blend, bottling, and label their bottle. Because the
concept has been successful, France has decided to do the same in Bordeaux (Château Lynch
Bages, Pauillac) and the overall process is costing from 5,400€ to 13,500€ the barrel. This
luxury product targets a very narrow clientele interested in the wine elaboration.
3.1.2.3 Luxury accommodation and restaurants
Relais & Châteaux Meadowood Napa Valley (St Helena) property, offers the finest dining
and wine experiences in the Napa Valley. This resort suggests to customers a wine education
with a full time Master sommelier. Additional activities include croquet, tennis, golf, fitness,
swimming and hiking. Also a private club, Meadowood counts Napa Valley’s most prominent
vintners among its members. (One of the winners of Best Of Wine Tourism 2012). Moreover
of suggesting sport activities, restaurant and accommodation, the establishment is cleverly
linked with the wineries in the surroundings: an interesting video is showing the promotion of
the establishment by the winemakers in the region. 20 The Michelin 3 stars restaurant offers
the finest wines and elegant cuisine pairing, the top local luxury gastronomic product in a
private environment; an uncommon heaven environment for rich tourist who come in the
region to rest few days.

20

video http://www.meadowood.com/wine

28

Another example can be given as the Napa Valley Lodge or 1801 First Napa Intimate
Luxury’Inn which suggests accommodation (luxury bedroom suites), spa, meetings & events
and communicates on the different regional attractions in the region such as calendar events,
restaurants in the area: complimentary activities as an integral component of the visitor
experience (See websites in the references)
With more than hundred restaurants, the Napa Valley’s culinary scene is thriving with more
than 14 Michelin stars awarded in 2012: Michael Chiarello (Bottega and Napa Style), Thomas
Keller (The French Laundry, Bouchon, Ad Hoc), Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at
Meadowood) and others… The region has the most Michelin stars per capita of any wine
region in the world.
3.1.2.4 Spa & Wellness, Sports
The tourism offer is also founded on wellness and well being thinks to the natural
environment: natural geothermal springs and volcanic mud baths.
We can count around 36 spas in the Napa Valley, a real world of wellness for guests who are
coming to rest. For example, the spa Terra at the Meritage Resort (Napa) build in caves or the
Spa at Solage (Calistoga) specialized in luxury healthcares with Calistoga mud and mineral
water therapies make of Napa Valley a distinctive luxury wine destination.
Moreover, the area attracts an abundance of sport tourists: walking through vineyards, biking,
yoga, kayaking, and hot air ballooning.
3.1.2.5 Arts, Music, Culture, Food
The region also promotes arts with public and private art exhibits and museums, winery art
installations, art walks, galleries, open studios... Eg: Napa Valley Opera House built in 1879
for jazz, blues, theater, dance and contemporary great.
An initiative from Robert Mondavi was the creation of COPIA in 2001: The American Center
for Wine, Food & the Arts. This center open to public is specialized in indoor and outdoor
events (seminars, workshop), organic edible gardens and tastings has educational objectives
around the theme of wine and food.

29

Another international event organized in 2006 was the Taste Napa Valley in Southern
California in Asia and Germany.21 These are numerous events that lead Napa Valley to be a
famous wine tourism destination in the world.
3.1.2.6 Transportation
More than 30 different companies of transports (shuttle bus, limousine, cars, helicopter,
balloons, jet, bike…) suggest carrying visitors from airport, hotels to the wineries in order to
deliver an easy transport network.
The highway 29 as quoted before is the heart of the valley and serves the wineries through a
direct access and a lot restaurant have been established. Moreover, the Napa Valley Wine
Train, original steam train of the 1800s has been preserved and transport tourist to main wine
places and suggest on board a meal and wine tastings. The average price for this package is
$90.
In addition, luxury service provider as Pure Luxury Transportation (Napa) specialized in
transport with high quality standards at an affordable price (common to USA) give the
possibility of customized trip.
The Napa Valley in California is probably the foremost wine region of the US in terms of
wine tourism promotion with a series of festivals being held in the region, a well-established
system of wine trails and wine tours, and an active promotion of wine within the imaging of
the region as a tourist destination. Compared to France, transport network in California is
meticulously developed for visitors to create an easy access from a place to another: an
essential springboard for the tourism development.
3.1.3

Who is the customer in Napa Valley?

Wine tourism has become the core of the region with 80% of tourists coming to discover the
wine culture and wineries. Napa Valley has a primarily domestic and local demand, mostly
from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and primarily for weekend and extended
weekend stays. They are usually loyal customers.
According to the report Napa Valley Visitor Profile and Economic Impact Studies (2006)
“Napa County visitors are more mature in age, more educated, and command a much higher
household income than the U.S. and California average. More than half of the respondents in
21

Napa Valley Vintner’s, 2006

30

the study reported a household income of $100,000 (76,860€) or more, and they were
significantly more likely to spend at least one night in Napa County than those whose
household income was below $100,000”. The average daily spending is about $US197 (151€)
and it shows that wine is an expensive expenditure.
Furthermore, the wine tourist is a sophisticated traveler who is looking for a memorable
holiday experience linked to wine. Because the offer is diversified in the area, the clientele
consuming this type of offer represents:
 Young and matured couples from the cities all around (San Francisco for example),
coming for the week end to rest or only for the day
 American and international wine lovers (amateurs) coming to realize the Napa Valley
Wine Road
 Young initiators who are starting to have an interest on the wine elaboration and wine
production

Table 4: California travel forecast summary
In this table above, the total expenditure is growing all along the years. We notice that from
2009 and 2012, an increase of almost 17%22 has been noticed. It means that the number of
tourist and the expenditure per person is incredibly increasing since 2009. The inflation may
be as well one of the reasons. We analyze that the domestic clientele (coming from USA) is
expending much more than the international clientele.

22

(107,6-87,7/87,7*100)

31

From 2009 until 2012, the domestic expenditures
have only rise of 17,5% (see the graph on the right)
whereas, the international visitors spending has
reached more that 30%. It means that there is a new
emerging demand from abroad arriving on the
tourism Californian market and willing to spend
more. Graph 1: CA Visitor Expenditures
Source: Napa County Visitor Profile Executive Report

It shows that there is a real potential for wineries and other wine tourism institutions to target
this niche.

Graph 2: Reasons of visiting the Napa
Valley
Source: Napa County Visitor Profile
Executive Report

A survey conducted in the Napa County
Visitor Profile Executive Report (March
2006) demonstrated the fact that visitors
were coming mostly for a wine interest
(Wineries).

3.1.4

What’s make USA unique from the others

The region is producing one of the world’s finest wine grapes and is well-known
internationally from it. Based on a new wine history, USA is the contrary of France in terms
of wine tourism. In fact, the New World establishes an image of youth, adventures and
explorations and this image tends to go on the opposite in the Old World which mostly stays
in the traditions. There is an important influence of marketing and communication around
California vineyards, the concept of sharing news and create events on place due to facilities
as restaurants, hotels….
Moreover, as we have studied in the previous part that the offer is wide, versatile and based
on different themes itineraries: art & wine immersion, culinary adventures, romantic, winery
32

experience, outdoor adventurer… Wineries are working with an overall and create strong
partnership between wine tourism organizations through the creation of full packages.

3.1.5

Marketing strategy of the USA

Americans have decided to adopt a plan, the "Wine Vision 2020", which includes objectives
of conquest of market share. Their ambition is to become the leading provider in the world.
California has a strong communication around its offer and has well developed the customer
loyalty. Moreover, an integrated catering offer & shops are systematically proposed such as
Sattui Winery that suggests full benefits picnic, weddings, and tastings markets, e-marketing
on the official website. Relais & Châteaux Meadowood Napa Valley quoted above illustrates
as well the varieties activities for customers.

Appendix 5: Tourism websites for the

promotion of the Napa Valley Region
A clever guide is published every year on the best activities that
tourists can realize during their stay in Napa Valley. This guide
concentrates on the “things to do” such as luxury hotels, gastronomic
restaurants,

wellness,

golf

courses

companies,

theater,

arts,

transportation…: a complete guide that high-end customers get
informed on the tourism offer in the region. This is a strong
communication tool that allows a strong interaction between the
tourism players.
As we have seen, each winery has its personalized tourism project involving the visitor in the
heart of the marketing strategy. This activity stays a vital role in the business model of
wineries: income but also a tool that creates awareness fidelity (importance of word of
mouth). Another important element in the marketing strategy: creating wine clubs, loyalty
model.
The success of the region is also due to a specific controlled campaign put in place for Napa
Valley23. In fact, California concentrates on a specific marketing positioning as a luxury
destination, accentuated in recent years: increasing prices, reserved and VIP access, "happy
few" (few people with an advantage over other)... Institutions adapt their strategies through a

23

From the report Napa Valley Tourism Corporation Board of Directors, September 27, 2012

33

control of the marketing mix and management of supply wine tourism, with a high level of
professional service. The region is as known to be avant-gardism of the new consumer trends:
search merchandising adapted to new lifestyles and consumption.
Online Marketing:
 Placement in Google search with a strong and effective SEO effort
 Brand equity: generate more money due to a well known name
 Email Marketing Campaigns: Consumer and Partner Communications
Outline Marketing:
Every season, events are organized in the Napa Valley to attract visitors and create dynamism
based on the strong identity of gastronomy and “art de vivre”:
 Napa Valley Film Festival (November 2011)
 Flavor! Napa Valley™ Food, Wine & Fun (November 2011)
 Yountville Festival of Lights & Winterscape (December 2011)
 Napa Valley Restaurant Month (January 2012)
 Legendary Napa Valley Getaways (February / March 2012)
 Arts in April, Explore the collection (April 2012

These events are not just related to wine but are built all around it: music, gastronomy,
movies, arts… By attending to these festivals, the wine tasting is inescapable.
The marketing techniques used in the Napa Valley are from the same innovation that we can
find in other areas of activity, such as computer or music culture: arts which are contagious.
The actors of tourism offers are looking for reducing the number of customers but attracting
more loyal customers and potential. It is usually done through wine clubs as we have seen
before, developed in almost all wineries. Moreover, the events organized as we have seen
before supply customer database and customer loyalty to businesses. The search for greater
efficiency in California is justified by the visitor profile, often CSP plus.
34

According to the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 201324, USA seems to be on a
better positioning than France in terms of competitiveness. The study is based on 14 pillars
such as the prioritization of Travel & Tourism, air transport infrastructure, tourism
infrastructure, affinity for Travel & Tourism…

Table 5: Unites States tourism worldwide position

France is losing its place of the international ranking due to its lack of competitiveness even if
the country has an excellent transport network. The United States are driven on a high
position before France, delivering a better competitive performance thanks to its excellent air
transport infrastructure (ranked 2nd) and high-quality tourism infrastructure, as well as a
strong focus on customer satisfaction. Moreover, USA tends to have strong World Heritage
cultural and natural sites but the ground transport need to be more improved (27th position).
Thoughtful planning and effective marketing is essential to motivate the well-off, high
spending guests to continue visiting and stay even longer.
3.2 South Island | New Zealand

3.2.1

Wine tourism in New Zealand, an important contributor in the
economy

New Zealand is positioned on the high-end segments and meets real commercial success with
focused on Sauvignon and Pinot Noir planted from the origin in 1819. This is only from the
1960s that the region started to produce quality table wine and very fines wines.

24

The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013, Reducing Barriers to Economic Growth and Job Creation, WEF

35

New Zealand, achieves less than 0.3% of world wine production, has now earned a reputation
as an exporter of quality wine. The role that wine plays as a component of the country's
tourism product is only just getting recognition. From 2003 and 2008, the number of wineries
has increased by 39% and the domestic sales to 32%.25

Graph 3: Wineries and Domestic Sales of New Zealand Wine, 2003-2008
Source Tourist activity, wine tourism New Zealand, series b1, september 2009

The wine producing area in New Zealand is 29,300 hectares. Christchurch City is the gateway
of the 6th famous wines regions: Canterbury, Hawkes Bay, Martinborough, Marlborough,
Nelson and Central Otago and host varying weather patterns and vineyard styles.
Marlborough (15,900 hectares) and Hawke’s Bay (4,900 hectares) are the largest wine
growing regions (see figure below).

Graph 4: Wineries and Domestic Sales of New Zealand Wine, 2003-2008
25

Tourist activity, wine tourism New Zealand, series b1, september 2009

36

Appendix 6: New Zealand Wine Regions
The region hosts spectacularly and beautiful landscapes, natural forests, snowy mountains and
miles of greenery extending along a spectacular coastline. The image of the country has
become green and pollution-free and tourism institutions communicate on this idea on the
international tourism market.
3.2.2

The clientele

The international wine tourist in New Zealand is mostly coming from Australia, United
Kingdom and United States. Japan and Canada are coming after the 3 main origin countries.
He is aged between 55-64 years. The domestic tourist mainly comes from Auckland,
Wellington and Canterbury regions and is between 35-44.26
On the general way, in New Zealand, the wine tourist is on holidays or visiting friends or
relatives form 5 days to 27 days: a specificity of the length of each stay in NZ. He is spending
on average $3,543 to $5,000 per trip and $130 the night  potential for a high end clientele.

Graph 5: Spend by International Wine Tourists in New Zealand, 2007-08

Today, they are almost 60% to stay in hotels and 12% to use Resorts/Luxury Lodges as
accommodation.

26

Tourist activity, wine tourism New Zealand, series b1, September 2009

37

3.2.3

Example of actors and tourism offer

There are a large number of organizations that are involved in tourism in New Zealand,
including:


Government Agencies: Tourism New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation &
Employment (MBIE), New Zealand Māori Tourism Council, i-SITE Visitor Centres,
Qualmark New Zealand



Industry Associations: Hospitality Association New Zealand, Mountain Guides
Association or Mountain Guides Association…



International Tourism Bodies: The United Nations World Tourism Organisation



Regional Tourism Organisations: Regional Tourism Organisations or Māori Regional
Tourism Organisations



Tourism Marketing Networks: Best of Spa New Zealand, Food and Wine Marketing
Network, Best of Golf New Zealand



Academic and Training Institutes: New Zealand Tourism Research Institute

Within the tourism actors which are directly in contact with the visitors, we can find:
3.2.3.1 Receptive agencies
Appellation Central Wine Tours (Queenstown) sells personalized tours depends on what the
customer’s needs (novice or expert) in three sub regions of Central Otago. (One of the winner
of the competition Best Of Wine Tourism 2012)
Seasonz Travel delivers luxury tailor made travel experiences is one the only agencies to
provide a 24-hour operational team that will cater for any requirement (security to private air
charter, personal chefs and guides). Moreover, VIP clients can benefit from a private island
and residence and guarantee a complete discretion.
Zest Food Tours targets gourmet’s visitors whom coming to enjoy food terroir and wine.
They are escorted by a personal tour guide lead tourist to producers meeting.27

27

www.zestfoodtours.co.nz

38

3.2.3.2 Wineries – wine properties in the south of the island
Northburn Wine Company (Cromwell) is the first cellar door operation in the region to offer a
hosted wine tasting experience served with canapés that are specifically designed to match
their wine. (One of the winner of the competition Best Of Wine Tourism 2012).
Yealands Estate Wines (Blenheim) the largest privately owned vineyard in New Zealand that
uses advanced ecofriendly technology as the premium sustainable wine production to be
certified CarboNZero: a role model for its commitment to sustainable development. A place
equipped with featuring interactive audio visual displays, sustainable winery tours, and
complimentary wine tastings. (One of the winner of the competition Best Of Wine Tourism
2012)
3.2.3.3 Exclusive Accommodation – Winery lodging
Hapuku Lodge & Tree Houses in Kaikoura situated in the north of
Christchurch is a tree top hotel on the South Island and has recently
been named to the Top Ten Extraordinary Treetop Hotels by
TripAdvisor. This type of new generation of luxury accommodation
is a distinctive way to stay on the South Island and a unique
experience that the rich clientele is looking for.
NZ Wine Centre and The County Hotel (Hawke’s Bay) a five star boutique hotel wine where
visitors can experience in New Zealand featuring aroma awareness rooms, museum, wine
appreciation theatres and a specialist collection of quality New Zealand wines.
Many wineries have complemented their business by suggesting to high-end visitors
comfortable accommodation from modern cottages to more rustic hideaways (five-star luxury
lodges, guest suites, apartments).

3.2.4

Events as a dynamism for the region

Every year, Festival Marlborough wine and cuisine in New Zealand is organized to educate
and promote fine food and wine to people through events. An example of manifestations in
Canterbury (south of the island):
 The South Canterbury Food and Wine Festival (February)
39

 Waipara Wine and Food Celebration (March)
 Kaikoura Seafest (October)
 Christchurch South Island Wine and Food Festival (December)

The Classic New Zealand Wine Trail is the famous wine road of 380km in NZ,
starting from Napier (North of the Island) to Blenheim (South of the Island).
The journey drives visitors through premium wine regions, Hawke’s Bay,
Wairarapa (Martinborough) and Marlborough regions accounting for more than
80% of New Zealand's wine production. This trip combines with the farmers'
markets, eateries and artisan food producers.28 Appendix 7: Classic New
Zealand Wine Trail
The wine trail has also configured its offer for a luxury clientele. Indeed, in the Luxury
Indulgence Itinerary Ideas, a specific itinerary is suggested on 7 days based on activities as
Cape Kidnappers International Golf Course, a helicopter flight over the region, beauty
treatment or massage at Mangapapa Petit Hotel's SPA or romantic picnic.
3.2.5

What’s make New Zealand unique from the others

For its international tourism promotion, New Zealand has adopted a tourism strategy vision
which is: “In 2015, tourism is valued as the leading contributor to a sustainable New Zealand
economy”:
-

The sector takes a leading role in protecting and enhancing the environment (wineries,
accommodations…)

-

A partnership approach between the private sector and government as we previously
said (tourism actors). A strong cohesion between the strong tourism institutions.

28

www.classicwinetrail.co.nz

40

Table 6: New Zealand tourism worldwide position
In a general way, New Zealand holds a good tourism worldwide position (12th) even though
France is placed before.

3.3 Cape Town | South Africa

3.3.1

Introduction of wine, the wine region in South Africa and the interest
of wine tourism

South Africa is a rich green country where wine tourists have the opportunity to practice
green tourism or eco tourism. As an initiative in 2004, the Biodiversity Wine Initiative (BWI)
has been set up to ensure that the biodiversity of plant life is preserved and encouraged. And
the country has well understood the richness of its wildlife biodiversity and exploits it through
promotion campaigns.
The country is one of the oldest of the New World wine producers countries outside Europe
and has centuries’ long tradition of winemaking. Apartheid in South Africa has incited the
sale of wine on locals market and producers have developed for the domestic market a
41

complete offer with wine roads and a sales culture to property. Today, the wine industry is
one of the primary agricultural sectors in the country and ranks 8th in the worldwide wine
production.
South Africa has invested in the production of high-end wine to have a better image and
positioning on the worldwide market however the country is looking for making wine
accessible to all. Within the South Africa context, specialists as Van Rooyen in Media Vision
Consultants (2008) have demonstrated the fact that going from a production orientation
(traditional) to a marketing orientation (adaptation of the market) is essential for wine
producers’ survivals. In fact, wine tourism is considerate to an essential marketing channel for
some of the wine places.
Most vineyards are situated in the Western Cape near the coast. Appendix 8: Map of wine
regions in South Africa. This region is divided in 13 winelands composed of a Mediterranean
climate with warm, dry summers and wet winters: Cape Town, Paarl, Tulbagh, Constantia,
Stellenbosh, Swelendam…
Cape Town, located in the most southern of South Africa, has a history of winemaking that
stretches back over 3 centuries. Considered to be the foremost wine tourism destination in
South Africa, the city is such an ideal destination for breaks thanks to its pleasant
Mediterranean climate and the international attractions: beaches, wild fauna and flora
landscape, gourmet restaurants, boutiques, tailored wine tasting experiences, short flight
above wildlife reserves and of course wineries.
In 2003, South Africa’ wine sales from tourist accounted 25% of total wine sales revenues.29
Today, 1/3 of the tourists visiting the province of Western Cape around Cape are passing
through a winery. The architecture of tourist places is contemporary spaces and has been
studied for receiving visitors from the country and from abroad.
3.3.2

The clientele

In a new study from the book Global Wine Tourism: Research, Management and Marketing
written by Jack Carlsen, the South African wine tourist is aged between 25 to 40 YO, “most
likely female and single without children and with a professional qualification”. They are
mostly free independent traveler day tourist coming by car.

29

WOSA, 2005

42

Figure 2: South African market structure; total market summary, 2001
Source Global Wine Tourism: Research, Management and Marketing

3.3.3

Very upscale tourism actor and offer

Wine tourism in South Africa is strongly influenced by the country's history. Due to the
apartheid, a lot of wine producers have become without any export trade and in order to catch
the local clientele, producers have developed wine routes, an extensive wine tourism supply
and sales culture to property. The first wine route was Stellenbosch established in 1973 and
remains the largest with 140 members and some 160,000 visitors per year, who mostly come
from South Africa: a major tourist attraction in 2013.
Most organized tours in this region include the discovery of the peninsula by the wine road
(eg of the world first biodiversity wine road: Green Mountain Eco Wine Road). Actually, it is
positioned and structured around its natural and cultural heritage. Moreover, South Africa has
the particularity to make the wine accessible to all and not has an elite product (eg. as in
Bordeaux, France)
3.3.3.1 Wine Estates

La Motte Wine Estate (Franschhoek) has being committed to the principles and practices of
excellence in wine production and environmental sustainability under the certification ISO
14001 Environmental Management Certification. The winery is dedicated to art and culture,
culinary creativity, a classical music offering, exhibition of famous South African artist Jacob
Hendrik Pierneef, elegant wine tasting, and possibility of traditional Cape Winelands Cuisine,
picturesque gardens with the historic architecture, hiking trail through the mountain with the
view of the Franschhoek Valley. (One of the winner of the competition Best Of Wine
Tourism 2012)
43

Solms-Delta Wine Estate (Groot Drakenstein) highly acclaimed wines, fine heritage and
innovative cuisine in the Fyndraai restaurant, annual harvest festival and seasonal Summer
Concerts showcase on place, Museum van de Caab exhibition of the slave heritage of the
area. (One of the winner of the competition Best Of Wine Tourism 2012)
Waterford Estate (Stellenbosch.), one of South Africa’s most recognized and highly regarded
wine brands suggests standard wine tastings, the “Waterford wine and chocolate experience”,
the “Vintage reserve tasting” and now the “Waterford estate wine drive” (4 x 4). They have
developed a partnership with the Golf and Wine Experience that is run in conjunction with De
Zalze Golf Estate and 3 of the top ten restaurants in the country. (One of the winner of the
competition Best Of Wine Tourism 2012)  Luxury Wine Tourism
Waverley Hills Estate (Wolseley), the 1st organic wine producer to achieve the Biodiversity
& Wine Initiative Champion status, suggests to customers an experience about knowledge on
organic farming and the natural fauna and flora, organic wine and olive products tastings, and
sports activities such as hiking or biking in the nature. (One of the winner of the competition
Best Of Wine Tourism 2012)  Green tourism.
A study made by Adri Kirkman from university of South Africa in 2010 illustrates by a
precise figure the different tourism practices and facilities suggested by the majority of
wineries open to the public in South Africa. Appendix 9 : Products and services offered by
wineries in South Africa. The results show that the products and services offered by wine
properties include wine tasting (93.4%), cellar door sales (87.0%) and restroom facilities for
the public (73.9%). More than 1 out of 3 wineries suggest a restaurant and the possibility to
stay on place (accommodation/hotel) which is not really the case in France. Then, the
possibility to meet the winemaker by wine tasting or cellar door is easier. The possibility to
receive groups on place for private and professional events is a commonplace.
Wine tourism contributes to increased wine sales, visitor’s numbers, the brand of the winery
and the destination image. This tourism attraction is determined by different promoting
operations such as:
 Organized wine tastings and special offers or discounts
 Newspaper and magazine editorials
 Newsletters and direct mail-order lists
 Wine route promotional activities
44

 Attending wine festivals and trade shows
 Wine sales representatives
 Restaurants
 Other Internet sites, social media
 ….
The most efficient communication which is not costly is the “word of mouth”.

3.3.3.2 Accommodations and Spa
Delaire Graff Lodges & Spa (Cape Town) location provides for the tourists escape and
privacy, accommodation of 10 luxurious decorated lodges, each with their own private pool,
relaxation in an idyllic environment. Guests can enjoy art and design, gourmet food, fine
wines tasting and a worldwide Spa featuring a range of products and exclusive treatments.
(One of the winner of the competition Best Of Wine Tourism 2012)  Luxury wine tourism
SpierWine Estate (Stellenbosch) a wine estate center with tasting area, shop, hotel and
Restaurant and Spa, ecotourism center, species protection, children entertainment center, golf
course and wine club is as well a perfect example of luxury attraction. The customer can find
everything on the same place without taking any specific transport. The offer is really
complete for wine tourist.
3.3.3.3 Wine roads
The first South Africa’s wine route was established in 1973 in Stellenbosch and was launched
by the Minister of Agriculture and South Africa was proud of its worldwide reputation (the
best wine road) and from this time, it has understood the interest of a marketing strategy.
Today, we count 16 wine routes in the Western and Northern Cape:
 Breedekloof, Constantia, Wine Route, Paarl Vintners, Tulbagh Wine Route and
Wellington Wine Route (Wines of South Africa)
 Stellenbosch Wine Route (the most popular of all), followed by the Paarl and
Franschhoek Wine Routes (Western Cape)

45

3.3.4

Marketing strategy used in South Africa

The region has adopted from the origin a marketing strategy based on its very old history due
to due some wine areas up to 350 years and thanks to wine direct relationship with the
consumer, perceived as a real marketing opportunity (client’s profiles, consumption habits…),
a collective approach leading to a promotion roads coordination. Cooperation between the
various stakeholders creates a "win-win situation".

Table 7: South Africa tourism worldwide position
Although France has a good tourism positioning, South Africa is situated very far on the 64th
rank. But, Cape Town has worked on an uninhibited approach by bringing innovative ideas
for the tourism offer. This wine growing area is working on an initiative of spreading of a
genuine “Wine Culture” through a conscientious and integral management.
The New World, which symbolizes the past 20 years, the success of a new concept of wine,
has been the first to understand the interest of wine tourism, attracting a worldwide clientele
through a solid marketing differentiation. California’s Napa Valley has been a drawer in terms
of spending for wine tourism and other countries like New Zealand have also been quick to
recognize the importance of the wine tourism market with well-thought-out offers such as
exquisite restaurants, modern and romantic wine cellars, cable cars to spectacular viewpoints
and luxury country hotels.

46

3.4 Quantitative study of the New World
Appendix 10: Questionnaire
This investigation checks a hypothesis that the student has already analyzed through
information on websites and reports.
Remarks: other data were collected through the internship of the student in Château Pape
Clément with the receptive agency Luxury Wine Tourism. Indeed, the student used to receive
wine professionals from all over the world: Hamel Family, vintner based in Sonoma
(California) US.
This questionnaire has been sent to more than 300 wineries of the New World. The wineries
have been selected according to the wine regions studied: Napa Valley, Christchurch and
Cape Town.
The questionnaire has been set up in three different formats under:

- A internet link:

-

http://luxurywinetourismstudy.evalandgo.com/s/?id=JTk4aiU5NWg=&a=JTk1bCU5
NW4lOUE=
A word questionnaire sent by email
A QR code:

The interest to have three different forms allows an easy access through internet (internet
link), a computer (word questionnaire) or a Smartphone (QR code) and increase the number
of respondents. The student has addressed an email including the three formats to the
database.
We have analyzed that on the 300 wineries that have received the email, 7 wineries
Total of wineries that received the questionnaire

300

Total of responses

9 let 3% of return.

Origin

Mostly responses from Napa Valley
47

Format the most used

Internet link or QR code 7 out of 9
Word questionnaire 2 out of 9

One of the limits of this questionnaire was the low return of answer. In other words, it will be
difficult to deliver precise responses because the return sample is narrow and the responses
from wineries of the New World (USA, New Zealand and South Africa) have been gathering
together.
Analysis of the responses of the questions:
Nb 2: Approximately, how many tourists is your property welcoming per year? On average
15,000 are coming on property.
Nb 3: What is your high season in terms on visits on the property? Tourists are mainly
coming in July, August, September and October for visitations of wineries.
November
0%

February
January
0%
0%

Visitors during high and low seasons
December
March
0%

October
22%

April
3%

May
9%

June
9%
July
16%

September
22%
August
19%

Nb 4: What type of tourism clientele is coming on place (origin, age, status)? Varied
responses but usually is between 25 to 45YO with high income over $150,000, let
114795€/year.
Nb 5: How long are they staying on average in the region? From 2 days to 3 days
Nb 6: How about average customer spends on your property (visits, wine purchase,
accommodation…)? They are spending on average $98.5 (75,38€)

48

Nb 7: Have you noticed the arriving of a new luxury clientele since few years?
Arriving of luxury clientele?

No
22%

Yes
78%

Nb 8: Apart of your main activity of wine production, which tourism facilities or product do
you suggest to the guests on place?
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Nb 9: Have you already created special wine events around another theme? (wine music
festivals, wine and spa, wine and golf?)
On the 9 wineries 8 has created an event:
-

Wine and Tapas & Wine & Vineyard Hike (Artesa Winery)

-

Wine, music, art, food and photography (Chimney Rock Winery)

49

-

Hosted Ferrari, worked with local arts programs and hosted structured tasting seminars
(Dominus Estate)

-

Wine and patriotic themed parties to go with Jefferson theme (Monticello Vineyards)

-

Program called Camp Schramsberg (Schramsberg Vineyards)

-

Partner with The Napa Valley Film Festival, Auction Napa Valley and Bottle Rock (a
music festival) (Domaine Chandon)

-

A market day (Yealands)

These festivals or event may thus offer different perspectives on wine consumer behavior
from other wine experiences.
Nb 10: Have you already developed a customer loyalty system in your structure? If yes,
which one? “Mailing list” and “wine clubs” are the main answers.
Nb 11: How do you manage to communicate and galvanize your wine tourism offer?
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Usually in the New World, tasting events, travel agents, wine competitions and newsletters
appear to be marketing strategies that are used more intensely whereas, Bordeaux tends to use
tourism office as a marketing tool.
Nb 12: Which part in % of your turnover is concentrated to wine tourism activity?
-

3 wineries over 5%

-

1 winery between 10 to 20%

-

2 wineries over 20%

50

Nb 13: According to you, what makes your property unique and different from the others? 
Very varied and personal answers (see the responses)
Nb 14: If you have been already in France, how do you perceive the French welcoming in
the wine regions? and Nb 15: Do you think France is late in the wine tourism offer (need an
offer more developed and more accessible)? Did not get any answer
Nb 16: Which measure(s) does France need to adopt according to you to catch up its late?
-

It would help if wineries acted like they wanted tourist to come rather than just put up
with the tours

-

They need to be more friendly and need to speak to people as if they have little wine
knowledge

-

Focus on the family estate wines

According to this questionnaire, the wine tourist profile of the New World does not differ a
lot from the international visitor (high educated, high income…). The respondents have
started to notice the emergence of a new luxury clientele which is still a niche.
Wineries are making a positive effort on the visitors’ attraction. Indeed, almost all wine places
that answered to the questions were involved in a festival or other event and they are mostly
communicating through web 2.0. A wine festival creates tourism to the region and also helps
develop and enhance wine product image.
Moreover, an interesting marketing tool put in place in all wineries is a “wine club”, the
creation of customer loyalty that collects customers’ information. In this case, wine places
know in details the wine buyer.
According to what was illustrated in the luxury wine tourism marketing strategies of the New
World, recommendations are suggested in the following part to categorize and make the offer
more visible from the potential niche.

51

4 Study and recommendations to improve the interaction of French luxury wine
tourism offers because of a strong competition of the New World
Unlike other wine tourism destinations where winemaking is more akin to formatted visits of
cellars and recent structures, such as bodegas in Spain or "wineries" in the U.S., France has a
real history and tradition wine. “The success of a wine tourism destination depends on the
capacity to integrate the “wine” resource with other elements such as gastronomy, cultural
and landscape features, and especially with an accommodation model.”30
The Old Word seems to be really different from the New World in terms of tourism structures
and institutions which have copied theses strategies in USA, New Zealand and South Africa
and it may not be the right solution. The country has to understand correctly the external
context of the market and target correctly its clientele.
As we have seen above, the main issue of luxury wine tourism in France is the lack of
harmonization, interaction and communication between the different actors which is not
enough developed on the B2B and B2C approaches.
According to Robert Joseph, author of « Wine travel guide to the world », France and the
United States do not perceive tourism related to wine in the same way: the French offer is not
enough entertaining. "In the U.S., wine is an integral part of the wine industry. In France,
some regions, such as Bordeaux are still chilly! " Robert Joseph says.31

4.1 Marketing environment and strategies already put in place by Atout France
around the luxury offer in France
The following figure illustrates the fact that a tourism actor or a wine business in France is
influenced by its micro and micro environments.32 Several variables such as the customers,
the competitors, and the government policy come into account.

30 th

4 International Conference of the Academy of Wine Business Research, Siena, 17-19 July, 2008
La Revue des Vins de France
32
Kotler & Armstrong, 2006
31

52

Macro environment

•Political
•Economic
•Environmental
•Technological
•Social

Micro environment

•Customers
•Competitors
•Intermediaries
•Customers

Wine tourism actors

•Wineries
•Accommodation
•Food & beverage
facilities
• Entertainments

Figure 3: Marketing environment of a wine tourism actor
A SWOT analysis has been established to know more about the wine tourism environment in
France:
Strengths
 The variety of vines and wine regions is very rich in France, unique terroir with
different micro climate.
 A very large range of wines, high quality, big names  symbol of excellence for high
end wine consumers. Wine classification such as The 1855 Classification i.e
(Bordeaux) was published. This publication designate wine and wine-growing regions
a destination identity to France, considerate as a brand image.
 The AOC i.e. guaranty quality
 Position of France, center of Europe, easy access. Transport network well structured
(train, plane, tramways, bus…)
 France one of the country the most visited in the world famous for its wines and
excellent gastronomy food.
 France’s research facilities and good university resources compare new world wine
countries such as India, Argentina or Chile.

53

 Wine road that are organized by various profit and non-profit organizations, for
example, Route des Vins d’Alsace in France
 A destination composed of rich natural and cultural resources base
 The hotel classification reform initiated in 2009, including the creation of a fifth star
that existed abroad, has clearly given destination France in the competition.
Weaknesses
 Organic wines not steel very well developed
 Tourism institutions not enough linked together for an efficient communication and
coordination. Lack of information towards the customer.
 Different offers not really linked together.
 Lack of competent staff in foreign languages
Opportunities
 Luxury wine tourism tendency, desire from tourist to travel less but better. According
to the latest forecasts from Boston Consulting Group, the craze for exception trips is
increasing. Indeed, the industry sales are expected to increase 12% in value per year
until 2014. Luxury tourism trip sales exceed growth from other luxury goods as
watches, sports cars, etc...  real potential in continuing the luxury development
 Social-media marketing such as Facebook or Twitter that allow the development of a
direct marketing strategy
 Emerging of the new clientele CSP+, growth of a new high class that began to seek
quality wine along with the aristocracy
 Foreign visitors with a high culture in win
Treats
 Competition from the New World in terms of luxury tourism offer
 Competition by other beverages on the domestic market (good quality and reasonable
prices from the New World)
France destination generally uses traditional channels (fairs, brochures, official tourism
offices) while destinations in the U.S., South Africa and New Zealand tend to use more
innovative internet-related channels and social networks. France does not have to ignore the

54

importance of the digital and web technology which is used by billions of users in the
research of holidays.
In order to fight against this gap, Atout France has developed the Club Tourisme Vitivinicole
that communicates on the signature "France wines, a unique experience". In fact, this
communication campaign concentrates on this key word “experience unique”.
Moreover, ATOUT France has launched campaigns on internet for countries as Germany with
“weinweltfrankreich” or USA with “Wine and cheers! Celebrate wine and gastronomy in
France” to expose the different activities available in France for a wine tourism stay. Today,
the potential client even if he is classic or premium is searching any interest because he is
curious and that is why California communicates a lot on internet the Napa Valley activities
available.
4.2 Recommendations
As we have seen, the New World has adopted an aggressive marketing strategy to attract
more clients and getting competitive positions. France seems to not be strongly positioned on
this way but the country has a developed a large offer by not enough entertaining and
connected. Appendix 11: Wine tourism labels and organization in France.
It would be interesting to establish a marketing communication strategy by implementing a
common brand and policy on development of the luxury offer on the market. France has
assets that have not been correctly exploited yet. In order to fight against the international
strong competition, the author suggests creating a label that specifies the luxury offer for the
clientele in France through three routes to explore:
4.2.1

Select correctly the offer to target the high-end wine tourist

Knowing the economic context, the tourism market, the actual offer and the client desires is
beneficial before communicating on the luxury offer. At this level of high value clientele, the
product will have to be designed for well determined luxury market by ensuring an excellent
service to meet customers ‘expectations (often foreign). Each client has his own philosophy of
traveling and desires that professionals must absolutely understand. An important point to
reaffirm is the chic French “Art de Vivre” that France manages.
The strategy suggested here is also based on the collection of information by developing a
marketing information system (MIS) database. Actually, if every establishment could develop
55

this database, it will be able to record as much data on visitors and will provide valuable
information on the demand (needs and expectations). By doing this, tourism actors will adapt
specific wine tourism products to the clientele and improve the marketing strategy for each
individual customer. In fact, client knowledge ensures a better satisfaction.

4.2.2

Structure and identify a premium offer by highlighting a real "plus
product" differentiation

Insure above all the customer satisfaction by providing excellence and high quality product:
luxury accommodation, tailored made service, private activities and the most important thing
is to listen and to know the customer’s needs and wants (as seen before MIS database).
And of course, improving the visibility of the offer by suggesting a consistency of quality
services through a national common trunk.
To ensure a high quality offer, luxury establishments (hotels, big names châteaux, gourmet
restaurant) which will meet specific criteria of luxury will be awarded certification through a
national label.
4.2.3

The creation of the luxury wine tourism label: a harmonization of the
luxury French offer through a national award

This plaque raking that will be created by Atout France will be attributed to luxury partners
linked directly to the wine tourism. This label will deliver a strong high identity for high
quality tourism products: exclusive accommodation (4 to 5 stars), gastronomic restaurant,
high comfort transport unique attraction… and will raise France’s profile as an international
quality wine destination. Appendix 12: FLWT label
Marketing Mix: 4P’s
In order to better understand the initiative of the student, a marketing mix figure is presented
below to promote a sustainable and high-quality wine tourism development in France:

56

Mémoire de fin d'études, M2 inseec, Audrey Sénéchal

Mémoire de fin d'études, M2 inseec, Audrey Sénéchal

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