The role of technology in wine tourism

This chapter mainly focuses on the way new technologies can enhance the wine tourism experience. After a brief overview of scholarly research, a selection of international case studies related to wine tourism is presented to outline the general context. In doing so, it attempts to stimulate a debate about the role of technology in this market, which remains an underinvestigated theme. Actually, new technologies appear to have a direct impact on the main three elements constituting the wine experience: learning, hedonism, and the ‘winescape’. Their adoption can stimulate operators to resort to more engaging concepts that integrate digital (e.g., virtual tours), ‘phygital’ (e.g., digital tastings), and physical (e.g., onsite visits) experiences. This certainly increases the appeal of the wine tourism sector, both to primary-motivated tourists and other travelers (such as non-wine-drinker tourists).