Chapter 3 Chapter 3
3.3 Wine Routes
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(Telfer 2001 ), and have both an interest in and the competences necessary for joining an industry (tourism) that in its essence is very different from that of wine producing, as shown in Fig. 3.1 .
At the same time, regions do not react in the same way to the fi rm’s presence and the opportunities for regional dynamics that come with them (Correia 2010 ).
Regions are also fairly heterogeneous and have specifi c development paths and con- texts that condition the fi rms’ strategic action and relationships. Consequently, such specifi city means that the same recipe cannot be used to stimulate the development of all wine regions. The relationship between fi rms and regions will always be region-specifi c and impossible to replicate. Therefore, there is no unique mecha- nism or generic law to explain how a wine region comes to be a dynamic one. Such specifi city renders fragile the wine tourism literary trend which points to a generic thesis of wine tourism development based upon the combination of various typical factors inside a geographically delimited space.
Wine routes have been one of the major solutions adopted by the wine tourism to assert itself, and a major part of its structure and dissemination is based upon wine routes. These stimulate cooperation between groups of wine producers around com- mon objectives and are able to offer a coherent product and create added value to the original activity, which is wine producing.
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around its main tourism attraction: the wine. Each farm, vineyard or associated route can be considered as a link between the tourist and its associated tourist net- work since none of them separately can offer all services and goods that the tourist requires during his or her stay in the region (Brunori and Rosi 2000 ).
A wine route is capable of articulating multiple attributes, thus creating a portrait of the territory, as the tourist will see it, without fragmentation or administrative divisions. Even if the route itself is subject to multiple divisions and administrative patching with the corresponding defragmentation, and lack of reliability and appeal as a global tourism product, establishing a wine route gives a unifying character.
This eventuates around the tourism interests linked to wine, and as we have seen, they can be multiple but will become indistinguishable and will offer an articulated network favourable to the supply of a complete tourism package.
3.3.1 The Collective Action Nature of Wine Routes
One route can never affi rm itself by any number of its elements; its reputation and global image as well as the value of its trademark are part and parcel of all the com- ponents which are responsible for it.
However, this network will have a critical mass responsible for its structuring and maintenance. It is only normal that every member contributes in an unequal manner to the network created around such a route. It is essential that various regional elements not directly linked to the route, but with an interest in the product developed by this route (infrastructures, hospitality, safety, cultural entities, etc.), take part and belong to this critical mass since doing so will warrant the participa- tion of all elements required for its success.
Establishing routes is obviously one of the best ways to achieve concerted action between government instrumentalities, local associations and private enterprise, enabling the local population to identify easily with the project. It propels and cre- ates dynamics in the wine-producing industry, which is always a major employer in those regions where such routes can be created.
Arfi ni et al. ( 2002 ) stress the importance of collective action to achieve success when they decompose the relationships around a route: the existing relationship among partners in a territorial system where the route is located and the relationship between tourists who use the route and the operators associated with it. From the perspective of such interrelated partners, routes can become “a relational space within which specifi c agreements are made regarding the criteria for product and operator qualifi cation, which are useful for improving the co-ordination and collec- tive image of the product” (Arfi ni et al. 2002 , p. 6).
Under these agreements, it is possible to achieve stability and standardisation within the productive system associated with the route “a wine route can gradually lead to progressive interconnections between social actors, inanimate elements and regional symbols” (Brunori and Rosi 2000 , p. 421). It allows the possibility of collective planning and greater certainty where the image and performance of the
3 Wine Tourism and Regional Development
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individual is always intrinsically linked to the collective action. The relationship derived from such interconnections will enable a continuous knowledge process that will defi nitely contribute towards satisfying tourists’ needs.
As far as the relationship between tourists and the route operators is concerned
“the route product can be considered as the result of collective action of both a material and immaterial nature, and this result is capitalised in a collective immate- rial resource, that of the reputation, linked to the name of the route, the territory or the product.” (Arfi ni et al. 2002 , p. 7).
The quality and global appreciation of this tourism product being developed around a route is not subject to or capable of being dominated by any specifi c inter- venient. The “creation of a tourist experience around a wine route is not simply the sum of the outputs from individual farms” (Brunori and Rosi 2000 , p. 411), but a global vision of a reality naturally indivisible. The integration of associates, the sharing of values and the demands for a certain level of quality will create coher- ence at all product levels but will be hostage to the establishment of a collective action.
This cohesion can be postponed because wine producers must adhere to a com- mon set of rules or norms that may enable levels of demand, dynamism, communi- cation and dissemination compatible with the values demanded by the market.
Obviously, matters not postponed by norms such as sensitivity towards quality, rec- ognition of the importance of landscape preservation, maintenance of tradition, and capacity of interaction and collaboration between wine producers cannot be disre- garded or taken lightly since they can make or break the route’s success (Brunori and Rosi 2000 ).
According to Arfi ni et al. ( 2002 ), the support or existence of legislation, a proper territory, quality wine, or even the presence of infrastructures and quality producers are not by themselves the key to success. What may become essential for achieving a successful route are the capacity and the will of all intervening parties to interact between themselves in order to create a true network capable of bettering and enriching the entire productive system where the route takes place.
This cooperation and a territory’s articulation around a structured wine- producing culture network may be the decisive factor in differentiating itself from other terri- tories. It may be capable of creating sustainable value for itself since it is in this manner that “places compete on the basis of what makes them unique rather than simply competing on the basis of price for the mass tourist” (Hall and Mitchell 2000 , p. 461), which could be volatile and counterproductive.
3.3.2 The Impact of Routes on Territorial Development
The product resulting from the route must have a sustained growth based upon a vast array of local products and the presence of historical elements, and cultural and natu- ral attractions, coupled with a high level of services. These factors once articulated must lend a unique character to the route making it unparalleled (Arfi ni et al. 2002 ).
R. Correia and C. Brito
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According to those authors, once there is a route, one can use available information in an articulate manner regarding the territory’s value in all its dimensions, including legislative, organisational and human aspects that are jointly integrated, thus appreciating the value of the territorial system and products offered or produced there. As a matter of fact, “once wine routes are successfully established, they cre- ate new markets, defi ned by new products and customers patterns. These extend the product defi nition to all local goods and services related to wine and its territory rather than confi ning it to wine alone. In doing so, routes focus on actual and poten- tial tourists as customers rather than merely as wine consumers” (Brunori and Rosi 2000 , p. 410).
Tourists who visit a wine route have at their disposal a vast array of experiences.
They may visit farms and vineyards, engage in wine tasting, visit enotecs and muse- ums, sleep at a farm, enjoy regional gastronomy, admire the landscape and the cul- tural heritage, and buy quality regional products (Brunori and Rosi 2000 ). This may enable a great micro-business fabric, which will help uphold the cultural legacy, and the socioeconomic fabric of local inhabitants so characteristic and differentiate.
The socioeconomic impact tied in with the routes is shown in Fig. 3.2 and can be defragmented into two major groups: on one hand, routes can increase profi tability of the members’ previous activities and on the other hand, they create new windows of opportunity to exploit new business avenues (Brunori and Rosi 2000 ) and subse- quently develop a new interlinked network. The former is designated by these authors as localisation whilst the latter is synergy, to which is added an intrinsic effect relating to the speed and individual entrepreneurship.
The localisation effect is easily achieved without a major effort from adherents because the mere creation of the route will increase competitiveness and the area’s
Creation of a Wine route
Increasing number of tourists
Increasing awareness of customers and brand value of the tourist destination associated with territory
Increasing enotourism demand
Increasing demand for direct sales
Increasing demand for products, culture and traditions associated with the territory
Increasing demand for bottled wine
Increasing demand for indirect sales and for the value of the territory as a tourist destination
Increasing members sales volumes
Increasing of sales activities and related movements
Territorial Development
Maintenance and attraction of residents
Maintenance and attraction of residents
Fig. 3.2 Impact of wine routes. Source : Brunori and Rosi ( 2000 ), p. 413 (adapted) 3 Wine Tourism and Regional Development
36
visibility, thus motivating demand increases and competitive attitudes. Synergetic effects do, however, translate into the sale of new products, development and the activa- tion of new activities and members, all of which must be properly exploited through their owners’ dynamic activity, which involves a change in their organisational atti- tudes and business approaches, thereby adapting to the whole network they now belong to.
In such a dimension one should note the added importance assigned by the members, namely farms and vineyards, to the aesthetics of the preservation of legacy, the genuine factors linked to space and tradition, the creation of infrastruc- tures to support tourism, and their association with local products capable of increasing their product portfolio. Similar importance should be given to their association with cultural groups capable of enhancing the product being offered in conjunction with the vineyard culture and involving tourism with the region as a whole. What we mean here, is that a positive activation and profi tability of all ter- ritorial space incorporated in the route is required. Such factors increase coher- ence, create signs and powerful associations that when passed on to the tourist reinforce the intrinsic trademark of the territory.
All articulation and activation of members’ linked activities and the care attrib- uted to factors such as landscape conservation and culture preservation in order to capture visitors must also be considered. Consequently, all sales opportunities deriving from such an approach would make it possible to avoid an economically effi cient mechanisation which would destroy the landscape, thus preserving tradi- tional production methods and retaining labour dependent on this activity. From another point of view, to create availability of associated regional products one can locally stimulate arts and crafts production and cultural groups which provide their services as a supplement to what the route offers. When a tourist destination trade- mark is created in a strong and recognisable manner, the route’s activity attracts more tourists to the territory and tourism agents in general, and not exclusively to the route’s associates or those directly linked to the route.
We can thus observe that the potential for economic development associated with a route can be enormous, since “from the moment it is created and starts to work as an ‘engine’ for development, the wine route is recognized by its members, non- members, tourists and other interested actors as acting and ‘speaking for’ the territory. The wine route fi xes a development repertory into a strategic hegemony”
(Brunori and Rosi 2000 , p. 421). This strategy is conditioned to an understanding of its articulations and the promotion of interaction between members in order to pro- vide a dynamic tourist offer in the territory.