Responses to Chinese wine tourists?

Responses to Chinese wine tourists? An Italian perspective
Prof. Dr. Harald Pechlaner
Mag. Michael Volgger
Margaret River, February 2016
(Acknowledging Astrid Früh’s contribution to data coding)
1) Chinese tourists in Italy
Share of tourism nights spent by Chinese tourists in
the EU, 2014 (selection)
25,00%
21.40%
20,00%
15,00%
10,00%
5,00%
0,00%
Italy
UK
France
Germany
Spain
Austria
Source: EUROSTAT, 2015
g More than 3 million overnight stays of Chinese tourists in Italy per year (2013; ISTAT, 2014)
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1) Chinese tourists in Italy
Share in tourism nights spent in Italy, 2014
Share in tourism nights of non-EU-tourists
spent in Italy, 2014
21%
11.90%
15.02%
6.10%
.4,50%
Share of EU tourists
share of non-EU tourists
USA
Russia
China
Japan
Brazil
Others
Sources: EUROSTAT, 2015
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1) Chinese tourists in Italy
Strong growth in overnight stays
+190%
2003
1.03 million overnight stays
2013
3.01 million overnight stays
Source: ISTAT, 2014
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1) Chinese tourists in Italy
Veneto: 27%
Lombardia: 26%
Toscana: 26%
Lazio: 18%
Source: Osservatore Nazionale del Turismo, 2011
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2) Food and wine tourism in Italy
•  Italy has become the biggest wine producer
worldwide in 2015 (estimated quantity: 48.9 mhl)
•  4th country in surface (“area under vine”), 3rd in
wine consumption (2014)
•  2nd in wine export (both in volumes and values)
•  Fifth most important wine-export country toward
China for bottled wine in volume and value
(2014)
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Image: https://flic.kr/p/9zxyHx
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2) Food and wine tourism in Italy: Selected products
Wine roads
Farm holidays
Authentic restaurants
(Strade del vino e del
gusto)
(Agriturismi)
(osterie)
•  Linking tourism and
agriculture (hotels,
restaurants, wineries
etc.)
•  Providing
accommodation
directly on farms and
wineries
•  Linking wine with the
territory
•  Consume and buy
local products
•  Rarely: Help in
agriculture
•  Authentic bars and
restaurants
•  Long history
•  Renaissance through
realisation of a yearly
brochure „Osterie
d‘Italia“ (since 1990)
Slow tourism, slow
food, slow cities
•  Cultural movement
that wants to limit
globalized (fast)
movement of: tourists,
food products etc.
•  Respecting tradition,
producers and
environment
•  Branding
•  Second cities
Sources: Lemmi/Siena Tangheroni (2015), Croce/Perri (2010)
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2) Food and wine tourism in Italy: Selected products
Food & wine events
Wine tasting & visits to wineries
(eventi del vino)
(visite alle cantine)
•  Linking export with tourism
•  Roots: in the 1993 initiative
“Cantine Aperte”, that led
wineries to open their cellars for
the broader public
•  Tasting and exhibition
•  Starting point for a food & wine
tourism in Italy in a narrow
sense
•  Today: Link with architecture
Role of publications
•  Canonization with publications
•  „Vino al vino“ (1971, Mario
Soldati) – linking wine with
territory, looking for smallscaled production
•  „Gambero rosso“ (specialized
publishing in the food & wine
sector)
Sources: Mason/Paggiaro (2012), Croce/Perri (2010)
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2) Food and wine tourism in Italy: Appreciation
“10 Best Wine Travel Destinations 2016”
1)  Las Vegas (USA)
2)  Bordeaux (France)
3)  Margaret River (Australia)
4)  Südtirol / Alto Adige (Italy)
5)  Paso Pobles (USA)
6)  Basque Country (Spain)
[Wine Enthusiast]
(http://www.winemag.com/gallery/10-best-wine-traveldestinations-2016/#gallery-carousel-1
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“Top 10 Wine Destinations Around the World”
1) 
2) 
3) 
4) 
5) 
Okanagan Valley (Canada)
Bordeaux (France)
Finger Lakes (USA)
Mendoza (Argentina)
Willamette Valley (USA)
6) Tuscany (Italy)
7) Cape Town (South Africa)
8) Napa & Sonoma (USA)
9) Barcelona (Spain)
10) Yarra Valley (Australia)
[Huffington Post]
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/viator/top-10-wine-destinations_b_3876855.html
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2) Food and wine tourism in Italy: Some weaknesses
1)  Lack of a shared wine tourism strategy & marketing approach
2)  Lack of collaboration among wine producers
3)  Lack of overseas’ prominence of “smaller”, high quality wine growing areas in Italy (with the
exception of Tuscany - Chianti, Piedmont - Langhe, Veneto - Valpolicella)
Source: Festa et al., 2015
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Image: https://flic.kr/p/egFovP
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3) Wine tourist decision making (model)
“Value the experience”
Wine experience
Destination experience
“Expect the peer group to approve the behavior”
Personal development
Normative influences
“Believe they have the resources”
“Know it already”
Perceived control
Familiarity
Source: based on Sparks, 2007; based on Ajzen, 1991 (TPB…theory of planned behavior); see also Getz/Brown, 2006
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4) Research questions
1)  How are Italian tourism supply actors currently responding to Chinese tourists’ interests
for wine (food & wine)?
2)  How could Italian supply actors improve their presentation of the Italian wine (food &
wine) offer to Chinese tourists in future?
Ø  Exploratory study based on qualitative interviews
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5) Method: Data collection & analysis
Study design
§ 
Exploratory approach
§ 
Snowball-sampling starting with the mayor of San Gimignano (UNESCO) in Tuscany and the ex-director of
ENIT
Qualitative interviews
• 
Data collection:
- 
§ 
5 semi-structured interviews with destination managers, politicians, tour guides, tour operators
Data analysis: GABEK toolset (qualitative analysis technique) (Zelger, 2000; Pechlaner/Volgger, 2012)
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5) Method: Data collection & analysis
Œ
INTERVIEW STATEMENT
“The Chinese wine tourist
exists, yes. Very often they are
business men who come to
Italy to make business.”
Raw data:
Transcribed qualitative interviews
Source: Pechlaner/Volgger, 2012
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5) Method: Data collection & analysis
Œ
INTERVIEW STATEMENT
“The Chinese wine tourist
exists, yes. Very often they are
business men who come to
Italy to make business.”
- 
LIST OF KEYWORDS
Chinese tourist
- 
Wine
- 
Business
- 
Travel motivation
- 
Italy
Raw data:
Complexity reduction:
Transcribed qualitative interviews
Representation of the raw text
in the form of keywords
Source: Pechlaner/Volgger, 2012
Pechlaner/Volgger
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5) Method: Data collection & analysis
Œ
INTERVIEW STATEMENT
“The Chinese wine tourist
exists, yes. Very often they are
business men who come to
Italy to make business.”
- 
LIST OF KEYWORDS
Chinese tourist
- 
Wine
- 
Business
- 
Travel motivation
- 
Italy
ASSOCIATION GRAPH
Ž
Chinese tourist
Wine
Business
Travel
motivation
Italy
Raw data:
Complexity reduction:
Restructuring of the system:
Transcribed qualitative interviews
Representation of the raw text
in the form of keywords
Graphical representation of the
raw text in the form of interconnected keywords
Source: Pechlaner/Volgger, 2012
Pechlaner/Volgger
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6) Results: Current situation
Limited time
Linguistic barriers
Organized tours
Famous
brands
Context
factors &
barriers
Bring home
souvenirs
Superficial visit
“The middle-class Chinese Second visit
tourist comes to Italy because
some cities in Italy are
regarded as fundamental
stages to elevate the status of
Wine
the middle-class Chinese. So
a Chinese who has the
Chinese
economic capacity to afford a
restaurants
trip abroad visits Italy exactly
because of its cities that are
known worldwide for their
symbolic value.”
Shopping
Chinese
tourists
Status
consumption
Italian fashion
Italian cities
Wine & food:
Importance of
Chinese food
Arts
Familiarity
Stabilizing the
stomach
Adapting to Italian food
Seeking Chinese
things
(all relations supported by at least one sentence)
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6) Results: Current situation
Limited time
Linguistic barriers
Organized tours
Famous
brands
Context
factors &
barriers
Bring home
souvenirs
Perceived control
Normative influence
Superficial visit
Limited experience
(personal development)
“The middle-class Chinese Second visit
tourist comes to Italy because
some cities in Italy are
regarded as fundamental
stages to elevate the status of
Wine
the middle-class Chinese. So
a Chinese who has the
Chinese
economic capacity to afford a
restaurants
trip abroad visits Italy exactly
because of its cities that are
known worldwide for their
symbolic value.”
Chinese
tourists
Status
consumption
Familiarity
Shopping
Italian fashion
Italian cities
Wine & food:
Importance of
Chinese food
Arts
Familiarity
Stabilizing the
stomach
Adapting to Italian food
Seeking Chinese
things
(all relations supported by at least one sentence)
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6) Results: Current situation
Status symbol
“supports”
Normative influence
Chinese tourist in
Italy
Authentic
Italian offers
(food & wine)
Tour operator
(fast & cheap)
Perceived control / limited experience
Chinese food
Familiarity
Pechlaner/Volgger
Italian destination
Chinese
restaurants in Italy
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6) Results: Potential
Luxury
segment
Specific offers
Niche
Japanese tourists
WHO
Increasing
HOW
Chinese w ine
tourist
WHAT
Brochure in Chinese
WHERE
Wine as a present
Culture
Visiting w ineries
“The Chinese wine tourist exists, there is interest. Chinese
people use wine less for everyday use, as we do, but rather as a
gift for friends. They come to visit the wineries for winetasting.
They also appreciate the process and the culture behind it.”
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6) Results: Potential
Luxury
segment
Specific offers
Niche
Perceived control
Familiarity Japanese tourists
WHO
Increasing
Normative influence
HOW
Brochure in Chinese
Chinese w ine
tourist
WHAT
WHERE
Wine as a present
Improved experience
(personal development)
Culture
Visiting w ineries
“The Chinese wine tourist exists, there is interest. Chinese
people use wine less for everyday use, as we do, but rather as a
gift for friends. They come to visit the wineries for winetasting.
They also appreciate the process and the culture behind it.”
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6) Results: Potential
Destination choice
Opening Italian restaurants in
China
Travel motives
German
tourists
Export
INFLUENCE ON
DESTINATION CHOICE
Normative influence
Scandinavian
tourists
American
tourists
Wine export
Italian food & w ine
WHO
HOW TO PROMOTE IT
IN FUTURE
Chinese
tourists
Perceived control
Promote
Improved experience
(personal development)
Touring guides
Create
understanding
Pechlaner/Volgger
Luxury
segment
Educate Chinese
guests
Transform tourists into travellers
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6) Results: Suggested options for intervention
Wineries
Status symbol
Chinese tourist in
Italy
Tour guides
Authentic
Italian offers
(food & wine)
Tour operator
Chinese food
Chinese
restaurants in Italy
Italian destination
Italian restaurants
in China
1) “educate tourists” (personal development)
2) “position Italian wine as a status symbol” (normative influence)
3) “mitigate novelty and unfamiliar taste” (familiarity)
Pechlaner/Volgger
Italian restaurants
in Italy
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7) Discussion, conclusion & implications
• 
• 
Current situation: Limited interest of Chinese tourists in Italian wine offers, but increasing
Model: The presented model of wine tourist decision making seems suitable to (1) understand the limited
attractiveness and (2) to propose possible lines of action
• 
Future promotion as a social challenge: Promoting Chinese wine tourism to Italy is a social challenge that can only
be achieved by proactively working with the Chinese market, in China and in Italy:
• 
Demonstrative consumption (“1st wave”): Indicating membership through consumption (see Veblen, 1899)
Ø  Agency: Defining a status symbol
• 
Hedonic consumption (“2nd wave”, see Hirschman/Holbrooke, 1982)
Ø  Agency: Educating the tourist about the authentic Italian food & wine segment
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References
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References
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Contact
Prof. Dr. Harald Pechlaner
Mag. Michael Volgger
Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
European Academy Bozen/Bolzano
Pater-Philipp-Jeningen-Platz 2
Drususallee 1
85072 Eichstätt (GER)
39100 Bozen (ITA)
p
+49 842193-1185
p + 39 0471-055325
f +49 842193-2185
f +39 0471-055429
[email protected]
[email protected]
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