Food and Wine Itinerary - Essay Example

Food and Wine Itinerary Name: Tutor: Institution: Date: Introduction Food and wine tourism is an eccentric idea that has developed substantially lately. The concept refers to the process whereby tourists visit both primary and secondary food festivals, food producers, restaurants, hotels and other places where certain foods or wine exists. This becomes the principal driving factor for these tourists’ visitation (Boniface, 2003). The significance difference between tourists who get motivated to travel to experience the taste of food, wine or festivals in a particular place and those who consume the food as part of the travel should be noted. Food and wine tourists show interests in the special foods and wines, in selected places, and this is what influences their visits. On the other hand, their travelling counterparts just consume the food as part of the tourism routine. It is vital to understand the characteristics of food and wine in different regions for a variety of reasons. First, food and wine cultures can be transformed into connected events thus becoming sources of tourist’s attractions (Toussaint-Samat,1994). Second, food and wine can be integrated into other tourist’s activities thereby enhancing the tourism experience (Douglas & Derret, 2001). Lastly, food and wine culture serves us cultural identities hence tourists can visit certain areas to experience the food and wine culture in those areas. Wine tourism has close relations with cultures. Wine is also associated with religious and medical benefits. Accordingly, wine tourism is also a common part of tourism. Some tourists visit certain regions in order to experience the taste or medicinal values associated with local wines. The first market segmentation in the itinerary are the wine lovers who are couples without children, educated and having high income. This segment is chosen because it has particular tastes for wines while also having high income. It is most likely that this segment will prefer unique wine originating from a distinct place. The second segment is the food lovers. This group of people embraces food as part of their cultures and would like to experience the food cultures of other regions. Discussion The success of wine tourisms can be attributed to their close locations to urban centers. The locations of the wine centers make it easy for visitors to access the local locations when walking for relaxation (Sommer, 2008). The Perth regions of Australia have suitable regions for food and wine tourisms. Wine tourists centers in Australia exists both in the urban and rural set ups. An example of winery situated in the urban center is the Magill estate located in the Eastern suburbs of Adelaide city. Adelaide city is also a strong tourist attraction region hence frequent visitation to the winery is a common feature. Certain elements of wine tourism can also be classified as industrial tourism considering that the generation of wine involves industrial action. With regards to the wine segment consumers who are educated couples with no children and high income, the region around Perth will be an ideal destination for their visits. For starters, such couples enjoy holidays and like to relax with wine. They also love visiting unique places while experiencing the diverse tastes of food and wines (Sommer, 2008). A wine cellar product is likely to appeal to this group of tourists since cellars will provide them with the opportunity to taste the varieties of wines available (Vauduor, 2002). The consumer segmentation also likes to taste wine while also visiting different scenic places. A cellar located in the rural background of Perth would thus be appealing as it will provide environmental beauty, in addition, to the unique tastes of wine. A lot of cultural events also take place in rural areas and this segment of tourists prefer to visit wineries located in the rural set up regions. The wine cellars should also be established in relation to other recreation and outdoor activities. Since the segments of the population have extra money and like to visit several places, integration of different activities within the wineries will attract them. The tourists in the population segment also love local souvenirs. Accordingly local wines and artifacts will form an attraction to this tourist segmentation (Charters, 2006). In the same vein as wine, there are food lovers who devote their life to have diverse experiences in relation to food. Therefore, the population segment that is likely to enjoy food tourism adventures is the food lovers. Food lovers are not a versed to adopting new or unique food in their diets. Subsequently, introducing this tourist segment to new and different types of food will only improve their food tourism experiences. They will embrace the new food and taste it without having many cultural ties to the food. This is because this segment of consumers love food and prefer distinct tastes of food from diverse regions. Among the food products that will be attractive to the consumer tourist segment include traditional dining experiences, purchasing of local farm products and visitations of food museums around the region. Food lovers like to discover the various types of food outside their regional places and would appreciate tourism activity involving visiting places. An example of a food tourism market is the Adelaide market where tourists converge to have tastes and experiences of the different foods available in Australia (Toussaint-Samat, 1994). Food and wine also functions in marketing destinations for tourists and the choice for a local destination will be attractive (Kivella & Crotts, 2006). The targeted segments normally like to experience the local people food culture and compare with their own. Providing them with a tourism experience involving the access to the various local foods will be an attractive one. Food consumption also gets related to climactic conditions (Kivella & Crots, 2006). The incorporation of pleasant weather with food and wines can serve to be another attraction. Therefore, the tourist destination will take aspects of weather into consideration so that visitors can enjoy food and wine in a serene environment with barmy weather. A strong relation also exists between tourists showing interests in food and museum activities. This will present an opportunity of taking the tourists to the local museums where they will also find the various foods from the local areas. Food is also a representation of culture (Getz & Brown, 2006). Consequently, the visiting tourists will love to experience the different food products available in Perth Australia. The tour will meet the targeted segment demands in the sense that it will offer them the variety of tourism activities in the local regions. Their wines and food desires in addition to other activities associated to tourism will be satisfied. It is through satisfaction of the tourism needs that the regional tourism identity gets to be developed. Conclusion While most people may seem to be unaware, food and wines experiences are significant components of modern tourism. Wine and foods serve to improve the tourism experience, and there are groups of consumers that visit places due to only the two products. Therefore, it is imperative that tourism centers adopt the concept of wine and food tourism in order to be complete. References: Boniface, P. (2003). Tasting Tourism: Travelling for food and drinks. Hampshire: Ashgate. Charters, S. (2006). Wine and Society: The social and Cultural context of a drink. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Doughlas, N. & Derret, R. (2001). Special Interest Tourism. Queensland : John Wiley & Sons. Getz, G. & Brown, D. (2006). Critical sucess factors for wine tourism regions: A demand analysis. Tourism Management, 146-158. Kivella, J. & Crotts, J. (2006). Tourism and Gastronomy: Gastronomy influences on how tourists experiences a destination. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 354-377. Sommer, B. J. (2008). The Geography of Wine. New York: Plume. Toussaint-Samat, N. (1994). The history of food. Cambridge, Massachusetts.: Blackwell. Vauduor, E. (2002). The quality of wine and grapes in relation to geography: Notions of Terroirs at various scales. Journal of Wine Research, 117-141. Read More