Mapping wine tourists’ spatial movement patterns in an emerging wine tourism destination: An exploratory study

This paper explores how wine tourists move in an emerging wine tourism destination and the driving mechanisms for both the demand and supply sides. Trajectories and questionnaires were obtained. Subsequently, based on two antecedent variables, wine knowledge and self-identification, wine tourists were classified into four groups. Their respective spatial movement characteristics and demographics were obtained through social network analysis, ANOVA and Chi-square tests, resulting in four final groups, namely, keen-interest wine tourists, multi-purpose wine tourists, entry-level wine tourists and hanging-out wine tourists. Interviews were conducted to determine and compare the demand-side and supply-side factors that influence the movement patterns of the four groups of wine tourists. This research represents a pioneering effort to map the spatial movement patterns of wine tourists by considering wine knowledge and self-identity. It theoretically and practically contributes to the understanding of various movement patterns in emerging wine tourism destinations.