The Rock,the Reef and the grape: The challenges of developing wine tourism in regional Australia

This paper looks at the challenges facing the further development of the wine tourism industry in Australia. Problems identified include the product focus of the wine industry, the current cottage-industry mentality of wine tourism, a lack of inter-industry cooperation between the wine industry and the tourism industry, the need to create an overall tourist experience, the issues of getting local planning and development consent, the lack of investment funds and the lack of available data, information and research on wine tourism. Suggestions for new product development are made.