Wine tourism refers to the tourism, whose purpose includes tasting, consumption and purchasing of wine often at or near the wine sources (Carlsen & Boksberger, 2015). This study will discuss the wine tourism of Walker Bay Wine Region, which is the most popular wine region in South Africa. The study will provide the summary of current state of wine tourism industry in Walker Bay. The study will also provide a SWOT analysis for wine tourism for this region. Apart from that, the study will also analyze the attraction factors for tourism in Walker Bay and analyzes the roles of its stakeholders. Furthermore, the study will also discuss the clustering relationship of the wineries in this region. Lastly, the study will explore the competitiveness and sustainability of the region and provide some recommendations for its improvement.
Wine tourism is the fastest growing industry in South Africa. This industry inspires the visitors towards exploring the award winning wine estates of South Africa. South Africa has rich variety of wine offerings and regional foods, which could of huge interest for this growing industry. The authentic local foods and wine tourism experience are attracting attention of experience-hungry travelers. Furthermore, growing tourism industry has also built the foundation for the success of wine tourism industry. The regional African tourist market contributes more than 73% total tourist arrival in South Africa. Walker Bay Wine Region attracts almost 42% tourist for its unique quality wine and foods (Walker Bay, 2017). The more numbers of tourists arrive at Walker Bay Wine Region, the more sales volume of wine industry is increased (Cho et al. 2017). The current wine tourism industry of South Africa contributes more than R6 billion to the economy of the country. Furthermore, the industry has already created 289,000 jobs in the country. Walker Bay region is almost consisted of 5 to 6 wineries and the most popular wineries are Bouchard Finlayson, Cape Bay and Whalehaven Wines (Quadri-Felitti & Fiore, (2016).
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SWOT ANALYSIS OF WALKER BAY WINE REGION |
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STRENGTH |
· Visitor friendly and familiar wineries attracts the wine tourists · Knowledgeable winery staffs of the region provides best wine suggestion to the tourists · Attractive scenery of the region due to the proximity of river attracts the tourists · Pleasant and cool climate is best for the tourists as well as wineries to produce wine · Unique accommodation, luxurious hotels, fine dining and restaurants provides extra pleasure to the tourists · All wineries adheres to legal enforcements · Enjoyable wine festivals enhances the numbers of tourists arrivals in the region |
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WEAKNESS |
· Seasonal production of wine limits the total production of wine in this area · Lack of special events in the region limits tourist attraction · Bad season for growing grapes can also limit the production of wine in this region · Limited varieties in the foods in this region disappoints the tourists · Seasonal tourism also limits the wine sales of this region · Less promotional activities may limit tourist attraction |
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OPPORTUNITY |
· Premium liquor consumption is on rise, which can enhance the sales volume of wine in this region · Social media marketing can increase the popularity of wine tourism in this region · So many different types of wines meet different types of wine demands of the wine lovers · Tourism development of South Africa as well as Walker Bay Wine Region can increase the development of wine tourism of the region |
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THREATS |
· International premium wine brands can be treat for wine tourism in this region · Changing laws and regulation about wine consumption can be threat for this wine region · Inflation of land prices may lead to little economic return |
Table 1: SWOT analysis of Walker Bay Wine Region
(Source: Rogerson & Collins, 2015)
Wine Festival
Wine festivals in Walker Bay Wine Region are a special attraction to the wine tourists. Walker Bay is highly fortunate have a mild winter. This season is the best time for the wineries to produce different types of wines from the seasonal fruits. Such wine festivals are mostly conducted in the winter season (Visser, 2016). Moreover, different types of tasty wines attract huge wine lovers from both domestic and international countries. Furthermore, the wineries of this region also offer attractive discounts and offerings on varieties of wines. Such discounts and offerings of the wineries also attract the wine tourists to the region.
Good Climate
Walker Bay Wine Region has been typified by its maritime climate, which is one of the coolest in South Africa. Furthermore, long sunny summers are cooled with by the ocean breezes, which come from south-east. Many tourists both from domestic and international countries come to this region for enjoying such pleasant climate. Walker Bay is held in high regard for Burgundian-styled Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which is made along with fresh and flinty Sauvignon Blanc (Alonso et al., 2015).
Beautiful Scenery
Proximity to ocean has led to the scenic beauty of Walker Bay, which is a significant attraction for the tourists. The region is also historically significant having the record of Middle Stone Age people living in Klipgat Cave (Booyens & Rogerson, 2016). Furthermore, the region is also attractive to the tourists for its picturesque and pristine reserve having abundance of costal and marine life.
Good Accommodation
Walker Bay has also good accommodation facility for the tourists, which attracts them towards visiting this region. Furthermore, the region also has easy accessibility to the marketplaces, restaurants and other facilities, which attracts the customers towards revisiting this wine region (Engelbrecht et al., 2014).
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Stakeholders |
Roles of Stakeholders |
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Winery |
Wineries are responsible to produce different types of wines from different types of fruits. They play an important role in making the region more attractive to the wine tourists. |
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Wine Drinker |
Wine drinkers are the end user stakeholders of this wine region. The role of the wine drinkers is to search for best wine and purchase it directly from the wineries or from other distributors. They actually contribute in the economic development of the wine region. |
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Third Party Partners |
The wineries of Walker Bay region also connects with other industries like restaurants, hotels, transportation and others for providing added value to the wine tourist. Such third party partners are responsible for providing added value to the wine tourists. |
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Technical Supporter |
Technical supporters of this wine region are responsible for providing technical support to the production of wine and promotional of wines. |
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Law Enforcement |
Law enforcement is somewhat negative stakeholders for this wine region, which often controls the production of wine and wine consumption with strict rules and regulations. |
Table 1: Stakeholders and Their Role in Region
(Source: Kirkman et al., 2013)
Wine cluster or collaboration defines groups of wine firms within one industry in the same geographical area. It is the geographical concentration of interrelated companies and institutions in a particular field. While considering the case of Walker Bay, wineries of this region has built a clustering relationship among each other and other organizations in other organizations in the tourism industry. Moreover, the wineries of this region have clustered among themselves for sharing important information and resources. Furthermore, the cluster wineries in this region seek to develop brand image and joint promotional strategies for using in overseas markets (Lewis et al., 2015). On the other hand, the cluster wineries of the organization also share the regulatory education among each other for overcoming any restriction on wine industry. The wineries of the organization has also built collaborative relationship with other organizations in the tourism industry like hotels, restaurants, transportations and others for providing unique value to the wine tourists (Quadri-Felitti & Fiore, 2016).
Natural Resource Preservation
The proximity of ocean has huge influence of Walker Bay region. Moreover, the region protects the marine life by reducing water pollution. The region will be able to maintain its sustainability through protecting its natural resources and attracting the tourists. Being coastal area, the region also reserves the coast of the ocean for making it attractive to the tourists (Saayman & van der Merwe, 2015). Therefore, such coast and marine life reservation will maintain competitiveness and sustainability for attracting tourists in the region.
Mild winter and pleasant summer season provides a competitive gain to this wine region. Moreover, the mild winter is extremely beneficial for the region for growing grapes and other fruits. Therefore, the wineries of the region produce wide variety of wines from this fruits in this season. Such varieties of wine provide a unique value to the wine lovers leading to competitive advantage to the region (Kruger et al., 2013). Apart from that, the pleasant cool ocean breezes from south-east in summer season also provide freshness to the tourists. It also facilitates in refreshing the grapes during ripening season. Therefore, such pleasant climate ensures consistent flow of tourist arrivals and smooth production of wine, which leads to competitiveness and sustainability for the region.
The region ensures adherence to all legal enforcement in terms of advertisement and exportation of alcohol. Furthermore, the wineries of the region also ensure all legal proceedings in regards to labeling, alcoholic ‘beverage health warning statement’ and others (Lategan et al., 2017). Such smooth adherence with the legal proceedings will ensure competitive gain of the region over others and maintain long term sustainability of tourism.
The knowledgeable winery staffs of the wineries will ensure competitive gain of this wine region. Such knowledgeable winery staffs will ensure best production of wines from the seasonal fruits, which will ensure satisfaction to the wine lovers (Overton & Murray, 2013). Therefore, such staffs will ensure competitiveness and sustainability to the wine region.
Conclusion
While concluding the study, it can be said that Walker Bay Wine Region attracts almost 42% of the total tourists in South Africa for its wide varieties of wines. Visitor friendly and familiar wineries attract huge wine lovers in this region. Wide varieties of wines and pleasant climate of Walker Bay create unique attraction to the tourists. However, seasonal production of wines limits the volume of wine production. Furthermore, International premium wine brands are creating threats for wineries of this region. Special wine festivals, pleasant climate, beautiful scenery and good accommodation attract the tourists in this region. The most important stakeholders of this wine region are wineries, wine drinker, third party partners, technical partners and law enforcement. Natural resource preservation and pleasant climate of this region will lead to competiveness and sustainability of this region. However, the wineries of this region should produce more premium wine brands for beating the competition of international premium brands.
Well Collaboration with Third Party Partners
The wineries of Walker Bay region have great collaboration with transportation sector, hotel sector and other sectors. However, the wineries of this region have lack of access to varieties of delicious foods, which is extremely important for the wine lovers while having wine. Such lack of delicious foods often disappoints the tourists in this region. Therefore, the wineries of this region should enhance its collaboration with the restaurants for having access to wide varieties of delicious foods. It will attract the more numbers of foodie and wine tourists in this region.
Walker Bay has implemented almost all types of traditional, digital and social media promotional strategies for promoting their wine attraction. However, there is lack of effort among the staffs of the region towards updating the pages in the promotional websites. In this way, the region often fails to communicate important information to the wine lovers towards providing them special offerings and attracting them. Therefore, the region should employ the staff in regularly updating the promotional pages like Facebooks, Twitters, Instagram and others. It will keep the tourists updated with the latest information about the region and maintain their interest for the region.
Walker Bay is limited to its production due to seasonal changes. Moreover, the region is at its peak in winter season for producing varieties of wines from varieties of fruits. However, the region is limited at its wine production in summer season due to hot climate. It can lead to crisis of wine for the tourists in the summer season. Therefore, the wineries of the region should be concentrated on storing more wines for using in summer season. Moreover, the wineries should use advanced technologies for effectively storing the wines for the summer season.
The wineries of Walker Bay are facing tough competition from the premium wine brand in the international market. Therefore, the wineries of the region should immediately start producing premium wines for attracting international wine lovers.
References
Engelbrecht, J., Herbst, F., & Bruwer, J. (2014). Region-of-origin (ROO) certification as marketing strategy in the South African wine market. International Journal of Wine Business Research, 26(2), 139-162.
Alonso, A. D., Bressan, A., O’Shea, M., & Krajsic, V. (2015). Perceived benefits and challenges to wine tourism involvement: an international perspective. International Journal of Tourism Research, 17(1), 66-81.
Booyens, I., & Rogerson, C. M. (2016). Unpacking the geography of tourism innovation in Western Cape Province, South Africa. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 31(31), 19-36.
Carlsen, J., & Boksberger, P. (2015). Enhancing consumer value in wine tourism. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 39(1), 132-144.
Cho, M., Bonn, M. A., & Brymer, R. A. (2017). A constraint-based approach to wine tourism market segmentation. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 41(4), 415-444.
Kirkman, A., Strydom, J. W., & Van Zyl, C. (2013). Stellenbosch Wine Route wineries: Management’s perspective on the advantages and key success factors of wine tourism. Southern African Business Review, 17(2), 93-112.
Kruger, S., Rootenberg, C., & Ellis, S. (2013). Examining the influence of the wine festival experience on tourists’ quality of life. Social indicators research, 111(2), 435-452.
Lategan, B. W., Lategan, B. W., Pentz, C. D., Pentz, C. D., du Preez, R., & du Preez, R. (2017). Importance of wine attributes: a South African Generation Y perspective. British Food Journal, 119(7), 1536-1546.
Lewis, G. K., Byrom, J., & Grimmer, M. (2015). Collaborative marketing in a premium wine region: the role of horizontal networks. International Journal of Wine Business Research, 27(3), 203-219.
Overton, J., & Murray, W. E. (2013). Class in a glass: capital, neoliberalism and social space in the global wine industry. Antipode, 45(3), 702-718.
Quadri-Felitti, D., & Fiore, A. M. (2016). Wine tourism suppliers’ and visitors’ experiential priorities. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(2), 397-417.
Quadri-Felitti, D., & Fiore, A. M. (2016). Wine tourism suppliers’ and visitors’ experiential priorities. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(2), 397-417.
Rogerson, C. M., & Collins, K. (2015). Beer tourism in South Africa: Emergence and contemporary directions. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 24(3/4), 241-258.
Saayman, M., & van der Merwe, A. (2015). Factors determining visitors’ memorable wine-tasting experience at wineries. Anatolia, 26(3), 372-383.
Visser, G. (2016). South African tourism geographies: Progress and prospects. South African Geographical Journal= Suid-Afrikaanse Geografiese Tydskrif, 98(3), 428-438.
Walker Bay. (2017). Walker Bay. Retrieved 10 November 2017, from https://walkerbay.com/
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