GOOD PRACTICES IN WINE TOURISM IN SELECTED COUNTRIES AND CONCLUSIONS FOR POLAND

Abstract

Purpose: Evaluation of activities supporting the development of wine tourism in Poland in the context of best practices used by well-developed wine regions in different countries and issues related to wine tourism indicated by theoreticians. Method: In order to indicate the best practices applied by selected wine regions, we used a method of content and a case study analysis. The evaluation of activities supporting the development of wine tourism in Poland was made on the basis of an analysis of digital documents provided by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the Polish Tourist Organization, regional tourist organizations, and entities managing Polish wine routes. The assessment of winemakers' activities was based on the analysis of the content of online documents introduced by themselves. Among the 364 winemakers, only 152 had a website. The research sample of electronic documents generated by service providers was therefore 152. Electronic documents were analyzed from a point of view of the main information relevant to the enotourism planning, information about additional services and the availability of information for non-Polish speakers customers. Findings: There is lacking sustain activities supporting wine tourism at the level of the central administration. At the regional level, uneven activities are occurring, with varying intensity, depending on the region. Among the winemakers, the entities those involved in the promotion of their own tourist activities belong to the minority. Only 42% of entities have their own website, of which in 20% of cases the content of the website is inadequate to the enotourism activity, or the site was inactive. Assuming the activities taken on the three above mentioned levels, there is lack of continuity of the wine tourism development strategy among the stakeholders. Research and conclusions limitations: Only electronic documents were used for the analysis of the issued problem. In a further studies it would be justified to conduct observations allowing to assess the quality of provided services in the field of enotourism and focus groups with the participation of the entities from particular groups of stakeholders. Practical implication: The text indicates the best practices for Polish wine tourism. Originality: The Polish wine tourism industry has not been analyzed in terms of good practices. We carried out a comprehensive analysis of the documents content and information regarding enotourism organisation on three levels of stakeholders engaged in the promotion of wine tourism in Poland. Type of paper: Original theoretical and implementation study.