Wine Tourism in China: Resource Development and Tourist Perception

Abstract

With the rise of wine consumption in China, wine tourism is becoming increasingly popular. Research shows that wine resource development is profoundly impacted by tourist perception and satisfaction. To precisely understand the process and mechanism of tourists' attitudes and preferences toward wine tourism resources in China, this paper employed a questionnaire survey to explore tourists' perceptions of local wine tourism and resources from five dimensions by analyzing feedback from wine tourists in the east foothill of the Helan Mountain Wine Region of Ningxia. The main findings are threefold. (1) As emerging experiential tourism, wine tourism has distinct demographic characteristics in terms of income, age and the methods of travel. (2) Wine tourism resources are the most important factors influencing tourist satisfaction, while functional comfort is also highlighted for its charm and value. In addition, the quality of services has a significant impact on tourists' support for wine tourism. (3) Remarkably, the findings show that the facilities condition, ecological environment and resource conservation exert little influence on tourist perception of wine tourism. However, these factors also deserve to be stressed for their important roles in establishing a positive atmosphere of wine tourism development. The results of this study have enriched our knowledge of wine tourism resource development and tourist perception.