Wine Tourists’ Mobility Through Mobile Apps: A Lost Bet?

Abstract

The accessibility of wineries and transportation to and within vineyards may have a negative impact on the wine tourist experience and a wine destination if they are not developed appropriately. Moreover, mobile applications tend to promote a wine destination without providing information concerning the mobility at that wine destination. There is still no research investigating the impact of mobile applications on wine tourist mobility within a specific wine destination. To address this gap, this chapter aims to provide a better understanding of the role of mobile applications in supporting wine tourism mobility within a specific destination. To achieve this, this chapter analyzes the specific case of the KUT’Zig initiative, which is created by a passenger transport company to support the Alsace wine route. The initiative refers to a hop-on hop-off bus offering a tourist mobility solution among various wine tourism attractions within the Alsace wine route, which is also supported by a mobile application. The findings from this case study show how a transport intermediary can integrate with and contribute to a wine tourism ecosystem through the development of a mobility offer supported by a mobile application.