Fifth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

My project hinges on consumer taste, wine production and winery tourism which are related to the Chinese market, consumers and visitors traveling to Australian wineries. This current research combines the concepts of habitus, taste, capital proposed by Pierre Bourdieu with concepts within China’s cultural context including mianzi (face, dignity/honor/hierarchy), guanxi (connections/social network), in order to develop new perspectives to study the tastes of Chinese tourists coming to Australia for wine experiences. The project applies qualitative research and draws conclusions from the fieldwork and the document analysis. An embodied ethnography is used to observe the Chinese participants’ feelings, thoughts, and experiences of their engagement with Australian wine and vineyards. I conduct interviews with the Chinese consumers, tourism professionals and Australian winemakers and wine critic/judge to collect primary data. I travel to five Australian wine regions for fieldwork including Penfolds (most reputed Australian brand), members from Australia’s First Families of Wine (Taylor, Tyrrell and Tahbilk ) which are most historic and respectable wine brands in Australia, together with Sirromet (biggest wine brand in Queensland), spanning over South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. I interview tourism professionals who are experts in Australian wine tourism, the Chinese consumers and tourists. This project will contribute to knowledge by summarizing literature review and conducting fieldwork. My project will offer a series of discoveries and suggestions for when Australian wine or tourism industries communicate with Chinese market. In all, my project will improve cultural exchanges, wine and tourism market volumes between Australia and China.