Fifth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

In Connecticut, rising land values for residential development, marginal soils, and increased competition from outside providers have pushed local farmers out of business. Traditionally, such farms converted to rural residential uses, or reverted back to forests only to later be sold for residences. Over the last fifteen years, wine tourism has provided an alternative to this loss of agricultural land and to residential sprawl. Family farms have directly transitioned to viticulture, or have been sold to buyers intending to develop wineries. While this transition has maintained the appearance of agriculture, it has been made possible only through the development of a burgeoning wine tourism and related events business. The typical winery has vineyards that provide the look that people demand, but which are insufficient for the needs of wine-making. The wineries thus look right, but operate largely based on imported grapes. Regardless of quality, their wines are not capable of competing in retail markets based on cost. As a result, the successful business model for this industry is based on tourism and direct sales on-site. The wineries forgo even the attempt to sell their products off-site, instead opting for direct sales to tourists. Those tourists are willing to pay high wine costs on-site for the experience of visiting wineries. The tourism has also been fueled by cooperative marketing campaigns that provide visitors with incentives to visit multiple wineries. It is a model built on the growth of a successful wine tourism business in a region with no history of wine-making.