Future wine tourism: territories at the center, and wine in background, but with the “eyes” of Ai

“To make wine tourism take off, we shouldn’t talk about wine, but about “destinations”. Just as I send postcards to friends saying “look where I am”, if I send a bottle or buy one, I’ll tell the friend who receives it, and the one who comes to dinner where it comes from. We can ship that wine to New York, Paris, or anywhere we want, and it will still speak about the region anyway. You can’t send trees or mountains, but you can send a bottle of wine that ultimately becomes the ambassador of the entire region: wine is the postcard for excellence”. This excerpt from one of the speeches by Paul Wagner, McPherson Distinguished Teacher at Napa Valley College, during “v”, the first Italian trade fair entirely dedicated to wine tourism, organized by Riva del Garda Fierecongressi in collaboration with Feria de Valladolid, featuring over 70 entities, including wineries and destinations from Italy and Spain, which ends today, makes it clear that the era when wine was the star of wine tourism, told through tastings and technical aspects from soils to barrel aging, which remain of interest only to a relatively small number of enthusiasts. Producers attending the event in Riva del Garda confirmed this, expressing satisfaction with the meetings and the format, but also some surprise at the lack of knowledge, and even interest about wine among tourism operators, who are looking to expand and diversify their offerings. Wine must therefore abandon its proposal centrality and make room for other experiences that - to strengthen the bond with wine tourists - must be rich in empathy and authenticity. And this is where wine resumes its primary role as a catalyst for socialization.
The “destination-centered” model has taken root and achieved its greatest success in regions where wine does not have millennia-old roots like in Europe, and the example for excellence is California, where Paul Wagner works. It is hard to abandon wine centrality in storytelling when history, generations, or even “just” tradition are behind it, but this is the way to engage those who care little about wine. If this is an important takeaway from “Fine #WineTourism Marketplace Italy”, the imperative now is to manage to become “visible” to the “eyes” of Artificial Intelligence to avoid being cut “out of the show”, to say that with an expression by Roberta Garibaldi. From “Rapporto sui modelli di gestione, sulle scelte di investimento e sulla governance” - “Report on management models, investment choices, and governance” presented by the University of Bergamo professor and president of Aite (Italian Association for Food and Wine Tourism), and by Salvio Capasso of Srm (Intesa Sanpaolo Group research center), created for the fair, it emerges that Italian wine tourism has moved beyond its embryonic phase to establish itself as a mature, structural sector for the national agricultural and tourism economy. The study is based on a selected sample of 200 wineries active in hospitality, representing the most dynamic players in wine tourism, and, therefore, it is the photography of them.
The analysis of this specific sample shows a paradigm shift of wine tourism from direct sales at the winery to a true engine of employment and profit. The element which makes it more evident is the transition from free tastings to value-driven experiences. “The evolution is net compared to ten years ago - explained Roberta Garibaldi - when many wineries limited themselves to offering free tastings, seen only as a way to sell wine. Today, the experience offered has recognized economic value”. For visits, tastings, and courses, the average price ranges between 36 and 50 euros in 51% of cases, exceeding 50 euros in 23%. Moreover, Italian wineries effectively valorize the wine landscape, offering vineyard tours as an experiential asset in 90% of cases, a figure far higher than the global average of 61%. Service diversification is advanced: 36% offer dining and 30% also provide lodging, exceeding European averages (19% dining, 22% lodging) and overseas figures (34% dining, 22% lodging). “This trend aligns with growing interest in luxury rural accommodations - underlined Garibaldi - so much so that in the 2025 guida “Chiavi Michelin” 2025 - “Michelin Keys” guide dedicated to hospitality (which awards “keys”, corresponding to the stars in restaurant guide, as we reported on WineNees), many of the best accommodations are winery-owned”. The economic impact is significant: for 18% of businesses, hospitality generates over 60% of company profit. Profitability data is encouraging: internationally, 7% of services operate at a loss (in Italy, this figure is 0%), while 28% break even.
Despite wine tourism activities still being managed directly by owners in 63% of cases (rising to 66% in companies with turnover under 5 million euros), only 12% of wineries have established a dedicated business unit. In larger companies (turnover over 5 million euros), direct management drops to 50%. Growth directly impacts employment: half of the wineries surveyed employ 5 to 9 staff for hospitality, and in 17% of cases, more than ten. These include full-time employees, seasonal workers, and freelancers collaborating continuously. Regional data show strong staff concentration in Central and Southern Italy (77% of companies with more than five staff), compared to 59% in the Northwest and 63% in the Northeast.
The challenge to seize, and also with some urgency, to avoid being left hopelessly behind, is the digital one. Despite attention to popular social channels like Facebook (90%) and Instagram (88%), the sector lags in reaching younger generations. Presence on key platforms like YouTube (17%) and TikTok (8%) is still too low. To engage Gen Z, communication needs to be innovated. Not by chance, Bordeaux wines ad campaign, for example, focuses on fresh, inclusive messaging, highlighting product differentiation with diverse wine types to suit all tastes. However, the biggest issue is advanced digitalization. Less than 1% of companies use Ai-based chatbots. Ai investment is negligible: only 1.2% of total funds allocated in the last three years went to Ai solutions, and 2.9% to Crm systems for offering management. Direct sales channels (phone and email: 95%) dominate, while only 25% rely on online experience platforms. Another weak point is the low rate of foreign visitors, due to digital delays and lack of systemic international promotion. Only 31.5% of winery tourists are foreign, 12 points below the European average (43%). This gap is worrying given Italy strong wine brand: companies must recognize Ai importance, not only for online visibility but also for consistent presence, which is the real innovation. “Ai is changing the tourist customer journey - deepened Garibaldi, who already anticipated this urgency to WineNews. If a winery lacks a widespread, coherent, and authoritative digital presence with consistent information like hours and experience details across all systems and curated reviews, it risks not being selected by Ai when building tourist itineraries. The risk is being “out of the show”. Therefore, to be featured by Ai as a visit-worthy experience, wineries must strengthen their digital presence significantly. Ai also offers solutions to overcome language barriers: tools already exist, and more will emerge, which can translate in real time, even lip movements, compensating for the lack of multilingual staff in the company”. International promotion of Italian wine tourism actions have been limited, and this affects results. Governance also shows limits: French wineries collaborate extensively with institutional actors (78%) and specialists (72%), while Italy stops at 25%, revealing weaker systemic integration. The sector also has untapped potential in seasonality and attracting locals. Local and resident attendance is only 7%. Autumn sees a 10-point drop in visitors, unlike France, which leverages harvest season and foliage. In Italy, only 23% of wineries offer educational harvest experiences.
Regarding investments, the sector is proactive. Between 2022 and 2024, 77% of wine businesses allocated funds for wine tourism, a higher percentage than the hotel sector (64%). Larger companies (83%) show greater willingness to invest, but smaller ones demonstrate higher investment intensity (estimated at 15% of turnover). At a regional level, over 80% of Northern businesses invested, while Central-Southern Italy lags at just under 70%. Total company investments split between wine production (66.5%) and wine tourism activities (33.5%). Within wine tourism investments, traditional investments dominate (71%), while digital areas (22.4%) and accessibility/inclusivity (6%) need more attention. For 2025–2027, 53% of companies plan new investments. Priorities are not tax incentives but improving business performance and growing traveler interest. Future spending will focus on expanding and diversifying activities. “The most important vision factors for the next five years - underlined Capasso - are: staff training and sustainability (reducing water consumption and self-producing energy). Inclusivity and accessibility (not only physical but also for people with disabilities) represent major growth potential. Companies ask public governance for stability, vision, and concrete support”.
Governance priorities include policies for managing public services (obtaining the highest average score: 4.22 out of 5); legal recognition of the hospitality manager role (4.19); and coordination of food and wine tourism management (4.16). Conversely, issues like technological and digital infrastructure or tax incentives for hiring hospitality managers are seen as less urgent for public action, though still important for businesses themselves. For this purpose, Capasso mentioned Spain model, which, through its 2030 tourism plan, introduced a digital checklist and offers a dedicated consultant to help businesses transition to digitalization and sustainability.
Italian wine tourism is entering a phase of selective, qualitative growth based on technological innovation, sustainability, and social inclusion. The system now awaits greater coordination to unleash its full international potential, and this first edition of “Fine - #WineTourism Marketplace Italy” promises to become an excellent accelerator. Participating companies expressed great satisfaction with meetings with tourism operators, dense and likely profitable, and with the format. Some were so enthusiastic they are considering continuing to attend this fair in the future, removing other costly and less useful events from their calendars.