Have you ever wondered how much money wine tourism brings in? Recently a report came out saying that California’s wine tourism industry is worth 8.6 billion US$ (25 million tourist visits). That seems like a large amount, but is it really that impressive?
To get a better understanding, I compared it to the wine industry in Italy (let’s keep in mind that Italy is the biggest wine producer in the world by volume and the second biggest producer by value).
It looks like the value of California’s wine tourism industry is significantly larger than Italian numbers:
- Italian wine production was valued at 13 billion Euro (2021)
- Italian wine export was valued at 7 billion Euro (2021)
- Italian wine tourism was valued at 2.65 billion Euro (2020) with 15 million wine tourists
If you are a winemaker, seeing these numbers could make you think about investing in wine tourism, promoting your wine region and your winery as a destination for wine lovers and offering more spending opportunities during their visits.
Singapore, November 6th, 2023 – I attended a nice B2B wine tasting event organized by DealExport at 13% Wine Bistro in Singapore. The event showcased multiple French wineries looking for potential distributors in the Singapore market. Over 50 labels were available for sampling, but the highlight for me was the incredible Champagne flight featuring 19 different bubbly.
Sources:
- “The Economic Impact of California Wine” by John Dunham & Associates
- “l 2021 del vino italiano nella fotografia di Ismea” by WineNews
- “Wine tourism in Italy is worth 2.65 billion euros” by WineNews