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Wine tourism to trails - Nasik is India’s wine capital
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Saturday, 01 February, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Prof. Aditi Raut, Dr Jayashree Bhakay
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fiogf49gjkf0d Food and wine historically have been “in the background of the tourist experience as a part of overall hospitality service provided for travellers.”
However, in today’s times, the tendency is such that wine and food have become the central point and determining factor for making decision on travel. It was until the mid-nineteenth century that food and wine have been only a part of the tourist experience. Gradually, wine became a travel product in its own right, but at the initial stage the number of tourists was insignificant due to time and monetary costs of mobility.
Today, wine tourism is acknowledged as a growing area of special-interest tourism throughout the world and it is an increasingly important tourism component for many wine-producing regions. With its wide range of benefits, including foreign-exchange earnings, the creation of both full- and part-time jobs, and the generation of secondary economic activity, wine tourism is emerging as a lucrative industry with the ability to generate substantial long-term wealth and sustain steady tourism growth for wine regions.
Motivation for wine tourists
The motivation for tourists visiting wine regions varies depending on interest, age and nationality.
There are 10 major reasons why people visit wineries: • To taste wine; • To gain the knowledge about a product / industry; • To experience wine setting, this can include meeting a winemaker and tour of vineyards and wine cellars; • To enjoy the beauty of countryside, learn about farming and agri-tourism; • To appreciate the combination of local food and wine. This kind of vacation has its own name, which is culinary tourism; • To enjoy yourself, have fun. More emphasis is put on festivals and special events; • To enjoy the romance and elegance of wine culture; • To appreciate agriculture and art; • To gain knowledge about “green” and eco-tourism; and • To enjoy the health aspects of wine.
Wine tourism in Maharashtra
Maharashtra has always been viewed as a commercial state as it includes the commercial capital Mumbai, semi-urban areas of importance and historical monuments. However, to truly market it internationally as a tourism haven, one needs to diversify tourism products and offer products of international standards. Wine tourism, with its rising popularity globally, would completely fit the bill, especially with regards to meeting international demand.
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) at this point is on a very high drive to achieve that and even the state government is very encouraging towards this endeavour.
In an attempt to put Maharashtra on the world wine map and position it as a new world wine destination, wine producers and the MTDC are to promote the Sahyadri Valley region as a wine tourism hub, using Napa Valley and the likes as models.
India may not yet be a big destination for wine tours, but the wineries in the Nasik region of Maharashtra are certainly becoming popular for weekend breaks, between December and March every year. While about half of India's wineries are located near Nasik, other regions with smaller wineries include Baramati and Sangli. Nasik has a strategic location advantage from major visitor bases of Mumbai and Pune.
Nasik: From religion to wine tourism
Nasik (or Nashik) is a religious city in Maharashtra located in the northwest part of the state. Nasik has been called the “Wine Capital of India" and is situated in the Western Ghats, on the banks of the River Godavari. This city has proved to be the best ever rising metropolis in Maharashtra and has grown immensely in the past two decades.
Many people are going on wine tours to Nasik because they want to do something different from the usual weekend breaks. They end up enjoying the relaxing experience, which is perfect for families and friends to spend time with good food and wine. The socialising aspect is as much part of the wine tour as is wine tasting. Most of these customers may not be regular wine drinkers but are looking for a new experience. Besides weekend groups, there are also serious overseas travellers who are keen on following the wine trails in India. This group is well travelled around international wine circuits and has a good understanding of wine. They are here to taste Indian wine after having tasted wine from established regions around the world for years. Besides wine tasting, the vineyards offer a relaxed ambience and an opportunity to meet the winemakers and understand the process of wine making.
Wine tourism is the new buzzword in Nasik, around four hours from Mumbai. There are now almost 50 wineries in and around Nasik, and excitingly for wine connoisseurs and consumers, many Nasik vineyards now have tasting rooms that are open to the public. What is also appealing is that discounts of 10-20% on retail price are available on purchases. The vineyards fan out in all directions from Nasik. Sula Vineyards,Chateau d’Ori., Vintage Wines / Reveilo, Tiger Hill Vineyards, Mountain View, and Valle de Vin / Zampa Wines are major attractions in Nasik.
Benefits of wine tourism for wineries
Wine tours allow winemakers to create personal relationships with customers, this later can lead to direct or indirect sales through positive “word of mouth.” Furthermore, direct sales to the consumer results in increased margins due to reduction of distributor costs.
Additionally, producers gain marketing intelligence on products and consumers through getting an instant and valuable feedback from the customers. With the winery serving as an additional sales outlet, it can make a big difference for small businesses, especially if there are other byproducts such as food and souvenirs. Finally, winery visitations lead to brand awareness and loyalty due to establishing links between producers and consumers and purchasing of company branded merchandise. Besides its contribution to wineries, wine tourism is considered to be an important element in the tourism industry in that the sector experience develops through the investment inflow which is the result of the increasing number of new wineries.
Wine tourism plays the role of an initiator for regional development, which increases regional employment and economical advancement of an area. However, besides the benefits of wine 4 tourism there a number of challenges for wineries in general.
Challenges of wine tourism for wineries
The government support is important for industry development. It is a major help to small wineries especially. Public infrastructure, signage, the creation of wine routes, and the need for region-wide marketing initiatives are vital, as most wineries lack the funding or authority to create their external tourism product independently. Furthermore, wine tourism cannot function successfully without partnership within the community. Strong cooperation with restaurants and hotels, police, medical agencies, employment services and environmental groups is needed to support the growth of the wine tourism industry. Finally, it is crucial to take good care of the environment and preserve the rural beauty of the vineyards so the region can keep its status as a wine destination.
Wine tourism model
India, as a new world wine country, cannot replicate the wine tourism model developed by old world countries, despite having a culture and traditions stretching back for many centuries. The wine tourism in Maharashtra, especially the Nasik region, is still at a nascent stage and needs a proper tourism development plan. Conscious collaborative efforts are required from the wine and tourism industries to come together and form a wine tourism development board. Such a board or body should own the overall wine tourism road map and will remain committed to finance and support its implementation.
A long-term development programme needs to be undertaken which includes development of overall road infrastructure for better accessibility, affordable accommodation and restaurants, accessibility to airports, uninterrupted access to basic amenities like water and electricity, tourism information centre for tourist guidance, enthusiastic wine clubs and tasting centres, Indian wine history museum, corporate tie-up for corporate events, theme-based wine festivals, wine by-products i.e. beauty products, souvenirs and spas and so on.
Consumers need to be given wine education with respect to awareness, change in mindset about wine, wine tasting and appreciation knowledge. Health and beauty aspects of wine should be highlighted in the mind of consumer. The wine tourism board also needs to undertake measures, which include integrating wine tourism marketing with other state and national level tourism marketing drives. Wine tourism marketing should be taken to the next level of using international tourism channels like Incredible India.
Expected outcomes of the model
It will have an impact of more inflow of tourists to the region. Tourists will enjoy tourism experience, which is more value for money, gain more knowledge of wines and develop a taste for wine. It will also create awareness about wines among consumers as Indian consumers are currently mostly wine illiterate. Once consumers experience wine tasting it will definitely boost the sale of local Indian wines from the cellar door. As this model talks about collaboration of wine producers and tourism industry it will also bring more opportunity to local farmers and other residents in the wine region vicinity.
(Raut is assistant professor, marketing; and Bhakay is director,
Chetana’s Ramprasad Khandelwal Institute of Management & Research, Bandra (East), Mumbai)
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