Correspondence: Eli Cohen, Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, Guilford Glazer School of Business and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel. E-mail: elico@bgu.ac.il

¹is Senior Lecturer at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, where he teaches Food and Beverage Management, Food Science and Quality Management. He is also Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the School of Marketing, The University of South Australia. His research interests cover restaurant practice and menu analysis, consumer choice of wine in retail stores and in restaurants and wine tourism.

²is an MBA student (with marketing specialization) at the Guilford Glazer School of Business and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. This paper is based on her thesis on the 'perceived importance of wine regions' and wineries' features from the perspective of potential Israeli visitors'.

Received 27 June 2008; Accepted 27 June 2008.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to identify the salient features of wineries and wine regions, from the perspective of a potential Israeli visitor. This insight facilitates an understanding of the features that might influence the decision to visit a winery or wine region, and enables operators to develop varied wine tourism products, combined with other attractions and activities. An exploratory study has been conducted and included 373 valid questionnaires of adult Israeli residents. The questionnaires included a list of 42 winery and wine region features, based on previous literature and preliminary semi-structured interviews. Participants were asked to rate the importance of each feature with respect to their decision to visit wineries or wine regions (on a 1–5 Likert-type scale). Factor analysis technique was implemented resulting in three factors, representing different dimensions of the wine tourism experience, and explained 43.9 per cent of the total variance. Factor scores were calculated and used for comparisons between different segments. The findings indicated that different segments yielded different importance ratings for each dimension. Fundamental differences occurred among specific segment bases: winery visitation frequency, subjects having children less than 18 years and wine involvement. Results show that the motivations for choosing a wine region as a tourist destination go beyond a simple desire to experience wine. A tourist's decision to visit a specific winery is also shaped by the willingness to experience the region's features and to participate in other activities or attractions during the visit.