wine culture

The longest route in the world: Global Wine Tourism Organization

The world’s longest wine tourist route

Wine tourism in its purest form

Argentina’s Inprotur, Chile’s Sernatur and the Global Wine Tourism Organization (GWTO) promote, support and publicize the creation of The World’s Longest Wine Tourist Route (1,300 km of wine culture), favouring the twinning between the Chilean and Argentinian Regions of Coquimbo, San Juan, La Rioja, Catamarca and Santiago del Estero.

Argentina and Chile, as wine tourism destinations, feature over 250 and 130 wineries that receive visitors, respectively.

The Tourist Route re-enacts the journey made by conquistadors and missionaries, who, after founding La Serena -the first coastal city in Chile- projected the bi-oceanic union and crossed the Andes to establish the oldest settlement in Argentina, Santiago del Estero. Subsequently, they would use the same road to introduce the first grapevine stumps, hence consolidating the base for the wine culture in both countries and in all of the Southern Cone between 1553 and 1556 (Source: Orígenes).

During the project’s presentation within the cycles The Journeys of the Vine and the Wine, the President of the GWTO, José Antonio Vidal, pointed out that “this initiative qualifies as what GWTO defines as a Tourist Route (since it includes more than one country), it boosts public and private collaboration and regards coopetitivity, academic investigation, innovation and sustainability as its essential core. From GWTO, we encourage every country to assist this type of initiatives.

The president of the GWTO carried on stating that “in these current particularly difficult times, it is necessary to redefine concepts in regards to Tourism and Wine Tourism, aimed at satisfying the new demands marked by the sanitation safety:

  1. Public-private, public-public and private-private cooperation is more essential than ever, and
  2. Companies that have not done it yet, must redefine themselves towards an inclusive and sustainable approach.
  3. We all have to work on our reliability in orderto maintain ourselves within the buying decision scope of consumers.

There is a wide opportunity window linked to the pluses that a comprehensive and transversal sector such as Wine Tourism offers. It implies innovative strategies, and this Tourist Route includes them.

In the face of the current complex situation, if the aim is ensuring Wine Tourism in the markets by developing the socio-economical environment at destinations, ADDING to the effort is necessary, nurturing the commitment to unity.

Entrepreneurs must work on their individual and creative projects, but while being aware of the fact that they also have to work together within their sector in order to strengthen the unique qualities of their destinations.

Coopetitivity (competing with a cooperative spirit) will teach us how to adapt ourselves to the new situation: let us become the BIG FAMILY OF THE GLOBAL WINE TOURISM, all agents working united and co-ordinately as in the GWTO.

No wine tourist experience -and, practically, any other- can be understood without its complementary gastronomy as an instrument for the social and local development

Wine Tourism sector has to incorporate it into its offer, not only as part of the integrated service, but during the wine tasting at the wineries, harmonizing them with simple gastronomic Km 0 proposals. 

At GWTO we consider that the time is ideal to take actions towards broadening up the horizons of a responsible, supportive and sustainable global Wine Tourism.

The leadership in sustainability takes in an inclusive and supportive Governance Model that gives prominence to ‘Knowledge Management’ applied to the Investigation for the Training in Sustainability via GWTO Academy, which acts as the headquarters and the voice of the Wine Tourism know-how. It features 50 authorities from the most prestigious universities and Business Schools in 24 countries, specialized in the investigation of Tourist Intelligence, in Wine Tourism Management, Gastronomic Tourism and leading the education in Agricultural and Wine tourism.

Because of and for this purpose, the GWTO has been created: probably the most inclusive and supportive touristic project that has ever been proposed”.

Global Wine Tourism Organization invited to the International Wine Culture and Tourism Festival in China

GWTO invited to the International Wine Culture and Tourism Festival in China

On 26 September, the launch ceremony of the China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Festival, with the theme of “Meet Ningxia Chuan – Taste Helan Mountain”, was held in He Dong Wine Town, Shizuishan City, Ningxia. The conference aims to provide the biggest stage, the best booth and the best platform for the exchange and cooperation of the wine culture and tourism sector at home and abroad. 

Representatives of the Global Wine Tourism Organization (GWTO) in China, relevant ministries and commissions, provincial and regional cultural and tourism departments, experts from the wine, culture and tourism industries at home and abroad, and representatives of private companies witnessed the awards ceremony of Ningxia as a “global wine tourism destination”.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out during his visit to Ningxia that the Ningxia wine industry is a microcosm of the development of China’s wine industry and it will be a world beater. Ningxia has a long history of grape growing and is renowned for its wine. The eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains are recognised as a prime wine grape production zone, with sufficient light, little precipitation, large temperature differences and low humidity, and the excellent terroir and climate have created the unique qualities of Ningxia wine, including sweetness and balance, rich aroma and a long aftertaste. 

In his speech, Lai Jiao said that the Party Committee and the government of the autonomous region have implemented the new development concept and included both wine and cultural tourism in the nine key industries of the autonomous region, as an important grasp of the initiative to integrate into the new development pattern, focusing on promoting the integrated high-quality development of wine and cultural tourism and accelerating the construction of wine tourism destinations. Relying on cultural and tourism resources, we will cultivate a new connotation of wine culture, tell the story of wine, disseminate the terroir culture of the region, “shape” and “give soul” to wine, so that wine will not only have a single look but many aspects that go beyond the wine. 

GWTO Founder President and CEO, José Antonio Vidal stated, “Innovation is the bridge to the future of Wine Tourism and the challenge is to achieve joint action from all the wine tourism stakeholders who share the goal of world leadership in this important sector as wine tourism is. For the Province of Ningxia, the objective should be promoting the international recognition of Ningxia Brand as a world-class wine tourism destination, by positioning Ningxia wine-agri-tourism destinations in global markets, through their presence in all the events (domestic and international) organized by GWTO or in which GWTO participates. In this sense I extend a formal invitation to Ningxia to participate in the GWTOtalks to discuss “hot topics” on wine tourism, matching governments and private sector. Recently, the Minister of Tourism and Sports of Argentina, the Director General of Tourism Policy of Greece, the President of Tourism of Portugal and the Vice-minister of Tourism of Uruguay participated in different sessions and we had great outcomes”.

GWTO Senior Advisor Carlos Vogeler said in his online speech that the Global Wine Tourism Organization highly recommended Ningxia as a quality wine tourism destination and that Ningxia’s initiatives to promote the integration of the cultural and tourism industries have contributed to the wine industry becoming an important pillar in attracting tourists, contributing to the development of wine tourism and making China one of the most attractive upcoming destinations for wine travel experiences in the international market.

During the China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Festival, a series of cultural and tourism events were held, including the Wine Tourism Destination Industry Integration Development Forum, the Winery Leisure Tourism Promotion Conference, the promotion of wine culture and tourism resources in the eastern Helan Mountains.

ABOUT GWTO

Global network of entrepreneurship and knowledge, made up of entities from the entire agritourism value chain (public, private located in wine destinations and academic sectors), understanding the term ‘wine’ in its broadest sense, with the aim of contributing to social development -economic of the destinations and their residents, in accordance with value proposals demanded by their associates and aligned with the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, both from the United Nations.

More information: [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter: @gwto_omet  @gwto_academy

The Georgian EnoTourism Association (GETA) and Caucasus Int’l University join GWTO

With many centuries of experience in the field of winemaking, Georgia considers wine tourism as a source of revitalization.

To advance and move forward into a management and development stage, the Georgian EnoTourism Association (Geta) and its associate, the Caucasus International University (CIU), have formalized their membership to the Global Wine Tourism Organization (GWTO).

“Working together with GWTO is a great opportunity to promote the development of wine tourism in Georgia, actively contribute to the success of family wineries and their products, increase educational activities and, most importantly, to carry Georgia’s name as one of the best destinations for wine tourism in the international arena”, says the founder and member of the Geta Board of Directors, Kety Gorgiladze.

On August 5, the Rector of CIU, Kakhaber Kordzaia, and the founder of Geta, Keti Gorgiladze, held a meeting with the President of GWTO José Antonio Vidal, and the Senior Advisor, Carlos Vogeler, during which various areas of cooperation with GWTO and with the GWTO Academy were discussed.

Geta and GWTO thank the Ambassador of Georgia in Spain, H.E. Mr. Ilia Giorgadze for his collaboration, as well as the gastronomic writer and editor Federico Oldenburg, for his mediation.

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