Younger wine tourists: Generational differences in the cellar door experience

摘要

This study examines the perceptions and experiences of visitors to winery cellar doors in one wine region near Perth in Western Australia. It particularly focuses on the perspective of younger wine tourists who, for current purposes, are defined as those who are members of the Generation X and Generation Y cohorts, and seeks to compare their winery experiences with those of older wine tourists. The study was carried out because of anecdotal evidence from cellar door staff and younger wine tourists that the treatment of visitors to cellar doors varies, dependent partly on assumptions about the visitors' motivations based on their age. The importance for wineries of visitation to cellar doors is recognised by both the tourism and wine industries (O'Neill and Charters 2000). The quality of cellar door service plays a central role in the tourist's experience of a winery and in the emotional attachments a tourist develops for a brand, and by implication, the future purchase intentions of that tourist (Dodd and Bigotte 1997). For example, Charters and O'Neill (2001) report that winery visitors base their decisions on whether to buy wine on service satisfaction above any other factor, including wine quality. Understanding cellar door expectations and experiences from the point of view of the wine tourist is essential to allow wineries to establish this loyalty (O'Neill and Charters 2000).