| Summary: | This research is a case study on the wine producing region of Beaujolais, France. It investigates the potential that organic wine tourism, which promotes the benefits of responsible wine production methods, has to positively rebrand Beaujolais. Indeed, the region has suffered from a bad reputation for the past decades, even though an increasing number of small to medium domains have started producing organic wine. Mixed methods have been used to investigate the extent to which the demand of potential tourists meets the supply of organic wine tourism activities that the previously mentioned domains are able/willing to provide. A questionnaire analysis has revealed that a diverse range of people living in the nearby area are curious about organic wine tourism and would therefore enjoy tasting organic wines at small domains, even though they do not know much about the topic. However, interviews with owners/managers of small organic wine domains have revealed that they currently face too many obstacles to properly answer the demand for organic wine tourism. Furthermore, they identify wine industry professionals as their prefered visitor target, rather than regular tourists such as the ones having answered the questionnaire. As a result, the supply of alternative wine tourism initiatives by small organic domains does not currently live up to the expectations of the customer segment wishing to experience organic wine tourism.
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