translated from Spanish: Wine tourism: Chile’s vintage potential

Chile is known worldwide for its wines. According to the Undersecretariat of Tourism, in its september 2018 report, wine tourism grew by 38% compared to previous years and according to the same report, 16.7% of tourists entering our country make some of our wine routes.
The celebration of grapes and vintages has become a must-see between the months of March and April, both for Chileans and foreigners. And it is not only about consuming wine but also knowing the local gastronomy, participating in heritage activities, handicrafts from the areas, all together in a festival that does not distinguish ages, origin, sexes or others.
Wine is the input that drives an economic sector that is a fundamental contribution to the development of our regions. According to the Chile Wines Association, the industry accounts for 0.5% of gross domestic product and generates more than 100,000 direct jobs per year.
“We have fertile lands in the vineyard regions concentrated from Tarapacá to Biobío, with the possibility of finding a wide variety of strains, which are only given in Chile, such as the Carmener for example, which was extinct for a long time until it was reborn in our land”, says Ignacio Marco Vera, founder of TourSolutions, a company specialized in wine tourism.
Potential 
“We think it is very important to be able to further enhance this sector. The wine is aged during the 12 months of the year, however the Enotourism is more seasonal, why not take advantage of it all year round?”, proposes Vera.
To perform wine tourism it is not necessary to be an expert, according to the undersecretariat, only 17% of visitors are wine lovers, with some experience in oenology, while 42% have no technical information but are interested in the wine world. Even to make these tourist routes, it is not necessary to drink it, because each tour has different activities.
That is why for TourSolutions it is an industry that could well help to lift our economy through different activities by articulating all the tourist offer around the wine routes, especially considering that 55% of those who follow any of these routes, are foreigners, coming mostly from Brazil (57%), the US and other countries. USA (9%) Europe in general (9%).
“Unlike with different regions of our country, where there are no known activities to be carried out in places that are not developing the season, with wine tourism something happens that is more correct: the foreign tourist knows that the wine route exists and is often willing to do it regardless of the date. The difficulty is that he doesn’t know or can’t schedule a visit, leaving a missed opportunity for the vines,” says Vera.
This is a reality for the small vines that only exploit their export product and fail to take advantage of the vineyards during 365 days of the year. “It’s still common to come across vines that use phone or email as a form of online booking, when tourists who are visiting a valley by day want immediate confirmation,” he adds.
This is why it is fundamental for example, to make the services known through websites or social networks where the tourist – both national and foreign – can review the tourist offer, book and pay from anywhere in the world and at any time, in this way, the vines will be able to anticipate their costs and increase their visits to the wineries / vineyards.

Original source in Spanish

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