Leisure and lifestyle in wine and whisky tourism

Previous researchers (e.g. Dawson, Fountain & Cohen, 2011) have explored the orientation of tourism entrepreneurs and business owners, including those who are motivated to enter the wine industry for lifestyle and leisure reasons. Such lifestyle-oriented tourism businesses are typically small firms, and commonly located in rural areas. They attract (and rely quite heavily on) tourists seeking leisure activities such as visiting cellar doors, tasting wine, touring regions, learning about winemaking and partnering wine/drink experiences with local cuisine and food. Alongside wine and cultural tourism, destinations such as Tasmania are benefiting from a growing number of tourists seeking knowledge about ‘where their food and drink comes from and how it is grown and produced’ (Ryan, 2014).