Marianna Sigala - Technology Advances and Innovation in Wine Tourism: New Managerial Approaches and Cases

As global competition between wine destinations and wine tourism operators intensifies and the wine tourism demand becomes more sophistication innovation and digital transformation have become an unavoidable necessity for survival and the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated change and the reset of the wine tourism industry as well as the need to make the industry more sustainable, resilient and adaptable. Technologies and innovation as necessity have been instrumental for enabling the wine tourism industry to go through the crisis, re-start but also resetting its practices. In discussing these trends, this chapter also advocates innovation and the creative use of technological advances as two major tools for making the wine tourism industry more competitive, flexible and resilient to address any future crises and contemporary challenges. The chapter identifies the major technological advances that currently drive and can lead future innovation in wine tourism. It also identifies synergies with the high-tech sector, government and/or industry led initiatives to create inter-industry collaborations as well as digital capabilities are the critical success factors for implementing digital transformation within the wine sector. The chapter also discusses the role and importance of innovation within the wine sector and it highlights the importance of nurturing and fostering innovation ecosystems amongst various sectors in order to boost the co-creation innovation within the wine tourism sector.