The effect of wine tourism in the Portuguese wineries internationalization process

: international strategy seminar

Abstract

Previous studies have focused in characterizing wine tourism, establishing comparisons between countries and analyzing perceived benefits and challenges in establishing wine tourism operations. To the best of my knowledge this is the first study done regarding the effect of wine tourism in the international operations of wineries. The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of the Portuguese wine tourism landscape, challenges and prospects regarding the future. Nevertheless, the main focus of this study is to understand the key benefits perceived by wineries in their international operations, challenges in establishing a positive effect and the factors that lead to this effect. In order to accomplish this an examination was made towards finding past research findings on the subject and connected key themes. Afterwards, primary data was collected through a survey and interviews. The main conclusions were in line with some of the answers already found by previous studies, however interesting factors were discovered especially for the Portuguese wine tourism market and the connection with wineries international operations. Despite this study limitations, its primary contribution goes towards identifying what wineries can expect from engaging in wine tourism activities and key success factors in establishing a positive relationship in the international operations of wineries, a factor more and more important considering the challenges wineries face. Moreover, by identifying the key barriers wineries face, this dissertation provides a guide to interested institutions to improve the situations and prospects of wine tourism.

Date of Award	21 Jul 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ricardo Reis (Supervisor)