1. Regional Food Cultures & Networks Conference
‘Challenges and Opportunities
working in Food & Wine Tourism’
Karen Ronning

2. Challenges & opportunities of working with:
•Limestone Coast Food Group
•Limestone Coast Food and Wine Group
•South Australian Food and Wine Tourism Group
From a:
•Small Business experience
•Zema Estate experience
•Personal experiences

4. Top 10 Most Remote Places in the World
New South Wales
Victoria
Limestone Coast
South Australia

5. Wine and Food Tourism – what is it and why bother?
“Wine and food tourism encompasses travel primarily motivated by, or
characterised by, wine and food leisure experiences that derive from specific
production, social or cultural dimensions of a destination” Winemakers Federation
of Australia (National Wine Tourism Strategy)
• The tourism industry contributes $33 billion a year to AUS GDP
• In 2009, international and domestic overnight winery visitors spent a total of
$7.1 billion ($5 billion international visitors / $2 billion domestic visitors)
• 46 cents in every tourism $ is spent outside our major cities
• In 2009 660 000 international visitors went to at least one winery during their
stay in Australia (approx 13% of total visitors) and International winery
visitors have been increasing at a faster rate than total international visitors
(average annual rate of 6% compared to 2%)
•Domestic overnight winery visitors increased at an av rate of 3% since 2000,
despite a decline in the total domestic overnight market during this period
• Winery visitors spend more on average than any other visitor

6. International visitation to Australia
International visitation to Australia increased
marginally in the year ended March 2012
Visitation from China grew by 14% compared
to the previous year, complemented by
strong growth in the number of Taiwanese
and Indonesian visitors.
Australia has experienced reduced visitation from Japan.
The New Zealand market has increased, primarily due to the visiting friends and relatives
market.
The average length of stay of International Travellers increased across all states in the
year ending March 2012. This has been partially attributed to working holiday visas.
Visitation from the US, UK and Europe (traditional wine drinkers) is at best ‘soft’ at
present.
Source: Tourism QLD and Tourism Australia

9. Some factors that affect tourism..
• Competition for the disposable $
• Competition from other destinations, national and international
• State of the global & domestic economies
• Exchange rates
• Natural disasters (QLD floods, NZ & Japan earthquakes, bushfires)
• Conflict / terrorism
• Changing consumer motivations, expectations, needs and wants, trends

10. Australians preferred overseas destinations are..Thailand, Indonesia, USA, NZ & UK

11. National Visitors Survey June 2012 – Tourism Research Australia

12. National Visitors Survey June 2012 – Tourism Research Australia

13. National Visitors Survey June 2012 – Tourism Research Australia

17. Source: Tourism NSW May 2011

18. South Australia:
•SA has an approx 20% market share of total visitors to wineries. This is much
higher than our total market share of visitors (7%).
•There are approx 1600 Cellar Doors in Australia, 517 in Victoria, 343 in
NSW/ACT, 335 in South Australia, 260 in WA, 92 in QLD and 67 in Tas.
• In 2006/07 142,400 or 37.8% of international visitors to South Australia went
to wineries at some stage during their visit to Australia.
Source: Tourism Australia
and SATC

19. However:
•The five most visited specific food and wine regions within Australia were the
Hunter Valley (27.4%), Stanthorpe (19.3%), Yarra Valley (15.5%), Barossa Valley
(14.5%) and the Mornington Peninsula (9.2%) Source: CRC
• The numbers of people visiting wineries in SA has not matched Australia’s
growth in international and domestic overnight and day trip visitors that go to
wineries.
Source: SATC

20. Why?
• Location relative to source markets?
• Lack of targeted marketing?
• Changing consumer preferences?
• Not responding to market segmentation?
• Not enough product development and innovation?
• Resources? ($, people, time, energy)
•Resources not being applied in the right way?
• Mature food and wine destination – ‘tired’?
• More competition? (VIC, NSW, QLD, NZ, Asia, South Africa)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siTgbyavJAM
• Other?

21. Winemakers DAFF -
makers Tourism (National Food
Federation of
Australia Plan)
Australia
SAWIA SATC PIRSA Food SA GWRDC RCSA
Regional Regional Regional Regional
Dev Tourism Council Food Group Wine Ass
Aus/Ass Ass
Local organisations and groups
Food, Wine and Tourism businesses & producers
$, time, ?

22. Who staff’s these groups, committee’s and DAFF -
Winemakers Tourism
organisations? Who makes things happen in these
(National Food
Federation of Australia
communities? Cost? Plan)
Australia
Travel time?
Volunteer time?
SAWIA SATC Costs?
GWRDC RCSA
Other ...
Regional Regional Regional Regional
Dev Tourism Council Food Group Wine Ass
Aus/Ass Ass
Local organisations , groups and communities
Food, Wine and Tourism businesses & producers

23. Challenges and opportunities working in food and wine tourism..at
all levels
• Collaboration
• Information sharing
• Shared vision / plans / adopting helicopter view
• Resourcing in the right areas
• Transparency
• Good research
• Good analysis / review
• Training (Inc Access and Affordability) ‐ and not just entry level
training
• Acknowledging, congratulating, asking, consulting with &
supporting those at the coal face

24. Harnessing the potential of wine and food tourism
“Wine and food tourism in Australia is at a crossroads. It can continue to be a useful
add‐on for individual operators and a sidebar for regional tourism brochures or we can
strive to harness its true potential to help underpin the next phase of the sector’s
development.
First we need to acknowledge that the key word here is “tourism”. Producing good wine
and food and offering it with a smile at cellar doors and restaurants is not enough; wine
and food regions need to offer a compelling reason for people to visit.
Secondly we need to think in tourism terms about “product” and “packaging”. Potential
visitors need to be able to easily identify and choose from a range of tailored options at
all price points to suit differing tastes, markets and moods. We are not alone in seeking
to attract them.”
Peter Shulz
President – Winemakers Federation of Australia (National Wine Tourism Strategy)

25. Thank you

26. Some Food and Wine Tourism considerations
• Not all ‘Food & Wine Tourists’ are one and the same
• Consider what attributes / USP’s your
region/business can offer
•Do you know why your current visitors choose
your cellar door/ restaurant / farm gate/
region over others?
• Do potential visitors know where you are located?
• Are you currently meeting or exceeding visitor
expectations? How do you know?
• Would you like to attract more visitors?
• Do you know what sort of visitor you would like to attract and where from?
• Is your tourism offer / appeal strong enough to attract more visitors?
• Are there things you could and should be doing?