The senses as experiences in Wine Tourism: A comparative statistical analysis between Abruzzo and Douro

Abstract

Sensory experiences play a remarkable role in the visitor’s satisfaction and behavioral intention to return to a wine tourism unit, so it is important to frequently review the environment in which the experience is lived, to make it memorable. This study aimed to perform a comparative analysis of the perception of sensory experiences between the Abruzzo region in Italy and the Douro region in Portugal. This study also intended to understand the most important sensations sought by wine tourists in each region. A quantitative methodology was used, based on a questionnaire survey that analyses the perceptions of sensory experiences and some variables that characterize the profile of wine tourists. The sample consisted of 199 wine tourists who visited the wine tourism units of the aforementioned regions. The structural equation model results showed that sensory experiences were composed of five factors: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and sensory experiences manifested with greater intensity in the hearing and smell factors. By comparing the results between the two regions, it can be concluded that smell is the most important factor for wine tourists who visit the Douro region, while for those who visit the Abruzzo region, it is the taste. The obtained results are important, in that they allow perceiving the differences in perception in sensory experiences, which has an impact on the management of companies in the two regions studied. This comparison between two wine regions in two different countries is pioneering work. Different wine regions have different attractiveness factors.