Food and wine tourism in Teramo
In the last few years, food and wine tourism has been raising more and more interest; when it’s time to draw their cultural and naturalistic routes, people pays increasing attention to the opportunity to visit the local wineries as the best way to discover the wine heritage of a territory.
In fact, in 2017 this specific tourism sector made in Italy a turnover of 2,5 million euros and now it boasts great growth prospect (www.hellotaste.it/turismo-enogastronomico/enoturismo-italia-attualit%C3%A0-e-prospettive).
The article above highlights that the favourite destinations for wine tourists all have in common highly trained staff in the wine and food field: tourists rely on specilized tour operators to reach the most genuine and characteristic places in the area they want to explore.
In Italy, Tuscany, Veneto, Sicily and Piedmont are the most visited regions by wine tourists.
Thanks to Italian and foreign specialized tour operators, tourists can find all the information and the logistic support they need to choose among places and events.
Teramo and Abruzzo
Teramo is the perfect destination for wine and food tourists, thanks to its rich and fascinating gastronomic culture.
Many local associations aim at developing food and wine tourism in Abruzzo, like for example our Consorzio, or the “Movimento del Turismo del vino” (www.movimentoturismovinoabruzzo.it). Other projects try to enhance the discovery of the territory, like “Percorsi Vini d’Abruzzo”.
Several events are organized periodically and many guides are made for wine lovers: these must be the starting point for tour operators to create tour packages focused on the hills around Teramo and their wines.
Besides, Teramo is already very well placed in touristic paths that go from holidays at the sea to mountain hiking. These attracions can be easily integrated in food and wine tours, but we need to make them known through an aggressive marketing plan.
Wine tours offered by tour operators
If we browse among the main web sites in the field of food and wine tourism (www.bkwinetours.com), it is possible to find three kinds of services for wine lovers:
- One day tour. The list of activities is very detailed; all included and excluded costs are always clarified.
- Four/five day tours, with a detailed description of the wine and food specificity of each trip stage.
- Customized tours, focused on specific food and wine themes.
Some tour operators not only offer tasting routes, but also propose traditional practical activities, like for example cooking classes, truffle collection or fishing (according to the region).
Characteristics of USA wine tours
In the USA, wine tours are so famous that in California an International Conference on wine tourism and marketing is organized periodically (winetourismconference.org/wine-tour-operators/).
American wine lovers represent a tourist basin that Italy must be able to attract. But, to achieve this goal, it is necessary to study the characteristics of USA food and wine tourism and learn how to offer services that live up to expectations.
The main USA specialized societies all have:
- Expert operators, highly trained.
- A strong social feedback on web portals for tourist reviews.
- Logistic skills to move around easily.
The members of the Consorzio Colline Teramane pay close attention to enhance tourism in our territory: in the last years they have been opening farmhouses and bed and breakfasts near to their wineries.
For any operator specialized in wine tours, these are primary starting points to create a food and wine route around Teramo.
What do you think?
What does our territory need to become one of the main destinations of Italian wine tourism?
