Analysing the importance of eco-wine tourism in Germany

(EN). Sustainable aspects of wine tourism have become increasingly important in recent years. The ecological sustainability of wineries in the form of organic certification is not a direct component of wine tourism, but can play an important role when visiting a winery. Eco-wine tourism means that certified organic wineries offer wine tourism activities and promote the sustainable side of the business with conscious and targeted communication. Certified wineries thus have a great opportunity to also profit in direct marketing and to establish eco-wine tourism. In a study with 32 wineries from 10 different German wine-growing regions, the tourist appeal, the importance of organic certification and the future development of eco-wine tourism were investigated from the producers' point of view. The results show that there is some evidence for using organic certification as a unique selling point, but it seems that wineries are not fully exploiting these opportunities. This study can help organic wineries to get a transparent picture of the current situation in terms of relevance and to break down communication barriers to engage with potential winery visitors.