With an economic impact of EUR 291 billion, Germany is the number‐one European country in terms of tourism revenue. German wine regions have a long history of production, but the value of these regions as tourism destinations has only recently received recognition. In the last few years, wine tourism has gained increasing importance and is believed to result in sustainable development by creating jobs while at the same time preserving a region's heritage. The aim of this paper is to estimate the economic impact of tourism in German wine regions in order to help stakeholders make the right policy and investment decisions. Therefore, a modified multiplier model was developed that allows for the economic impact of wine tourism to be assessed. By collecting 4,448 questionnaires in all 13 German wine regions, travelers provided information about their travel behavior, expenditures, and socio‐demographic characteristics. After conducting segmentation, the economic impact of tourism as well as wine tourism was estimated for each of the wine regions. The results show that tourism in German wine regions has an economic impact of EUR 26.4 billion, providing 384,878 people with their primary income. Due to higher expenditures, wine tourists show a disproportionately high economic impact of EUR 5.0 billion, which makes this niche market generate income for 71,846 people. The right investments in this lucrative market could help balance regional economic disparities and achieve sustainable tourism development in the country.

To compensate for loss of business during the COVID-19 crisis, wineries in the tourism industry had to apply new strategies. In order to collect and compare these newly developed sustainable strategies, a cross-cultural study has been conducted in 2021. This study is based on a qualitative survey using purposeful sampling with key decision-makers of 70 wineries from the U.S., Australia, Germany, Hungary, and Romania covering wine growing countries both from the Old and New World. The aim was to identify new and sustainable initiatives and resilience strategies implemented to deal with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, noting any cultural differences in each country’s response and to analyse the perspectives of wine tourism in the future. The findings highlight the wineries’ impressive focus on creativity and flexibility while also bringing attention to cultural differences. The insights form a preliminary suggestion for best practice strategies that businesses within wine tourism may consider helpful in their future business planning.

Sustainable aspects of wine tourism have become very important in recent years. The environmental sustainability of wineries, in the form of organic certification, is not a direct component of wine tourism but can nevertheless play a significant role in visiting a winery. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 32 wineries from 10 different German wine growing regions were conducted to analyze the tourism appeal, the importance of organic certification, and the future development of organic wine tourism from the producers’ points of view. The results show that there is certain evidence for using organic certification as a unique selling point, but it appears that wineries are not fully exploiting these possibilities. This study could help organic wineries to get a transparent picture of the current situation in terms of relevance and to break down communication barriers in order to establish contact with potential visitors to the winery.

Purpose: The pioneers of online wine tastings have set a new standard and introduced an innovative tool that combines various goals: contacting existing and recruiting new customers, entertaining participants and boosting sales. Within the framework of the study, the authors addressed questions such as the reasons for offering online wine tasting, profitability and the basic characteristics and future perspectives of this new interactive online tool.Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods research was conducted using a sequential exploratory design to analyse online wine tastings during Covid-19 pandemic. First, 40 in-depth interviews in Germany were conducted and, based on these results, a global online survey was undertaken with 1,423 wineries from more than 40 countries.Findings: The survey results clearly show the effect of Covid-19 on the growing tendency to employ online wine tastings. This tool is about more than just providing entertainment for wine lovers in that it also has a tangible business aspect.Practical implications: Based on these results, the authors assume that online wine tastings will continue to be offered after the Covid-19 crisis.Originality/value: This paper offers a situation analysis of the first 10 months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the field of online wine tastings worldwide. The authors conducted a quantitative online survey that built on a qualitative pre-study. Given the fact that no academic paper has been published on the topic, this paper provides first insights on a global scale.

Winegrowers are significantly shaping the landscapes of wine regions around the world. These landscapes are often the most important reason why tourists decide to visit. Although it could be concluded that winegrowers play a central role in attracting tourists, the question of whether they can be considered tourism promoters remains unanswered. This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework to better understand the function of winegrowers in relation to tourism promotion. In doing so, the different disciplines of wine production, tourism, and landscape research are brought together. The created framework shows a variety of positive touristic influences that can be attributed to winegrowers, such as developing cultural landscapes, promoting regional identity, and furthering intersectoral cooperation. More importantly, it allows for a holistic assessment of a relatively unexplored research field. This is vital to understanding the impact that winegrowers have on the touristic success of wine regions. Based on careful consideration of individual factors, compensating winemakers for their yet little-recognized function as landscape stewards could be appropriate. In this context, the concept of ecosystem services may be helpful to monetize services for public goods.