In the pursuit of sustainability and competitiveness, digital aspects of the tourism experience become increasingly more significant and wine tourism is no exception to this. Still, studies building on established concepts and sustainable practices in the corporate environment often prioritize physical attributes. One such example refers to winescape frameworks, which are yet to explicitly incorporate the digital experience, despite the growing importance of the digital servicescape. This study contributes to this area by commenting on available data on winery websites and adopting the winescape concept to analyze social media activity during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The population of the study includes 53 wineries, located in two well-known Greek wine tourism destinations, namely Crete and Santorini. The results identify the most common winescape components that wineries emphasize, revealing similarities and differences across the two destinations. Implications highlight the winescape dimensions that (should) matter the most when considering digital experiences, and provide insights for wine tourism scholars and businesses alike towards a more sustainable wine supply chain.

This study explores the importance of memorable tourist experience for the formation of positive image traits and behaviours for a country image in a tourism context, recognizing the central role played by experiential satisfaction. Given the significance of experience design for academia and practitioners, it focuses on how memorable tourism experiences impact on image, satisfaction and behaviour. The proposed conceptual model is tested in a quantitative study that took place in Athens, Greece. The findings confirm the direct and indirect impact of memorable tourism experience on country image formation. Thus, the study offers a reliable empirical justification of a theoretically grounded model that contributes to scholarly thought and practitioners’ understanding on how to best inspire future behaviour through experience.

Place branding often builds upon gastro-cultural features. Yet, the convergence point between gastro-cultural place identity and the experience on offer could (and should) further benefit from contemporary studies in emerging fields, such as value co-creation and the identity-based approach to place branding. This study contributes towards this direction by examining the practices of relevant actors with main place branding authority. Drawing from their online information and presence, a thematic analysis of relevant brands in Greece and Turkey illustrates that operand and operant resource integration reflect the synergies developed between the gastronomic culture in, for, of the place. Further, actors’ intention to co-create the brand influences and is influenced by the brand. Theoretical and practical insights are derived from this study, which may direct future research and inform policymakers about sustainable, inclusive approaches.

This study investigates whether the relationships among dimensions of wine destination brand equity differ between New- and Old-World wine countries, and how wine involvement moderates these relationships. A cross-country, cross-cultural analysis compared Chinese wine tourists in a New-World wine country (Yantai, China) with Western wine tourists in an Old-World wine country (Crete, Greece). Using convenience sampling, 258 Chinese and 230 Western wine tourists were surveyed. Results show that brand awareness has a stronger impact on brand quality, and brand associations have a stronger impact on brand loyalty for Chinese wine tourists compared to Western tourists. The moderating role of wine involvement was observed only in the Chinese sample. As Chinese tourists’ wine involvement increases, the impact of brand quality on brand loyalty strengthens. Higher levels of involvement among Chinese tourists leads to a negative relationship between brand associations and brand loyalty, while lower involvement leads to a stronger positive relationship.