Today, depending on topic, goal and budget, all kinds of sampling methods are being used, in order to collect consumer data for research in the wine business. However, it is questionable which survey method is able to generate data that does represent the entire population. A representative face-to-face survey with 2000 respondents and a telephone survey with 1000 respondents were compared with two online surveys, one based on quota sampling (2000) and the other on snowball sampling (3000) using identical questions. Due to the sampling method, three of the surveys were representative of the socio-demographic structure of the German population in terms of six demographic variables that were selected for the quota sampling. The online survey (based on the snowball sample) had large biases concerning representativeness. Regarding the behavioural characteristics of consumers, the face-to-face data delivered the best results, followed by the telephone interviews and finally the online quota survey. Face-to-face surveys still deliver the most representative results. Telephone surveys may provide a good alternative, but we would advise use of a larger sample. The online quota survey needs to be corrected, while in the case of snowball sampling, one should relinquish representativeness

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.