Wine Australia has launched a free online self-paced course to help Australian wineries welcome back international travellers and build a profitable tourism trade.
Wine Tourism Ready provides expert guidance in six modules, with 21 individual wine-specific tourism lessons covering a broad range of topics – from establishing tourism experiences to mastering marketing for global audiences.
Wine Australia General Manager Marketing Paul Turale said the online course would support both wineries looking to establish new experiences and those who have existing drawcards for tourists.
“Over the past couple of years there has been a singular focus on domestic tourism. But with the borders reopened and more international travel back on the table, now is the time to capitalise on a more open visitor economy and create new avenues for business. This comprehensive online course will help wine tourism providers do just that,” Mr Turale said.
“Food and wine are major motivators for travel and creating meaningful experiences for visitors creates lasting connections for wineries, as well as attracting tourism dollars into our wine regions, which is important for both our sector and our regional economies.”
Prior to the disruption to international travel from COVID-19, Tourism Research Australia estimated that in 2018–19, one in eight international tourists to Australia visited at least one winery during their travels.
Wine Tourism Ready introduces new resources as well as adapted materials from the successful Growing Wine Tourism program, delivered to around 1200 Australian wine producers with funding from the Australian Government’s Export and Regional Wine Support Package from 2019–2021.
Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) was one of the contributors that provided expertise to the new course.
“The tourism space is constantly evolving with new customers and new needs and this has never been more apparent than in the post-COVID world of travel,” ATEC Managing Director Peter Shelley said.
“It’s therefore important that tourism focused businesses keep ahead of the game by taking every opportunity available to gain greater knowledge, build capability and continually update skills and understanding of their operational environment.”
Wine Tourism Ready allows wineries to work through the lessons and activities step-by-step in order to create a full wine tourism plan, or skip straight to the topics that interest them.
Wine Tourism Ready is available for free at wineaustralia.com/selling/wine-tourism-ready
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