Wine Tourism Experience Effects of the Tasting Room on Consumer Brand Loyalty

Abstract

This study's overall purpose was to contribute to the wine tourism knowledge base regarding the impact of the winery tasting room experience on consumer wine brand loyalty. A total of 108 surveys were conducted at wineries in the Barossa Wine Region in South Australia in an exploratory study. The study's main contribution is the development of three scales to operationalize the research, namely, Wine Brand Loyalty, Winery Tasting Room Initial Perception, and Winery Tasting Room Actual Experience Scales, and to determine what influence initial perceptions combined with the actual tasting room experiences have on brand attitudes and eventually on brand loyalty. The brand loyalty scale returned a Cronbach's alpha of 0.802. It was confirmed that wine quality has a significant impact on brand attitudes. A higher level of perceived wine value increased brand attitudes, whereas positive brand attitudes increase the likelihood of future purchase intentions. The overall tasting room experience is significantly correlated to brand attitudes. There is a strong correlation between the winery tasting room experience and brand loyalty, proving that consumers who have an enjoyable and memorable experience are more likely to buy the wine again and/or promote the wine brand to others.