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Winemaking is much more than aneconomic and agricultural venture;it’s an activity that reveals both the

cultural and social identity of the peopleinvolved. For this reason, wine-producingcountries around the world have createdtourism strategies to exhibit and promotetheir wine industries. Wine tourism is anexcellent opportunity to spread the cultureof wine while also promoting regional devel-opment. Visitors arriving in a wine-growingregion can experience this culture, enjoythe landscape, and further enhance theirexperience by later telling friends and rela-tives about what they have done and seen.

Argentina is one such place where winetourism is successfully growing. Argentinaenjoys optimal geographic and climaticqualities, and boasts a wide variety ofregions for the wine tourist to visit. In thefirst half of 2010 nearly 770,000 visitorstravelled the wine roads of Argentina, a57.5% increase over the same period theprevious year, as reported by Bodegas de

Argentina, the association of Argentinewineries.

Growing an industry

It was the province of Mendoza that servedas the epicentre of Argentina’s wine revolutionin the 1990s, where total investment in thewine industry reached $1.3bn within the first10 years. Those were years of hard work for theMendocinos, planting vines and building newwineries. Argentine producers dreamt of wineexports, but in 2004 they amounted to no morethan 3% of the total volume produced annually.

This slow start can partly be attributed tothe fact that development of tourism was not apriority for the wineries. Tourists were seen asa nuisance, and the wineries were more con-cerned with the development of their wines.

The warming of wineries to the tourismboom began gradually in the late 1990s andearly 2000s. Attracted by the development ofthe local wine industry and, especially,because of the growth in exports of high qual-ity wines, the wineries began to receive a large

number of specialised sommeliers, winebuyers, importers, journalists, and groups ofwine enthusiasts.

The arrival of these new companies, newspecialists and new wine styles made Argen-tine wines a product that you can buy in almostevery market today, bringing throngs ofcurious wine tourists to the quiet and pastoralregion of Mendoza. They wanted to find outwhat was going on, how and where the wineswere produced, and by whom. It also helpedmatters that the devaluation of the localcurrency (Argentine peso) allowed tourism inArgentina to become a significant activity forthe regional economy towards 2003. That yearalso witnessed the formal establishment of the“National Wine Tourism Committee” amongBodegas de Argentina, as a result of the workthat had been done in association with theCaminos del Vino (Wine Roads) project, begin-ning in 1998.

Wineries now welcome tourists, and mosthave even created tourism business units runby high-level professionals. Large wineries arenow absolutely committed to the developmentof their brands and know that satisfied winetourists will eventually become their freebrand ambassadors when they return to theirhome countries. In addition, small wineriesalso benefit from tourism, enabling them tosell their products directly to consumers whileavoiding intermediaries.

Shaking off the slow economy

In 2008 a little more than onemillion visitorsarrived in Argentina, but in 2009 this numberfell for a variety of reasons, including the gener-al decline in world tourism triggered by theworld economic crisis, the unavailability of cred-it, the rise of unemployment, and the H1N1 flupandemic. But things have rebounded nicely.

The province of Mendoza alone attractednearly 570,000 visitors to wineries in the firsthalf of 2010, a 68% increase over the same

Argentina has grown its wine tourism offerings in tandem with its wine exports. As DanielLópez Roca explains, this allows wine regions to benefit twice from the same bottle of wine– tourists become ambassadors for Argentine wines, while wine drinkers become tourists.

WINE TOURISMGROWS IN ARGENTINA

M A R K E T W A T C H

Tourists view the vineyards from a classic car.

period in 2009. Of these visitors 64% werenational residents, while 36% were interna-tional visitors, mostly from the USA, Brazil,Chile, the United Kingdom and France. In2010 those wine exports that Argentine pro-ducers had dreamt of reached the equivalentof 17% of the year’s total production.

Cause for success

Today, wine tourism in Argentina hasreached full development. The country hasdiverse wine regions with breathtaking land-scapes – 16 well-defined micro-regions in thecountry – and each wine-producing provinceis varied as well. There are four differentregions in the province of Mendoza alone.

Mendoza and Cafayate – in the province ofSalta – are the regions favoured by foreigners.The number of tourists continues to grow in animpressive way. There are currently 180 winer-ies open to tourism and 50 have their ownrestaurants. There are also wineries that offerlodging and feature such activities as swim-ming, tennis, golf and polo. Visitors can chooseto attend cooking classes, view the vineyardsfrom air balloons, go horseback riding, tour theregion in classic cars, and of course have thefull range of traditional wine-related activitiesavailable, such as picking grapes, pruning,blending wine, and, naturally, wine tasting.

There are many cultural offerings on thecalendar, with highlights including the musicalFiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (The Grape Har-vest Festival) in March; the festival MúsicaClásica por los Caminos del Vino (ClassicalMusic Along the Wine Roads) around Easter;Rock y tango por los caminos del vino (Rock andTango Music Along the Wine Roads); the clas-sic cars race Rally de las Bodega (Wineries’Rally); as well as other artistic and sportingactivities throughout the year.

In Mendoza alone, tourism (not only wine-related) now contributes more than $1bn peryear to the province’s treasury and GrossDomestic Product (GDP). No doubt it is one ofthe sectors of greatest growth in Mendoza,which receives two million visitors each year(the average visitor spends five to six days and$90.00 a day). Such is the importance oftourism – not only in Mendoza but also in therest of the country – that it represents 8% oftotal exports of Argentina and 7% of its GDP.

Different factors have contributed to the cur-rent successful situation. Mendoza, in particu-lar, has been strongly identified as a wine des-tination for tourists. It’s the first reason to visit.

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M A R K E T W A T C H

Gabriel Fidel has served as

the Minister of Government

Affairs, Minister of Economy,

and Secretary of Tourism of

the government of the

province of Mendoza. When

in office in 1998, he created

Caminos del Vino (Wine Roads), which was for-

mally established in 2003 with the creation of the

National Wine Tourism Committee among

Bodegas de Argentina.

As a consultant, he is currently heading a strate-

gic plan for wine in Argentina for the Multilateral

Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American

Development Bank (IDB), the National Secretary

of Tourism and Bodegas de Argentina, and

assesses local and foreign investors, mainly in

the wine business and regional economy.

Creating regional identities

Fidel, when asked about the next steps to consoli-

date the wine tourism boom, said, “In the case of

wine tourism, our objective for the following years is

to continue with the diversification of the offer, to

make a great effort to ensure that the regions of rel-

atively lower development grow, and to continue

creating regional identity. For example, we don’t

want the South of Mendoza to be sold generically.

Within that region there are many strong identity

features that can be exploited for a town to become

a tourist destination. If we strengthen certain locali-

ties that possess identity, as Villa Atuel, its history

and protagonists, community and gastronomic offer,

that micro-destination will raise the basis for com-

petitiveness in that region. Thus, you can mention

the town of Pituil in the province of La Rioja as The

Capital of Distillates in Argentina. Today, tourists are

always looking for new experiences, so this can

capture their interest in an innovative way. The

tourist experiences range from visiting large wine

cellars to walking around the streets in a small

town, learning about its craft producers or attending

festivals, such as in Cachi in the province of Salta.”

The faces of tomorrow

The success of wine tourism demands young,

specifically trained professionals, so this has awak-

ened a growing interest in tourism in Argentine uni-

versities and training centers. As an example, there

exist tertiary-level institutes throughout the province

of Mendoza offering tourism-related courses. About

this matter Fidel says:“When you wonder why

gastronomy has developed so much in Mendoza,

you need to look at the growth of the training and

formal education in the subject. The idea is to gain

more space in universities to develop wine tourism

programs and courses.”

Department of Tourism

The control of all the activities required to expand

tourism services called for the recently created

Department of Tourism within the Bodega de Argenti-

na association. Fidel explains the mission of this enti-

ty: “To consolidate the various wine regions of

the country under the Caminos del Vino brand

umbrella. In addition, it emerges as an exchange

forum for reflection, knowledge and wine tourism

experience in order to encourage the development of

products and protect the identity of each region by

promoting both the growth and the differentiation of

local communities. The members of the product club

are creating business networks, increasing opportu-

nities and promoting collaboration in joint projects.”

Fidel adds, “We have been working with Bodegas de

Argentina for many years with the National Commit-

tee of Wine Tourism, Belén Gaua (now director of

Tourism Promotion of Mendoza) was in charge of it.

In addition, we have been working on the project of

consolidation of wine tourism in Argentina IDB/MIF,

which took place in several stages. One was the

development of a strategic plan for the different

wine roads, and the other the development of prod-

ucts for each of these routes. New geo-referenced

cartography was made, the Wine Tourism Observa-

tory was created, and a network was designed in

accordance with a quality plan, among other things.

The creation of the Department of Tourism (before, it

had been a Committee) completed the plan. The

partners participating are not members of Bodegas

de Argentina exclusively. The idea is to work with

the entire cluster (wineries, travel agencies, hotels,

restaurants, all the providers in the network), not

just with wineries.”

Fidel emphasizes that, “the issue of quality is not

related only to expensive services, but to each

segment of the product, from a five star hotel, to a

Bed & Breakfast or a hostel. They all need to provide

tourist services that comply with the required

quality parameters.”

The Department of Tourism has launched a promotion

and communication plan, developed a web site, and

is currently using social media networks for promo-

tion. The Department is actively participating in all

tourism and wine fairs to promote in Argentina.

INTERVIEW WITH GABRIEL FIDEL

The creation of the Department of Tourism

Other factors are the increased consumptionof quality wines and the reappraisal of wine asa beverage at a global level, as well asconsumers’ growing interest in the identityand origin of the wines they drink.

Establishing the future

The growth of wine tourism in Argentina inthe past five years has made it essential forwineries to work in association with othercompanies to provide more and better servic-es to an increasingly demanding public. A newchannel of Bodegas de Argentina association,Caminos del Vino (Wine Roads), has beencreated for this reason.

To date, there are 29 major companies asso-ciated, including five-star hotels, wine hotels,

airlines and transport companies, restaurantsand travel agencies, all strongly committed tothe activity.

To heighten awareness, there have beenprivate as well as public actions. The newinterest that the National Secretary of Tourism

has shown for wine is of great importance.Wine is now a priority for national tourismand last year it was designated the NationalBeverage by President Cristina Fernandez.The National Secretary of Tourism servesArgentine wines in all their presentationsthroughout the world. Wine is present inevery product promotion, and the Secretaryhas generated alliances with Wines of Argenti-na (the association of wine exporters) to havewine present at every exhibition.

Organisations:Bodegas de Argentina A.C.turismo@bodegasdeargentinaac.comwww.bodegasdeargentina.orgwww.caminosdelvino.com

Classic Cars Rally in Mendoza

Rally de las Bodegas, a classic cars competition along 630km of beautiful roads with

stops in different wineries has become a traditional event. In the 2010 edition, 71

classic cars participated in the race that went up to the famous Uco Valley, touring

the wine roads and visiting five prestigious wineries in Mendoza: Terrazas de los

Andes, Cheval des Andes, Vistandes, Tupungato Winelands and Pulenta Estate.

Harvest Festival – Fiesta de la Vendimia

Every year in the first weekend of March the Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (The

Grape Harvest Festival) takes place in the province of Mendoza. This traditional

festival started officially as the ‘end of the harvest’ celebration in 1936 and is one of

the most important festivals in Argentina. Every year a new musical is put on in the

Frank Romero Day theater.

It is an impressive spectacle of light and sound featuring more than 800 performers

and dancers. The show pays homage to different aspects of the life of wine produc-

ers, their sufferings and happiness. At the end of the show, a big finale sees the elec-

tion of the Reina Nacional de la Vendimia (Harvest Queen) from the girls that repre-

sent the 18 departments of the province of Mendoza.

The program starts two months earlier, around the end of January, with the election

of the representatives of each of the 18 departments.

Caminos del Vino, the wine tourism cluster

In order to achieve the consolidation of the wine tourism products in activity, the new

Department of Tourism of Bodegas de Argentina (the Argentine wineries’ association)

was created.

Ignacio Ciancio, the young local responsible for the Department of Tourism,

explained, “In Argentina wine has reached such a level of

development that there are wineries with marvelous construc-

tions beside traditional, historic buildings. The growth of wine

tourism made it mandatory for all clusters to bet heavily on

services and high standards of quality to match the level of

other major wine capitals of the world.”

“In this sense, and understanding this unique opportunity, the

Tourism Department of Bodegas de Argentina released at the end of 2010 a new

membership to a product-oriented club called Caminos del Vino, which incorporat-

ed travel agencies and tourism companies specialised in wine tourism, wine hotels

and lodges, restaurants, catering companies and food services, and other providers

closely linked to tourism services,” said Ciancio.

The Caminos del Vino product Club is an exclusive membership that represents the

most important networking of Argentina’s wine tourism industry. In it, each of the

members has access to valuable information about the sector, participates in pro-

motional trips to the most attractive emissive markets, and receives visits from spe-

cialised journalists, among other benefits.

“More than 29 companies related to wine tourism have already become members

of Caminos del Vino in Argentina and thus contribute their efforts and professional-

ism to 180 wineries that receive visitors. This is the reason why Caminos del Vino

has become the most important cluster in the country,” added Ciancio.

Thus, wineries see their efforts supported and enhanced by a conglomerate ready to

work professionally in the consolidation of tourism services in a destination now

known worldwide for the quality of its wines.

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Cultural Events of Mendoza

Wines of Argentina’s images topromote tourism.