Hochschule Geisenheim University, together with the German Wine Institute (DWI), has conducted a scientific survey on the economic significance of wine tourism. According to the survey’s results, 50 million people travel to German wine regions per year, contributing 5.5 billion euros to the economy.

Overall, general tourism in German wine areas creates approximately 412,900 jobs, generating a total annual revenue of 29.9 billion euros. For around 13 % of tourists, wine is the main reason for travelling to these regions and they visit at least one vineyard during their stay, contributing 18 % to the total revenue from tourism.

The data is based on a two-year survey, including interviews with 900 vineyards and 4,500 tourists in German wine areas. The wine tourists interviewed gave detailed information about how much they spent on goods and services during their holiday. By analyzing total spending and numbers of tourists, experts were able to confirm the economic significance of wine tourism.

In 2015, the federal government had already found wine tourism to be an important market segment, which is why they decided to carry out the survey. Head of the German Wine Institute Monika Reule finds this data to be an important factor when making decisions about future tourist investments in the wine regions: “For most of the wine regions there is still room for improvement”, says Reule. Professor Gergely Szolnoki and Maximilian Tafel, scientists from Hochschule Geisenheim University, are of the opinion that “Wine tourism is of enormous economic significance and should be a focus area for policy-making”.

A summary of the study can be found here

For more information on the survey please contact Hochschule Geisenheim University or the German Wine Institute.

Press Contact:

Ernst Büscher

German Wine Institute

Public Relations Department

Tel: 06135 9323 156

ernst.buescher@deutscheweine.de

www.germanwines.de

Professor Gergely Szolnoki

Maximilian Tafel

Department for Wine & Beverage Business

Hochschule Geisenheim University

Phone: 06722 502 381

gergely.szolnoki@hs-gm.de

maximilian.tafel@hs-gm.de

www.hs-geisenheim.de