A Bibliometric Analysis: Wine Tourism in the Sector

Recently, bibliometric analysis has been employed in various disciplines, such as consumer neuroscience [9], restaurant studies [8], and smart tourism destinations [10]. Collaborative economics research has also used this method to explore and trace the evolution of tourism research [11].

Due to the relevance of wine tourism, research in this area provides value both for industry practitioners and academics by enhancing understanding of this scientific field in two key ways. First, it enables an analysis of wine tourism research, identifying the most influential authors, their affiliated institutions, publication volumes over time, and the range of bibliometric studies conducted within this subfield to date. Second, this study explores the central themes related to wine tourism and communication, highlighting topics that have garnered the greatest interest among scholars during the period analyzed. Additionally, it contextualizes the field’s evolution, particularly since the advent of the Internet and the introduction of digital travel tools.

Since 2006, research on wine tourism has spanned various perspectives, including geopolitical, landscape, and management dimensions [12]. Some studies have utilized models of tourist behavior to analyze primary motivations for wine tourism [13]. Other research has focused on understanding wine tourism activities and the impact they have on tourists and wine [14]. Online wine tourism activities, such as virtual tastings, have also gained popularity since the onset of the pandemic, prompting studies that examine the virtual wine tourism experience [3]. Wine tourism represents an ideal convergence of wine and tourism, appealing to tourists seeking novel experiences and contributing to the long-term competitiveness of wineries [15]. According to Carvalho et al. [16], wine tourism is an activity linked to the enjoyment of vineyards, wines, and wineries, aiming to enhance competitiveness, foster regional development, and drive organizational innovation.

Recent years have seen a proliferation of bibliometric studies examining scientific output in tourism research [17]. Bibliometric analysis involves quantifying and evaluating the scientific output of a field, tracking advancements, identifying trends, and recognizing research gaps [18]. In a comprehensive review, Salod and Mahomed [17] identified 190 bibliometric articles published across nine leading tourism and hospitality journals from 1988 to 2015. The study noted a marked increase in bibliometric research since 2008, with most articles (157) being review studies, followed by 24 evaluative studies and nine relational studies [19].

At present, this style of tourism is growing in popularity in New World wine-producing countries, including Australia and the United States. In California’s Napa Valley, for instance, wine tourism generated over $58.8 billion in 2021 (Wine Institute, 2021). It is also considered a vital economic activity for wineries in Europe’s traditional wine regions [20]. The increasing importance of wine tourism, given its recognized potential to boost sales for wineries and promote rural culture and development, has spurred academic interest across multiple disciplines [21]. Hall [22] highlights that early studies on wine tourism date back to the 20th century, focusing on the influence of rural regions and wine tourists' behaviors. Despite its expansion, confusion remains in the academic literature regarding the definitions and subdomains within wine tourism, complicating efforts to understand its activities. Additionally, the rapid growth of wine tourism, encompassing gastronomy, wine experiences, and scenic landscapes, has drawn researchers to examine these activities more closely. The theoretical and empirical developments generated over recent years underscore the need for ongoing analysis of the current state of knowledge [8].

4.1 Ranking of journals

The 1,943 scientific articles analyzed are sourced from 174 publications in WoS and 16.844 in Scopus, including International Journal of Wine Business research (54 documents) and Sustainability (896).

The 1,943 articles retrieved from the WoS database were authored by 1,770 distinct authors, while the 16,844 articles in Scopus correspond to 30,087 authors (Table 1). Among the most prolific contributors to the wine tourism literature are Alonso Abel Duarte (21 documents) and Colin M. Hall (111 documents), with Hall being the most prominent in Scopus.

4.1.1 Citations maps

SciMAT generated a two-dimensional graph, segmented into four quadrants (see Figure 2), which illustrates the strategic topics. This diagram is based on centrality and density metrics, which assess the significance of each topic. Specifically, the centrality metric reflects the interaction of a network with other networks, indicating the degree of interconnection between a topic and others within its domain [25]. In contrast, density pertains to the internal cohesion of the network, representing the concentration of keywords that define and develop a topic.

The content of each quadrant is described below, according to Cobo et al. [25]:

1. Highly developed or isolated topics exhibit high density and low centrality. This quadrant identifies themes with well-established, specialized internal development, but with minimal connections to other areas.
2. Driving themes are characterized by high density and high centrality. This quadrant encompasses the core themes of the scientific field upon which the research is grounded.
3. Emerging or declining themes are characterized by low density and low centrality. These topics are either underdeveloped or in the early stages of emergence.

Table 1. Ranking of 10 journals

2.png

Figure 2. Quadrants of the strategic diagram

3.jpg

Figure 3. Strategic diagrams of the analysed steps (First stage 2000-2010) in WoS

4.jpg

Figure 4. Strategic diagrams of the analysed steps (First stage 2000-2010) in Scopus

This network of themes illustrates, through a cartographic representation, the interrelationships between thematic areas. It enables the visualization of the status of various topics (isolated, emerging, primary, or essential). The analysis of keywords across both periods reveals the interconnections within each theme, as represented in the strategic diagrams. Diagrams for each stage are presented below (see Figures 3 and 4). The evolution of these themes over the established periods is further visualized, following the approach of Cobo et al. [25].

4.2 Stage of penetration of the new activity (2000-2010)

Figures 5-8 illustrate the research topics that are similar in both the WoS and Scopus databases. Specifically, the themes that appear in both platforms are related to Touristic, Studies, Place and tourism development. In contrast, the topics published in Scopus predominantly addressed Tourism development (see Table 2). The variation in circle size reflects the total number of citations associated with the terms within each theme. In the case of WoS, the performance metrics indicate that, during this early phase of activity adoption, the driving themes in the research field were Tourism Development (Total Citations=1.672H-index=17). Regarding the nodes of the first period, in Scopus, Tourism-Development is associated with Canary-Island (2 documents), as well as Ecotourism (27 documents), Italy (10 documents), Vineyard (8 documents), and Perception (10 documents). In WoS for the nodes Touristic (21 documents), Meal (20 documents), Activities (3 documents), Website/online (2 documents) and Subject (5 documents); Place (5 documents), Service (4 documents), Environmental (2 documents), Problems (2 documents) and Result (3 documents); Studies (7 documents), Feeling (2 documents), People (2 documents).

Table 2. Comparative analysis of leading authors and document output in tourism studies (WoS vs. Scopus, 2000-2010)

5.png

Figure 5. Cluster network TOURISTIC in WoS

6.png

Figure 6. Cluster network PLACE in WoS

7.png

Figure 7. Cluster’s network STUDIES in WoS

8.png

Figure 8. Cluster’s network TOURISM-DEVELOPMENT in Scopus

The focus of research appears to have transitioned from the study of management to the examination of consumer behavior, as evidenced by the existing body of literature.

4.3 Growth and development stage (2011-2024)

The bibliographic corpus of the WoS during this period retains the research topics from the previous stage, including consumer behavior, regions, tourist destinations, sustainability, and business management. However, the number of issues was increased and included new topics of study: TECHNOLOGY, ACTIVITY and MEAL. In the case of Scopus, topics such as winery-waste. volcanic-island, perception, vineyard and consumer-behaviour (see Figures 9 and 10).

Over the years, the terms used to designate “wine tourism” have changed (Figures 11-13). The analitical system show the ‘Technology’ node seems to act as a central axis connecting all the others. This reflects the growing influence of technology on all aspects of human life, from our social relationships to our perception of our environment.

9.jpg

Figure 9. Strategic diagrams of the analysed steps (First stage 2011-2024) in WoS

10.jpg

Figure 10. Strategic diagrams of the analysed steps (First stage 2011-2024) in Scopus

However, in the case of WoS, the nodes for Technology are Place (58), Environmental (47), Feeling (28) and People (20); for Meal, are Result (30), Subject (28), Service (16) and Touristic (143); and for Activity nodes are Website/online (10), Studies (51), Problems (26), and Creative (7).

11.png

Figure 11. Cluster’s network TECHNOLOGY in WoS

12.png

Figure 12. Cluster’s network MEAL in WoS

13.png

Figure 13. Cluster’s network in WoS

In the case of Scopus, the Nodes for Winery-waste are: aminod-acid, concentration (Parameter), PH, Valorization, winery-waste and yeast. The nodes for Volcanic-island are: geoconservation, geotourism, resources, canary-islands, database, volcanic-island. For Perception, the nodes are: ecotourism, Italy, Perception, Questionnaire-Survey, Behavioral-response and Tourism-development. For Vineyard the nodes are Terraced-Vineyard, Buffer-zone, Cultural-Landscape, Vineyard, World-heritage-site, sustainable-development-goal; And the Consumer-behaviour, the nodes are environmental-attitudes, consumer-attitude, consumer-behaviour, restaurants, bibliometric-analyses and consumption.

The analysis in the (Figure 14) represent the “Winery-Waste” in Scopus, The ‘Winery-Waste’ node is represents an area of research with a growing interest due to environmental concerns and the search for a circular economy in the wine industry.

• Valorisation: The strong connection with the ‘Valorisation’ node points to the interest in finding alternative uses for winemaking residues. This may include the production of biofuels, fertilisers, bioactive compounds or even food products.
• Yeast: The link with ‘Yeast’ suggests research on how winemaking residues can influence yeast activity and thus wine quality.
• pH: The link with ‘pH’ indicates that the acidity of the residues is an important factor to consider in their management and valorisation.
• Amino Acids: The link to ‘Amino Acids’ suggests that winemaking residues can be a source of nitrogenous compounds important for other biological processes.
• Concentration (Parameter): This general connection indicates that studies focus on determining the concentrations of different substances in the residues and how these influence their valorisation potential.

14.png

Figure 14. Cluster’s network WINERY-WASTE in Scopus

15.png

Figure 15. Cluster’s network VOLCANIC-ISLAND in Scopus

In this case (Figure 15), the nodes (circles) represent key concepts and the lines connecting them indicate a co-occurrence relationship, i.e., these terms often appear together in the texts analysed.

Canary Islands: This central node indicates that the study focuses specifically on the Canary Islands archipelago. The Canary Islands are an interesting case study due to their volcanic origin, diversity of natural resources and growing interest in geotourism.

• Volcanic island: The direct connection with ‘Canary Islands’ highlights the distinctive geological feature of the archipelago. This term could appear in contexts related to island formation, geodiversity, volcanic hazards or geological attractions for tourism.
• Resources: The connection with ‘Resources’ suggests that the natural resources of the Canary Islands, whether mineral, water, biological or geological, have been analysed. These resources could be related to the local economy, conservation or tourism.
• Geoconservation: The presence of this node indicates an interest in the protection and management of the geological heritage of the Canary Islands. It could include topics such as the creation of geoparks, the conservation of sites of geological interest and environmental education.
• Geotourism: The connection with ‘Geoconservation’ and ‘Resources’ suggests that geotourism, i.e., tourism based on geological heritage, is a relevant topic in the study. It could include analysis of geotourism routes, development of geological tourism products or the impact of geotourism on local communities.
• Database: This node indicates that a database has been used to carry out the analysis.

In the representation of the co-occurrence graph of the Figure 16:

16.png

Figure 16. Cluster’s network PERCEPTION in Scopus

• Behavioural Response: This node suggests that the study focuses on how people react or behave in response to certain stimuli or situations related to tourism.
• Tourism Development: Indicates that the study is linked to processes of growth and change in the tourism sector.
• Perception: This node indicates that how people perceive different aspects of tourism, such as destinations, experiences or impacts, has been analysed.
• Questionnaire Survey: The presence of this node indicates that surveys have been used to collect data on the perceptions and behaviours of tourists or residents.
• Ecotourism: This node suggests that the study focuses on a specific form of tourism that seeks to minimise environmental impact and maximise benefits for local communities.
• Italy: The inclusion of this node indicates that the study has focused specifically on the case of Italy, suggesting that the particularities of tourism in this country have been analysed.
• Vineyard: This central node indicates that the main theme of the research revolves around vineyards. Vineyards are a key element in many cultural landscapes and play an important role in the economy and society of many regions (Figure 17).
• World Heritage: The connection between ‘Vineyard’ and ‘World Heritage’ suggests that vineyards that have been recognised as World Heritage sites by UNESCO are being studied. These sites have outstanding universal value and are protected at international level.
• Cultural Landscape: This node indicates that the vineyard is being considered as part of a wider cultural landscape, i.e., a landscape shaped by the interaction between humans and the environment over time.
• Terraced Vineyard: The connection to ‘Terraced Vineyard’ suggests that vineyards are being studied that are cultivated on terraces, a traditional agricultural practice that is often associated with cultural landscapes of great beauty and historical value.
• Buffer Zone: This node indicates that the importance of establishing buffer zones around World Heritage vineyards is being considered, in order to protect them from external threats and ensure their long-term conservation.
• Sustainable Development Goals: The connection to this node indicates that consideration is being given to how vineyard management can contribute to achieving the SDGs, a global agenda that aims to eradicate hunger and poverty.
• Bibliometric Analysis: This node indicates that quantitative methods have been used to analyse a large number of scientific publications on the related topics.
• Consumption: This central node indicates that the main theme of the research revolves around the acts of acquiring and using goods and services.
• Consumer Behaviour: The connection with ‘Consumption’ suggests that you are studying how consumers make decisions, how they behave when buying and consuming products or services, and what factors influence their behaviour.
• Restaurants: This node indicates that consumer behaviour is being analysed in a specific context: restaurants. This could include issues such as restaurant choice, customer experience, or the influence of factors such as sustainability or health on consumption decisions.
• Environmental Attitude: The link with ‘Consumer Behaviour’ suggests that how consumers' attitudes towards the environment influence their purchasing decisions, especially in the context of food and catering, is being studied.
• Consumer Attitude: This node indicates that the opinions, beliefs and values of consumers, and how these influence their behaviour, are being analysed.​

17.png

Figure 17. Cluster’s network VINEYARD in Scopus

18.png

Figure 18. Cluster’s network CONSUMER-BEHAVIOUR in Scopus

At this stage, consumer behavior continues to be the central focus of the scientific domain, maintaining superior performance metrics across several publications, including citation counts and H-index. The study of behavior is closely associated with the consumer experience during wine tourism activities in this phase of growth. In the case of Scopus, tourist behavior also emerges as a prominent theme during this period, specifically in relation to the attitudes and emotions elicited by wine (Figure 18).

During this decade, wine tourism scholars have increasingly focused on satisfaction, which has emerged as a key theme in the literature. Research has primarily concentrated on analyzing motivations to explain visitor satisfaction. This trend underscores a growing interest in placing the consumer at the center of organizational strategies in order to maximize satisfaction with the services provided. In contrast, within the Scopus database, the theme of satisfaction is poorly integrated with other topics and remains underdeveloped within the context of wine tourism.

4.4 Analysis of the thematic development in wine tourism research

The SciMAT software not only facilitates the identification and study of research topics by period, but also enables longitudinal analyses that track the evolution of these topics over time (see Figure 9). This analysis reveals that research themes in wine tourism have evolved from the first to the second decade of the 21st century. The figure displays spheres of varying sizes, as well as continuous and dashed lines, the meanings of which are explained below.

• Spheres: These represent the most significant topics in each period.
• Continuous line: Indicates the relationships between topics across periods, where the topics connected by these lines either share the same name or one topic is a subset of another.
• Dashed line: Highlights topics that share common keywords between periods.

19.jpg

Figure 19. Longitudinal map of wine tourism topics in WoS

20.jpg

Figure 20. Longitudinal map of wine tourism topics in Scopus

Figure 19 illustrates that research topics in wine tourism exhibit a degree of cohesion across the periods under analysis. According to Murgado-Armenteros et al. [29], the diameter of the spheres corresponds to the total number of citations, while the thickness of the lines reflects the inclusion rate. In WoS, both periods retain the topics of consumer behavior, tourism destinations, regions, sustainability, and business management. In contrast, in Scopus, the common topics across both periods are regions, wineries, tourist destinations, and family businesses.

Finally, in the Figure 20, it is suggest that tourism-development are interconnected with vineyard, consumer-behaviour and perception. It have a light connection with volcanic. Perception plays a key role in the success of these initiatives, and understanding consumer behavior is key to designing sustainable tourism development strategies.

Future research directions within WoS include a strong emphasis on sustainability, anticipated to garner significant academic interest. Given the imperative for a sustainable future, it is expected that practices promoting the responsible development of wine tourism will be prioritized. These practices aim to foster land stewardship, support more sustainable wine production, and enhance the availability of organic wines to attract environmentally conscious and responsible tourists.

In the context of business management, WoS has emerged as a new theme in the current stage, similar to how family businesses have become a focal point in Scopus. However, management is positioned as a central theme in Scopus. The literature includes comparative analyses of wine tourism destination management to explore the potential causes of the uneven territorial development of these regions. Simultaneously, the management of various events and their life cycles has been analyzed, with suggesting the need to balance a portfolio of options to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of tourist destinations. In line with this, the work of compiles case studies, offering various examples of management, development, and the visitor experience across different wine destinations. It is likely that, in the future, family-owned or traditional businesses will capture the attention of experts due to the innovations these enterprises continuously implement in their services. One such example is the study by Paunovic et al. [33], which compares the online strategies developed by a group of family-owned wineries in Hungary and Germany.

Future perspectives, such as social media and electronic travel tools, are closely interconnected [35]. These innovations address the growing information demands of tourists, who increasingly seek more detailed insights, and facilitate destination branding electronic tools, including social networks, have supported the growth of wine tourism by offering tourists the opportunity to share images, comments, and opinions, thereby contributing to the spread of electronic word-of-mouth [36]. From this initial information, potential tourists can form perceptions and attitudes toward the destination, which in turn influence their intention to visit [37].

In the post-pandemic lockdown, wine tourism has increasingly evolved alongside these digital tools, enabling the identification of spatiotemporal patterns of tourist movement within destinations, the mapping of spatial distributions, the detection of crowds, and the monitoring of transportation modes used [38]. Future research could focus on the impact of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, on wine tourism. These technologies may enhance the understanding of tourist behavior at destinations, aid in more effective strategy planning, foster greater engagement, and facilitate the design of more attractive offerings [39]. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is applied to research in the field of wine tourism transforming business processes, research methodologies and interactions between tourists and destinations [40]. This enables much more personalized travel experiences, improving the efficiency of services and increasing competitiveness among destinations [41]. Applications of AI in tourism encompass demand forecasting, metadata analysis and hospitality automation. Sustainable tourism development is also supported through innovative collaborations with Government, Universities and Industry [42]. However, the adoption of AI in tourism research is still incipient in countries such as Brazil, where concerns about ethical use and lack of scientific debate persist. This is seen in the need to shape the tourism sector through AI and more research is needed to explore its full potential, addressing ethical considerations in academic and practical applications.

Among the emerging topics for future research in Scopus, authenticity has been identified. Authenticity attracts tourists and is a critical component of the tourist experience at the destination. This concept not only has marketing potential but also plays a role in enhancing the entire hospitality sector, tourism, and local development. Research on the authenticity of wine tourism destinations evolves during the second stage, particularly in connection with stakeholders and family businesses, Montaguti and Mingoto [43] suggest that innovation in business models is crucial for tourism companies, especially SMEs, to target new profitable segments in mature destinations. Successful companies develop flexible networks, emphasizing shared identity and authenticity guaranteed by the life stories of the founders. Duarte Alonso et al. [32] argue that a tourist's search for tradition when visiting wine tourism destinations should not rely solely on traditional businesses; it is crucial to engage all social agents to provide a memorable and authentic service. The authors suggest that future research should explore how to fully experience the essence of a wine tourism destination.

Catering activities have developed in the second phase, with a focus on attitudes, wineries, and stakeholders. The wine tourism market appears to increasingly demand these types of experiences, such as sensory tastings paired with local food, and menus accompanied by wines with digital explanations. In urban centers where restaurants are located, some of these activities can be implemented. Understanding the value of these experiences to travelers and their impact on the intention to revisit the destination will be another important area for future research.

Although the study included articles, books, chapters, and other working papers, the absence of research published in books can be attributed to the fact that the results reflect only the ten authors and ten publications with the highest number of articles published, excluding those with fewer papers.

In addition to this limitation, we acknowledge that the technical decisions made a priori in establishing the thresholds for data treatment, its processing, and the resulting structured network of subdomains are influenced by the precision of the bibliometric method. Inevitably, the categorization performed is subjective, with its main consequence being the grouping of words and the final graphical representations. Word standardization and the substitution of words with acronyms are techniques that have helped mitigate this limitation.