Critical factors of wine tourism: incentives and barriers from the potential tourist's perspective

Purpose Wine tourism is emerging as a lucrative industrial sector, capable of generating considerable economic development, and there are numerous wine‐producing regions that would like to become new tourist destinations. To do so the agents involved must know the incentives for and barriers to (the participation of) potential tourists, as well as the significance of those incentives and barriers. This paper seeks to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach An analysis of opinions from a sample of residents in Aragón, an important wine‐producing region of Spain, established the main groups of existing incentives. Subsequently, a model of structural equations was considered, to establish what effect the previously‐obtained incentives and different existing barriers have on the intention to generate wine tourism. Findings The results indicate that the services offered by wineries and the appeal of the destination are the key incentives. Moreover, personal barriers constitute the main impediment to participating in wine tourism, with structural barriers taking second place. Practical implications It is necessary to develop strategies that increase interest in the wine product and in related activities, in order to successfully develop wine tourism, considering that, in the case studied, neither cost nor time nor distance act as barriers for developing wine tourism. Originality/value A review of the existing literature shows that, in spite of the growing interest in wine tourism over the last five years in Spain, much remains to be explored. An analysis of the factors that could have an impact on participation in tourism activities related to wine in Spain is among the topics receiving little attention. The tested model includes incentives for, and barriers to, the strategic development of wine tourism. This model represents the first empirical proposal for the Spanish case.