Insight into branding and marketing for the wine and culinary tourism industry is to be one key theme for this year’s International Wine Tourism Conference, Exhibition & Workshop Programme.
The content for this year’s programme has been created based on research and on feedback on previous editions. Many of the sessions will explore the directions and methods of wine tourism development and provide an overview of techniques, insights and solutions. All of the sessions will take place over 2 days of the event in the Hotel Villa Itría located under the massive brooding presence of Mount Etna.
Content will include how events can improve business in the low season, the importance of story-telling, the ups and downs of branding a little known grape escape destination, effective destination strategies, how to attract and retain customers, how to connect your tourism brand to the consumer, stand out from the competition, and how to build a stand-out image for a grape escape destination.
Robin Shaw, Key note speaker and wine tourism consultant is set to show us some savvy marketing campaigns. Robin will provide some startling results based on case studies in Australia and South Africa.
Continuing on the branding and marketing theme, Judith Lewis, SEO expert at De Cabbit Consultancy will look at strategies for digital marketing success and how to optimise visibility in the digital world.
On the theme of Grape Escape Destinations, Master of Wine Susan Hulme and Master of Wine Mai Tjemsland top the bill with talks and tasting on Etna’s red-hot wines and wines from Sicily – a round-trip and tasting from Palermo to Ragusa.
“We have always worked hard to produce relevant, on topic themes and insightful content for the conference program and after the 8th edition in Catalunya we decided to choose talks based more on attendee feedback and thereby delivering really useful content in order to better meet expectations and needs. The result is an innovative, immersive conference programme inspired by those who will be attending IWINETC 2017 Sicily, Italy.” Commented Anthony Swift, IWINETC Director.
The other 4 themes as part of the Conference Programme will be:
- Professional Development: Expert advice & insight into enhancing our career in the wine tourism industry
- Research: Trends and predictions on aspects of wine tourism
- Grape Escape Destinations: Key sessions dedicated to tour operators and travel agents
- Network & Connect: Formal & Informal presentations usually including wine tasting
