Wine tourism generates jobs and income in regional Australia

As of March 2004, there were 1,798 wineries in Australia, with 78% having cellar doors, 29% offering an on-site restaurant or light meals and 11% providing on-site accommodation.

Commenting on a new report ‘A Profile of Wine Visitors in Australia 2003’, published by Tourism Research Australia, the Federal Small Business and Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said wine tourism delivers a strong boost to regional Australia generating jobs and income through accommodation, food and cellar door purchases.

Around 2.3 million domestic overnight tourists, two million domestic day tourists, and over half a million international tourists included a visit to a winery as part of their travel in 2003.

Of the $4.6 billion of total trip spend by wine visitors, domestic visitor spend totalled $2.5 billion while international visitors contributed $2.1 billion. For domestic wine visitors 54 per cent of total trip spend is on food, accommodation and drink, while 45 per cent of international wine visitor total trip spend is on these items.

Between 1999 and 2003 total trip expenditure by domestic overnight wine visitors increased at an average annual rate of 9.3%, domestic day wine visitor expenditure by 6.1% and international wine visitor expenditure by 10.3%.

Wine regions in Australia that are particularly popular with wine visitors include the Hunter (NSW), South West (WA), Barossa (SA), and North-East Victoria regions. New South Wales/ACT was the most popular state/territory visited by domestic overnight wine visitors (653,000 visitors) and international wine visitors (292,000) in 2003.

WA attracted the second largest number of domestic overnight wine visitors behind NSW/ACT, with 550,000 domestic overnight visitors including a visit to at least one winery as part of their trip and Victoria attracted the largest number of domestic day wine visitors in 2003, with 546,000 day visitors in the state visiting a winery during their trip.

Domestic overnight visitors to SA had a relatively high propensity to be wine visitors. In 2003 there were 365,000 visitors to SA that included a visit to at least one winery.

The report, A Profile of Wine Visitors in Australia 2003, is available from Tourism Research Australia. Email tra@tourism.australia.com.