To determine the economic value of the wine tourism sector, wine industry body Vinpro has launched a survey among its members and South Africa’s wine route offices.
The organisation, in a statement on Wednesday, said the survey would provide a credible benchmark that could be used to track the wine tourism industry’s progress against its 2025 objectives.
The wine tourism sector is aiming to increase visitation to South Africa’s wine routes, increase revenue, create new jobs and improve regional dispersal of visitors across all 23 wine routes.
Vinpro wine tourism manager Marisah Nieuwoudt said wine producers and cellars, as well as South Africa’s wine route offices, would be asked to provide information on the tourism activities and experiences on their farms, which should enable Vinpro to quantify the direct, indirect and induced income and employment in the wine tourism industry.
She assured respondents that the data would remain confidential and would only be used in aggregate.
The survey will be conducted from February 5 to March 13.
The collected information will also help to inform the ‘Macro-Economic Impact of the Wine Industry on the South African Economy’ study, which is compiled by research organisation South African Wine Industry Information and Systems every five years.