FINE, the International Wine Tourism Fair held on March 1 and 2 in Valladolid, expands its international reach and in this fourth edition, travel agencies and tour operators from around twenty countries participated, compared to the twelve countries represented last year.

“This increase confirms us as the reference event for professionals in the sector and is also accompanied by a greater offer of destinations, with the incorporation of new wineries and routes from all over Spain, from the Basque Country to Andalusia, as well as one of the cradles of wine tourism, the Champagne region,” said the general director of the Valladolid Fair, Alberto Alonso.

Canary Islands, Guipúzcoa, Madrid, Jerez, Córdoba, Ronda, and Málaga are territories that participated for the first time in FINE, where Portugal has again had a special role and Catalonia has increased its representation.

This year, the program of scheduled interviews reached 1,600, an agenda elaborated according to the coincidence of interests between supply and demand.

Future trends

The conferences, round tables, and workshops taught by experts from different areas in FINE have addressed issues such as the need to personalize wine tourism offerings, as Jordi Urbea, senior vice president of Ogilvy Spain, has proposed, “to know your client well to offer specific proposals.”

The prospects for growth in wine tourism are a reality and the future should be oriented towards the pursuit of excellence. Concepts such as segmentation, identification of wine tourists’ preferences, the use of management tools, and betting on collaboration as an essential element for development have been discussed in the training sessions during these two days.