In the academic literature and on destinations’ website, there are various support about how to monitor visitors. A lot of tourism destinations (cities, regions, countries) publish not only the result of their visitor (satisfaction) survey, but also provide free access to guidelines (explaining methodology and questionnaire).
A visitor (satisfaction) survey is always quantitative (e.g. online or printed questionnaires) in order to get measurable and comparable data. In case of wine tourism, meeting the winemaker during the wine tasting session has already the potential to talk with guests and map their perceptions, opinions (that would be a qualitative talk with them). However, during a tasting session – so being consuming the service – people tend to be a little bit more positive (compared e.g. with anonym opinion/reviews).
In line with the increasing power of travellers, there is a growing demand for monitoring visitors’ feedback given on various platforms. This may include winery’s own facebook site or website, and big tourism sites like Tripadvisor. As a winery is often a family-based SME, the information provided there can be monitored (and replied) continuously.
The main objective of gathering information may include:
- to gain detailed information on your guests’ characteristics,
- to have a comprehensive understanding of visitor behaviour,
- to identify your guests’ satisfaction with the key aspects of a winery visit,
- to identify peaks and thoughs of the experience,
- to gain information on motivators and influences, and
- to understand how current consumer trends (e.g. health consciousness) affect your guests’ behaviour.