An Experience Economy Approach to Enhancing Chautauqua-Lake Erie Area Wine Tourism

An Experience Economy Approach to Enhancing Chautauqua-Lake Erie Area Wine Tourism

Summary

In the agri-tourism context of Chautauqua-Lake Erie wine region, farmers and other key stakeholders are dependent on one another to provide a total visitor experience. To build this desired experience, the most appropriate services, products, and marketing efforts must be identified, based on analysis of information collected from businesses and visitors.

The project’s data collection instrument was created in the spring and data were collected from June 22, through September 1, 2011. One survey was used to collect data from visitors; the other was used to collect data from farmers and tourism providers. We partnered with two local marketing and trade organizations (e.g., Lake Erie Wine Country (Wine Trail), Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau); these organizations participated in sending surveys via email addresses to their consumer and business membership databases. We also partnered with four other associations (e.g., VisitErie—Erie, Pennsylvania Convention and Visitor Bureau; North East, Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce; Lake Erie Concord Grape Belt Heritage Association; Lake Erie Regional Grape Research Laboratory-LEGRL), which sent emails to their business members. The Wine Trail posted the survey on its website; and each organization’s management team met with one of the researchers to identify methods to increase participation.

Objectives/Performance Targets

• The 2011 objectives for the project were met. Survey instruments were written, tested and implemented.
  Approximately 970 usable visitor surveys were collected.
  Approximately 190 farmers and business members responded with 167 usable surveys returned.
  Lesson 1 was created and permissions for website photos are collected in part.
  Lesson 2 is drafted and will be completed with the conclusion of the data analysis.
  Eleven local wineries donated prizes as incentives for the visitor survey response.
  Prizes were randomly drawn and winners were notified on October 31, 2011.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The overall response of the agricultural and tourism professionals in the region to the research project was extremely positive. The response by the wine tourism consumers to the survey was greater than expected and the business response was as expected.

The agricultural and tourism leadership in the region were supportive inviting the primary researcher to present to directors. Collecting data from farmers and local tourism businesses proved to be challenging. Over 1,000 telephone calls and visits, in addition to three email reminders, were made to the 579 farmers and businesses in this population. Summer for rural tourism providers may not be the best time period in which to collect data. LERGL invited the researcher to the summer growers’ conference during which additional farmers were surveyed.

All 24 wineries associated with the Wine Trail responded to the survey as did an additional 20 farmers; approximately 40 lodging operators and 30 restaurateurs and 30 attraction providers responded as well as several other stakeholder groups. Phone calls and visits made to business operators consumed a greater number of hours than projected.

Ninety-eight of the 167 business survey respondents (60%) asked to receive a copy of the report directly.

Visitor responses were more readily collected; however, anticipated collection points of Visitor Centers were not feasible. One Center was not yet completed and opened as expected; the other Center resulted in less than expected visitor traffic. Two wineries posted fliers and posters about the survey in their tasting rooms; another winery invited attendees of three concerts held on the property to submit email addresses for survey in exchange for a donated raffle prize that evening at the concert. In total, 830 visitors entered the separate drawing for prizes as an incentive to complete the survey.

Lesson 1 of the workshop materials is complete; however, collecting permissions for use of photos from business owners is ongoing proving more time consuming than anticipated. Lesson 2, inclusive of the study’s results is in draft form.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Community awareness about the project and linkages of tourism to agriculture in the area were heightened by strong local press coverage of the grant and project. Press releases about the study were picked up by four local publications: Erie Times News; Dunkirk Observer; Westfield Republican; North East Journal-News. Links to those that were also placed on the online version of the above news publications are listed below:

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110703/NEWS02/307019899/-1/RSS01

http://observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/560877/Lake-Erie-wine-tourism-survey-launches.html?nav=5002

Global marketing and business consultant Joe Pines (www.strategichorizons.com), co-author of the Experience Economy on which the applied research study is based, contacted the researchers due to the above press, interested in the results of the project.

A review of the responses to open-ended questions at the end of each survey was made by the primary researcher and research assistant. The themes for the visitor comments were made without identification of comments referring to specific businesses and were generalized into categories related to wine quality, transportation, overall value, service, lodging, events, dining, and aesthetics (natural setting).

Of the 402 additional comments made by visitors responding to the survey, 50% of these were about the overall rural wine tourism experience in the Chautauqua-Lake Erie wine region; 10 percent were specifically about the wine and the aesthetics (physical and natural setting) of the location. Comments were mostly positive in nature (81%) with the most frequently made negative comments (only three percent) made in regards to the value proposition for the overall wine tourism experience.

The open-ended question for farmers and tourism providers focused on the greatest challenges of successful wine tourism development. Of the 108 farms and tourism operators making comments about these challenges for the wine tourism region, 27% were related to promotion of the rural destination; 22% about the quality of the agricultural products (wine); 19% concerned cooperation among stakeholders; and 15% were made in relation to the economic conditions of the country and region.

Collaborators: