An Empirical Analysis of Wine Tourists’ Perspective on Tourism Infrastructure in Wine Regions of Maharashtra

Abstract

Wine tourism in Maharashtra is slowly but surely evolving and entering into the ‗growth phase‘. Tourism infrastructure development is one of the primary steps in tourism product development process; therefore there is a need to assess the quality of existing tourism infrastructure in the wine tourism regions in Maharashtra so as to promote and further the growth of the wine tourism product in Maharashtra. It is important to understand the exact nature or type as well as importance of tourism infrastructure from the wine tourists‘ perspective for an enhanced and overall wine tourism experience. This paper is based on a study undertaken with two objectives:(a) to study the importance of various tourism infrastructure facilities in wine tourism growth; (b) to analyse the gap, if any, between the expected and the actual quality of critical tourism infrastructure in wine regions in Maharashtra as perceived by the tourists. For the purpose of this study, twelve (12) most critical tourism infrastructure facilities were identified and  questionnaire was prepared on the same.  The respondents to the questionnaire are the wine tourists as this paper aims to understand the perception of the wine tourists on tourism infrastructure facilities at the wine tourism destinations in the state. This paper is aimed at forming the basis for further research on wine tourism management in Maharashtra. The paper will try to suggest a roadmap for ‗need based infrastructure development‘ for a sustainable growth of the wine tourism destinations in Maharashtra based on the findings of the study.