vinos del caribe (foto RECETUM)

By Frank Martin

No one on planet Earth would be surprised when learn by newsreels that the World Tourism Organization and the Italian Government has been celebrated the 6th World Conference on Wine Tourism this September.

The event from September 19 to 21 in Alba, the Piedmonte region in the heart of rich Italian vineyards, had as its motto “Wine tourism combined with innovation”.

If the meeting had been in the Caribbean, the unbelievers would have been in absolute majority. They would have been wrong.

As a matter of fact, on some of the enchanting Caribbean islands, strangely enough, good wine is also made.

The best example is Dominican Republic, a typical Caribbean country, where is a complete success an so-called “Eco-sustainable” project, the “Bahia de Ocoa” that produces delicious white, red and rosé wines.

“This is a project created to promote the conservation of endemic plants in the south of the island. It joins the planting of more than 100,000 types of bushes; the protection of coral reefs and species of marine animals in an area uncontaminated between the sea and the mountains in the area” according to information on the Internet.

Italian varieties such as Cannonau, Montepulciano and Passerina can be found and French like Cabernet Sauvignon.

But there is no shortage of Moscatel de Hamburg, Alfonso Lavallee, Syrah, Rebo, Sauvignon Blanc, Xarel-lo, Misiones, Tempranillo and Senso,” underlined a note.

There are also guided tourist visits to vineyards, wine tastings, tastings in restaurants and other events.

In Latin America there is a joint and continuous work that aims to market wine internationally.

Entrepreneurs consider that wine is a kind of jewel to offer, when it is excellent, to a tourist from Asia or Europe. Argentina, Chile, Brazil and other nations in the area that strengthen wine tourism are already old worshipers of this liquor of gods.

At the Alba conference in Italy, the goals with wine are already frankly global.

The Italian meeting had more than 30 international speakers who focused their work on innovation in the future of wine tourism, how it can be more sustainable and what are the digital and social opportunities to improve local benefits.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said in this regard that “as the recovery of the sector gets under way, I am sure that the conference will represent a unique opportunity to learn from the experiences facing these difficult times to ensure a successful and resilient wine tourism sector.

For Massimo Garavaglia, Italian Minister of Tourism, “wine tourism is much more than selling wine, which is clearly important. When you sell a bottle of wine, you are selling the territory behind that bottle, the culture of that territory, the history of the men who designed these landscapes with the rows of vines”.

He added that “wine-related tourism has an environmental sustainability component.”

“It is a component of slow tourism, partly different from traditional tourism. And it is no coincidence that 90 percent of tourists have a “eno gastronomic” experience during their visit,” he stressed.

He added that “wine is an engine of Italy’s image around the world and an increasingly popular tourist attraction for visitors, thanks to how it mixes with Italian culture, art and history,” he said.

FM