Wine Tourism Development of the Territory: A Comparative Analysis of Destinations of Excellence

The tourism sector is characterized by the growing development of new market niches and new segments of offer to meet the pressing needs of the international tourist movement. The world of wine-related tourism represents by far one of these most popular new niches although it does not exist as a segment of the market, but is just characterized by the presence of high quality products able to build the image of a geographical location and therefore become the main motivation of the trip. Therefore the mix of culture, landscape, wine, cooking, art, food products, quality craftsmanship do contribute significantly to the economic value of an area, especially if supported by appropriate territorial marketing policies . This paper focuses on identifying and comparing the wine tourist destinations of excellence and their main features in order to determine the elements that establish a wine touristic area in an international context.