| Abstract: |
The interest of travellers in wine tourism has been steadily increasing since
the 1990s. Consequently, many regions around the world have adopted a variety
of policies intended to promote eno-gastronomic tourism. In Sardinia (Italy)
this form of tourism has shown a significant upward trend, and today provides
a valuable opportunity to rural and often vulnerable inland communities to
boost and diversify their economic structure. To encourage this type of
tourism, in 2009 the Regional government identified some historic territories
of the island and implemented the “wine routes programme†(WRP). These
territories were selected according to their importance for growing local
grape varieties and showcasing vineyards and winery establishments. The
mandate of the routes was to create value around the local viticulture
traditions, by sustaining the production of quality wines and by guiding
visitors to the discovery of local produce, heritage landmarks and various
expressions of the country's popular culture. Since winemakers play a pivotal
role, the impact of the WRP on the performance of wineries is of paramount
importance to achieve the final goal. To assess the impact of the WRP on the
performance of local producers we carry out a controlled before-and-after
study, taking the wineries within the wine routes areas as the treated units
and the rest of the population as the untreated or control group. The
performance of wineries is captured by the scores of a data envelopment
analysis (DEA) over the time span 2004–2012. Findings reveal that the WRP
increased the technical efficiency of wineries. |