MASTER THESIS DEVELOPMENT OF WINE TOURISM IN ALVAREZ DURAN WINERY Execution of proposals to improve the wine tourism unit and its marketing aspects in a small cellar IGNACIO ALONSO PEREZ GAMBOA Internship developed at Alvarez Duran winery, Priorat, Spain. Professional supervisor Salus Alvarez Academic Supervisor: Jaume Gené Albesa, URV June 2019 ABSTRACT Alvarez Duran winery was founded in 2014 in the town of Porrera located in the east of the famous wine region of Priorat. At that time, building the cellar was the realization of a dream for the owners, Salus Alvarez, and Fina Duran. Today, they work their own estates and produce seven different high quality, limited production wines. Their wines represent the terroir of the land and respect the vegetative equilibrium of nature. From the 1980s until present, the Priorat wine region came to be recognized and took its place among the top wine regions in the world. Nevertheless, for the small cellars as Alvarez Duran Priorat, it is still very hard for their products to be known and bought in markets that usually consume these wines. The top wineries in Priorat have their commercialization channels settled and some are recognized abroad for the name of their owners, which allows them to easily sell due to the strong power of their brand. In order to improve branding and increase the number of sales, wine tourism is seen by Salus Alvarez as a way out for helping him to overcome the difficulties of his business. As a means to develop the wine tourism unit of business, different proposals were put forth by the author and accepted by the owner. After analyzing the company and living in the cellar for a while, the student identified the current situation, defined problem areas and proposed different initiatives to be carried out during his internship. The owner has accepted most of them in order to take on three key challenges: to promote the winery through wine tourism, to increase the communication activities, and to improve the tourism experiences. To organize the actions required for achieving said goals, a methodology was established and subsequently carried out in the cellar. The diversification of the wine tourism product offered in the cellar, the creation of multimedia, graphic content, information and the use of marketing to promote the cellar on a constant basis, among other measures, have been taken. Nevertheless, as business is a never- ending cycle, the work cannot stop. Therefore, the owner should take steps in order to continue with growing, selling and positioning their brand in the future. The results of this work have been satisfactory and intend to serve as an example of ideas for the owner and readers that can be applied to improve a small winery business over a short time period. Keywords: Wine tourism, Marketing, Infrastructure, Tourism offer, Priorat, Priorat wine. List of abbreviations: DOQ: Qualified Denomination of Origin. KPI: Key Performance Indicator OTA: Online Travel Agency SWOT: Analysis: Analysis based on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats WFA:Winemakers Australian Federation, USA: United States of America TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 Presentation, history and current status of the company ........................................................ 2 Activities and responsibilities during the internship .............................................................. 3 Hosting tourists .................................................................................................................. 3 Improvement of the visits ................................................................................................... 3 Marketing and communication ........................................................................................... 4 SITUATION ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................... 4 External analysis .................................................................................................................... 4 Priorat wine region: description and historic importance .................................................. 4 The existing market for wine tourism ................................................................................ 6 Competitor Analysis ......................................................................................................... 11 SWOT ............................................................................................................................... 12 External facilities checklist .............................................................................................. 14 Internal analysis .................................................................................................................... 15 Production Analysis ......................................................................................................... 15 Partnership ........................................................................................................................ 15 Segmentation and targeting .............................................................................................. 15 Internal facilities checklist ............................................................................................... 16 Marketing MIX ................................................................................................................ 18 PROPOSAL ............................................................................................................................. 20 Objectives ............................................................................................................................. 20 List of initiatives to be executed .......................................................................................... 20 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ...................................................................................... 20 Key challenges ..................................................................................................................... 21 Timeline with activities ........................................................................................................ 21 DISCUSSION AND RELEVANT RESULTS ........................................................................ 23 Marketing area ...................................................................................................................... 23 Creation of the website for the company ......................................................................... 23 Online Marketing ............................................................................................................. 24 Social media management ................................................................................................ 25 Commercial partnerships .................................................................................................. 26 Wine tourism area ................................................................................................................ 27 Creation of a tourism product with three different options .............................................. 27 A small book with the information of the winery, the estates and the wines................... 27 To create a wine technical sheet of each wine ................................................................. 27 Designing a rollup banner ................................................................................................ 28 Email Sketches ................................................................................................................. 28 Ideas for souvenirs ........................................................................................................... 28 Design of wood signs ....................................................................................................... 28 Stickers of the logos of their social media ....................................................................... 28 Wine aroma kit in a jar holder .......................................................................................... 28 Redesigning the selling area ............................................................................................. 29 Redesigning the façade ..................................................................................................... 29 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................ 30 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................ 31 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 31 ANNEXES ............................................................................................................................... 33 Annex 1: Photos of regional attractions ........................................................................... 33 Annex 2: Tips for tourist to love you as a guide. ............................................................. 34 Annex 3: Website ............................................................................................................. 35 Annex 4: Listing in OTA’s 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