THE ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONAL CONTEXT IN WINE TOURISM

Many important countries in wine production, like Italy, Spain, Germany, and others, even though provided with relevant wine patrimonies, huge historic and artistic heritages, and marvelous landscapes, are still immature as regards wine tourism. The reasons for such a delay are various, but the most important relies in the lack of a systemic vision that could embrace wine operators, tourism operators and territory operators, including in the latter also and above all public institutions. This research has tried to highlight the possible contribution of a relational perspective in the governance and management of wine tourism systems, giving as a fact the necessity that these operators would organize themselves as a “wine tourism system”, arriving at it through the development of chains, networks, constellations, flows, and service(s). The aim of the study, in particular, has concerned the possible support of the relational perspective to wine tourism operators in understanding, designing, and developing a wine tourism structure that can become a system based on a service dominant logic, up to determine the “relational context” (in the Business Relational View). The results of the research has been produced by a speculative analysis on the relational governance in wine tourism (arriving at proposing a theoretical framework of the relational context in wine tourism), then supported by a field investigation that has had the Campania Region (Italy) as a focus. The case study “Movimento del Turismo del Vino - Campania” has been directed to an early verification of the “fumus” of the research, giving sense to the application of the theoretical framework and giving chance to develop coherent implications for both academic and professional purposes.