By DITA DE BONI
Acres of verdant vines blanketing Gisborne, the Hawkes Bay, Marlborough and Martinborough hold two secrets about to breathe prosperity back into sleepy rural townships.
One of the secrets is already out: world-class sauvignon blanc, increasingly popular pinot noir and piquant chardonnay are in hot demand overseas, and New Zealand winemakers are being feted by the world's top quaffing circles.
But one secret, according to those involved, is not so well known - winemaking regions are sitting on a potentially huge marketing opportunity that could add several million dollars to the nation's tourism take each year.
This week, the regions received their first official wake-up call from those attending the inaugural Wine Tourism Conference in Marlborough. Those attending the conference are gearing up to tell the country, politicians, local communities and the world about their lucrative, good-news story.
But they have yet to convince some of their own that they are sitting on a goldmine.
There were some notable absences among the more than 200 people at the Blenheim conference.
The Tourism Industry Association was not there in an official capacity, although several senior members came in other guises.
It is understood an invitation was issued, but the association declined. Association chief executive Glenys Coughlan was in Antarctica and unable to attend.
Many small and mid-sized wineries also did not attend.
Their absence was bemoaned during the conference, but perhaps organisers can take heart from those who did attend.
Among them were the Prime Minister and the Minister of Tourism, almost all relevant regional tourism offices, large wine producers including Nobilo and Montana (the company's Brancott Estate winery hosted the conference), Air New Zealand, the Wine Institute, academics and a large press contingent.
But conference chairwoman Dorothy Piper, who is also chief executive officer of Destination Marlborough, says the number of tourism operators who are not convinced that they should board the wine tourism train to riches is "significant enough to be a problem."
"Initially, I saw that wineries and tourism operators in Marlborough weren't really working together and in some instances saw no advantage in working together, and there was a degree of distrust and misunderstanding between them," she says.
Things have not quite been transformed yet. In many wine-hot regions, tourism operators are upset that regional offices are devoting time and money to bolstering the wine industry, which they see as only a small part of a variety of offerings that include the more popular eco and adventure activities.
One Nelson operator told the Business Herald that he could not see the sense in throwing money behind wineries, many of which, he says, "are marketing themselves well enough overseas already."
"Wine is a very small part of what we do."
The Tourism Industry Association, comprising 500 businesses, says it is behind efforts to create wine tourism packages but refrains from expressing its support too enthusiastically.
Spokesman Simon King agrees that the industries must work closer together to take up opportunities and "[we are] broadly saying, let's work on that."
But it is not only tourism that is not overenthused. Several small wineries are also reluctant to get on board.
Small producers already pay levies to the Wine Institute, a national body, as well as bearing the considerable cost of marketing their product in other areas.
About 20 per cent of their income is coming from cellar doors, which pales beside the huge returns that can be gained from an unsatiated export market.
Others have also experienced difficulties in co-opting wine makers into tourist initiatives, including Air New Zealand's marketing arm, which offers "Destination New Zealand" wine tourism packages.
International project manager Vito Lo Iacono says some winemakers tend to see their product as art, and trying to sell them the idea of a wine tourism marketing body is like "trying to sell artists on the idea of an art marketing body."
"Some of them have also indicated they are more interested in exports, but long-term promotion and marketing is important to sustain the industry's profile, whether it thrives or hits harder times in the future."
Cellar door sales have also been dealt a blow as a result of busloads of tourists more interested in chugging free booze than in sampling the delights of a well-crafted product.
Smaller wineries at the Blenheim conference reported lots of free wine being given away with few returns. One estimated that it spent about $30,000 each year supplying its cellar door.
Professor Michael Hall, of the University of Otago's Centre for Tourism, says small wineries do not need to have large tasting rooms. "Variety is important to a region's offering."
The import thing for wineries - whether they welcome large groups of visitors or a select few - is to focus on service and the experience the tourist takes away, he says.
Professor Hall says it is vital that wineries see the value in opting into the tourism experience.
"An involvement in wine tourism becomes very important for many as a way of enforcing brands and 'relationship marketing,' where a positive experience at a winery can lead to future sales and indirect benefits like ongoing mail orders."
A survey of visitors to wineries in 1998 found that 3 million domestic and international tourists passed through cellar doors each year.
It is unclear what volume of sales this group of visitors generated.
A working group that has emerged from the conference aims to harness better research on the benefits of wine tourism, including its natural fillip to wine, heritage and cultural tourism.
Research by Professor Hall suggests a huge growth in the number of young women taking part in wine-related tourism, suggesting wine, food and cultural tourism may also supply a cross-over crowd to eco and adventure tourism.
"The actual number of wine tourists coming to [the regions] solely to drink wine is very small. Wine is part of the wider experience."
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