No whining at the winery: family-friendly winescape attributes

Resumo

Wine tourism is generally described as an activity undertaken by middle-aged couples who travel to taste and learn about wine. However, some scholars suggest that families with children may also be a potential market for wine attractions and destinations. Meanwhile, some wineries in different countries cater to families, being identified as family or child-friendly. Despite this, very few studies examine family wine tourism. Hence, this study explores the most relevant winescape dimensions for wineries welcoming family visitors with children. It adopts passive netnography to analyse 462 TripAdvisor reviews (posted by adults) regarding 26 family-friendly wineries. Findings suggest that, at the winery level, a family-friendly winescape includes eight dimensions (in order of relevance): fun and activities; facilities and attractions; service staff; setting; wine quality; food quality; atmospherics and child-care functionality. Wine is strongly present in the type of activities visitors engage in, being wine tasting the most mentioned, despite the presence of children. Some significant differences stand out regarding the most mentioned winescape elements according to distinct children's age ranges, visitors' origin and the winery's location.