Water conservation practices in Portugal's wine tourism companies

Abstract

Although recognized as potentially beneficial for the sustainable development of territories, wine tourism can also cause negative environmental impacts, such as the excessive exploitation of water resources. These impacts may be related to the activities and services offered to wine tourists. It is therefore relevant to reflect on the moments of water wastage and the sustainability practices in terms of water conservation that have been used to mitigate this problem by the wine tourism supply agents. For this purpose, the study uses qualitative data collection (interview with owner-managers of wine companies that offer wine tourism experiences in Portugal). From the results it appears that several activities and services are provided in these companies. Costs and waste of water are mainly associated with washing utensils used in wine tasting, as well as cleaning and using support infrastructure. Water conservation practices are mainly low cost and are mainly focused on mitigating water waste and reducing consumption [example: double flush systems (flush flush) and faucets with timers]. This is a pioneering work as it seeks to identify gaps in spending and water conservation practices in wine tourism in Portugal and outlines paths for future research.