Tourism and Terroir—Discovering the Taste of a Place

Dear Colleagues,

As beverage tourism continues to grow in popularity, with wine tourism leading the way, the concept of terroir has emerged as an important reason for travel throughout the world. Whether it is wine tourism or tourism related to other beverages (spirits, coffee, tea), terroir plays an increasingly important role in tourist motivation.

Terroir can be defined as sense of place, suggesting that the qualities (and quality) of agricultural and rural products (wine, coffee, chocolate, tea, cheese, spirits, etc.) and services are determined by the physical and socio-cultural environment of their origin. Until recently, the complex story of terroir was more of a secondary motive for a visit, if it factored at all, but this is slowly changing. The term terroir has become a kind of brand which the tourism industry has yet to make the most of in some places. The increasingly demanding tourists are no longer fully satisfied with just pure tastings. Nowadays, most of them are familiar with the product because they have already tried it several times before. They now wish to visit the places these products originate from and truly experience the space and taste of the place where they were made. They wish to know which factors influenced the production process, shaping the products and giving them all those unique qualities and such distinctive tastes, which are the main reasons why they enjoy consuming them so much in the first place. For example, some people have the need and desire to see the vineyards of Tuscany from which the infamous Italian Brunello or Chianti originate, and which they have heard so much about and enjoy drinking to such an extent. From this perspective, terroir plays an important role not only in the direct sale of certain products but also in the increasing income from tourism travel and activities. This is very important, especially for rural areas where most of them are produced, as such activities generate additional revenue and increase employment through tourism activities. These forms of tourism represent a good way of combating the effects of rural restructuring, which is present in many agricultural and rural regions throughout the world. However, the topic of terroir and tourism is still an understudied field, and it requires more attention from the scientific community in the future.

This Special Issue is mainly focused on (but not limited to) the role of terroir in modern tourism, wine, and food tourism topics, as well as topics about tourism activities related to spirits, coffee, and tea.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Nemanja Tomić
Guest Editor

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• beverage tourism
• tourism and terroir
• wine tourism
• food tourism
• food and beverage tourists’ motivation