We received many, many suggestions for content and speakers for the 2012 Wine Tourism Conference and have been sifting through them. We will be announcing each section’s content and speakers as they are set.
To start, we are happy to present the six breakout sessions to be presented at the coming conference. We had several dozen suggestions and eventually asked our advisory board to vote on the top 18 suggestions to pick the winning six. Three will be presented each hour and you’ll need to select which to attend:
First Hour
- Wine Tourism PR: Getting a writer from the New York Times to stay at your hotel, visit your winery, or take your tour is a coup. But not every business will be in the Times. How do you go about getting PR for your wine tourism business, both in the traditional press and online?
- Social Media in Wine and Travel: Everyone is now using social media. How much time and money should you allocate to this? Should you focus on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube or is Pinterest or some new site the next great thing? Here from experts and those who have created successful campaigns.
- Working with Concierges: Where do tourists stay when they visit your area? In hotels. And whom do they ask for suggestions on what to do and where to eat? The hotel’s concierge. Hear from a panel of professional concierges about how you can develop closer relationships with these tourism professionals.
Second Hour
- How to Create a Successful Wine Tourism Destination: Napa and Sonoma are no longer the only places people think of when they consider a wine tourism visit in North America. Hear from a panel of people who are in the trenches, turning what were once unknown areas into wine tourism destinations.
- Opening Your Region to the International Tourism Market: How many of your visitors come from outside your area? Did you know Germany and Britain produce the most foreign travelers, with China and Japan on the rise? Learn how to open your region to international tourism.
- Wine Tourism Around the World: In Italy, most wineries are not open to the public on a drop-in basis. In Argentina and Spain, some wineries build a huge, compelling structure that brings in tourists based on architecture as much as wine. Learn how wine tourism differs around the world and what techniques you might be able to employ in your own business.
We hope you like the topics! Please note this is subject to change. We’ll be announcing the actual presenters soon, so stay tuned.