Analysis of Poland’s Enotourism Product Model

The development of winemaking has never been as dynamic as today in the whole history of Poland, with more and more vineyards being created each year. The winemaking centre is the south-eastern regions: Małopolska and Podkarpacie, while the cradle of industrial grape cultivation, which has survived the longest in northern Europe, is Lubusz Land (Enoturystyka w Polsce – poznaj piękno naszych winnic, 2020). However, new vineyards are emerging not only in these regions but also throughout the country, as exemplified by the north-western region, i.e. Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship.

The state of Polish winemaking and the growing interest in eating, cooking, various culinary programmes and a trend for preparing meals together, which also increases an interest in wine (Mazurkiewicz-Pizło 2010b), constitute the development potential of the Polish enotourism product. Although, at present, enotourism in Poland is still quite a niche branch of tourism, the number of people interested in this type of activity rises every year.

For the purposes of this article, an enotourism product will be understood, considering the interpretation of the tourism product by Panasiuk (2019), as a comprehensive product covering an area’s enotourism offer created by economic entities (including primarily vineyards) operating on the tourism market with the support of local government units as well as tourism organisations.

The main purpose of the article is to develop the concept of a model of Poland’s tourism offer, whose target group is enotourists, including the identification of the elements of the enotourism offer in Poland along with a discussion of their current quantitative and/or qualitative status and recommendations for its improvement.

A research gap addressed by the work is the insightful description of the current quantitative and/or qualitative state of the enotourism product in the scale of the entire country. According to the author’s knowledge, the studies on related topics that have been prepared so far have largely focused on the regional approach.

For the purposes of this article use was made of the desk research method in the form of subject literature analysis in the field of tourism economics (with particular emphasis on scientific studies in the held of enotourism), based on the analysis of Polish and foreign literature, articles and websites of entities operating wine-related activities. Moreover, methods of logical operations (mainly deduction and induction) were employed.

The art of making wine with time gave rise to wine tourism, also known as enotourism. From the 17th to the 19th century, visiting vineyards or wine cellars, participating in rituals related to the cultivation of grapevines or grape harvesting was an indispensable element for tourists visiting France and the Italian Peninsula (Kosmaczewska 2008; Lee 2016; Thach, Cogan-Marie 2018).

Wine tourism is understood as a type of tourism where the main motive is visiting vineyards and wine production sites, as well as participating in wine-related celebrations in order to taste it or get to know wine regions (Carlsen 2004; Głąbiński 2018). It is currently the fastest growing branch of the global tourism industry (Vukovic et al. 2020; Santos et al. 2021; Torres et al. 2021). Its development can benefit not only vineyard owners but also the entire area where the vines are located.

Enthusiasts of enotourism seek not only wine tasting opportunities but also very often show a desire to learn about local wine traditions related to viticulture, grape harvesting and wine production. They expect a comprehensive tourism product that will satisfy their ‘enological’ curiosity and guarantee a pleasant way of spending their free time (Kosmaczewska 2008; Bruwer et al. 2018; Zawadka 2018; Bruwer, Rueger-Muck 2019).

Research on wine tourism was already developing in the 1990s. Most often, scientific studies concern the issues of enotourism in those countries that are potentates in wine production. The articles from the so-called old world concern France (Frochot 2000; van Westering, Niel 2003; Charters, Menival 2011), Spain (Alonso, O’Neill 2009; López-Guzmán et al. 2011; Gómez, Molina 2012) and Italy (Asero, Patti 2009; Presenza et al. 2010; Colombini 2015), as well as the so-called new world, as exemplified by Chile (Sharples 2002; Kunc 2010; Figueroa, Rotarou 2018) or Australia (Carlsen, Dowling 2001; Beames 2003; Gammack 2006).

For the purpose of discussing the state of research on enotourism in Poland, the subject section with elements of a systematic literature review has been prepared. The source of information on scientific studies by Polish authors on the discussed issues was the Bazekon database (BazEkon, 2022), containing abstracts or full scientific articles on economic issues and related topics. As of 17 February 2022, the database comprised 283,730 records.

The literature review identified 20 articles with the keywords being ‘enotourism’ or ‘wine tourism’. The identified texts were published in 2006–2018. The Google Scholar database (Google Scholar 2022) was used to identify studies from 2019–2022 on enotourism in the area of broadly understood economy. This search identified three additional articles.

In the context of the current scientific research on the issue of the Polish tourism product, it can be stated that so far, only the components of enotourism (Kosmaczewska 2008; Dubińska 2013; Krupa, Stokłosa 2015; Pink 2017; Kruczek 2018), usually in a regional context (Dubińska 2013; Krupa, Stokłosa 2015; Poczta, Zagrocka 2016; Kruczek 2018; Pijet-Migoń, Królikowska 2022), and recommendations for its development (Kosmaczewska 2006, 2008; Pink 2017) have been discussed.

One can certainly agree with Poczta and Zagrocka (2016) that the basis for the development of enotourism, and thus also an enotourism product, is constituted by vineyards and adequate visitor infrastructure. The contemporary enotourist is interested not only in wine itself but also in the entire context of its production, which is why the main attraction of wine tourism is wine tasting in vineyards.

The most frequently studied element of the wine tourism product in the Polish literature on the subject is enotourism routes, the basis of which is the activity of vineyards. This issue was discussed first by Kosmaczewska, who pointed to the perspectives and barriers to their development (Kosmaczewska 2008). On the other hand, Dubińska studied the process of creating a new tourism product that is a cultural trail (‘Małopolska Wine Route’ [Małopolska Ścieżka Winna]), with particular emphasis on the stages of its formation (Dubińska 2013). A similar topic for research was also chosen by Kruczek, who in his work also drew attention to the stages of the trail’s formation (‘Małopolska Wine Trail’ [Małopolski Szlak Winny]), presented the potential of Małopolska vineyards and formulated assumptions for the promotion of the trail. In the article, he also discussed the problems of the trail’s commercialisation and presented the prospects for the development of winemaking and wine tourism in the Małopolska region (Kruczek 2018).

In addition to the enotourism routes, another component of the enotourism product is the various types of wine-related events for tourists, including presentations and trainings related to setting up a vineyard, viticulture and fruit picking, as well as wine production and storage. The research of Krupa and Stokłosa (2015) concerning, inter alia, participation in wine events, shows that such offers are becoming a very popular and important tourism product not only in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship they studied but also all over the world.

The enotourism product also requires broadly understood cooperation. The research of Hołodnik and Perechuda (2017) explains how, through network forms of cooperation (on the example of wine associations in Tuscany), the creation of tourism space can be holistically approached.

Pink’s study (2017) presented good practices implemented by wine regions where enotourism has become a significant source of income for the inhabitants and a way of developing rural areas, which could be adapted in Poland. The pro-development issues of enotourism in Poland were also examined by Poczta and Zagrocka (2016) whose research focused on the development of wine tourism based on the example of the Zielona Góra region. They investigated regions associated with wine tourism in Poland, attractions encouraging visiting vineyards, knowledge of Zielona Góra vineyards and wine events in the Zielona Góra region, evaluation of the promotion level of Zielona Góra vineyards, and the intention of the surveyed tourists to visit vineyards located in the Zielona Góra region in the future.

Other issues in the field of enotourism discussed in Polish-language scientific studies include: –

enotourism as a factor in improving the competitiveness of regions (Mazurkiewicz-Pizło 2010a);

Summing up the literature review on the Polish enotourism product it can be stated that none of the analysed articles recognised the enotourism potential of Poland as a tourism product area. The works published so far in this field concern selected elements of Poland’s regional enotourism product in a regional context. Therefore, the research gap endeavoured to be addressed by the present research is a holistic approach to the issue in question.

The objectives of the article indicated in the introduction can also be formulated in the form of the following research questions: –

Does Poland as a destination have an area-based enotourism product?

To answer the questions, use was made of the desk research method in the form of an subject literature analysis in the field of tourism economics, with particular emphasis on scientific studies in the field of enotourism. The subject analysis also covered various types of industry reports, rankings, Internet resources, etc.

The process of preparing the article consisted of six stages (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.

Affording tourists the opportunity to visit vineyards and participate in the experience of tasting the wine produced on their premises constitutes the basis of the Polish enotourism product. As was already emphasised in the introduction, Poland’s wine industry has been developing dynamically in the last few years, and the number of vineyards is growing every year. The National Support Centre for Agriculture (Krajowy Ośrodek Wsparcia Rolnictwa, 2022) has been keeping records of vineyards in Poland since 2009. Figure 2 shows the annual growth dynamics of the number of such sites in the country along with their area in hectares. Based on the results available from the presented data, a relatively high dynamics of the increase in quantity and area can be observed from 2013/2014. As of 11 January 2022, there are 380 vineyards operating in Poland.

Fig. 2.

However, the presented data do not reflect the full offer available on the enotourism market, as they only indicate quantitative data on the so-called registered vineyards. Unregistered vineyards, i.e. the so-called small winemakers, are exempt from the obligation to register a business if they produce no more than 100 hL of wine from their own cultivation that is intended for their own use, e.g. an agritourism farm that offers such self-manufactured wine to its guests (Madejska 2020). Therefore, it should be emphasised that an enotourist can also visit such places in Poland, which also complement the core of the Polish enotourism product. Data including these places seem to be recorded by the website https://winogrodnicy.pl (Winogrodnicy.PL, 2022), which collects and selects various types of data on the wine market in Poland. According to this source of information, there were 543 vineyards in Poland as of 25 January 2022.

Summarising the issue of the number of vineyards in Poland, it is also worth pointing to the regions which, owing to the quantitative state of the vine-growing areas, have the broadest offer for enotourists. Such regions include Małopolskie, Dolnośląskie, Lubuskie, Podkarpackie and Lubelskie Voivodeships (Fig. 3). What is also worth paying attention to is the advantage of Polish vineyards in terms of their diversity which is manifested by large and medium-sized (by Polish standards) vineyards that are able to accommodate tourist groups, as well as small, boutique vineyards that meet the needs of individual tourists.

Fig. 3.

The diversity of vineyards is also related to their geographical location (Fig. 4). For this reason, industry experts divide Poland into six main enotourism regions, corresponding to wine regions. These are (Dylik Ostrowska et al. 2021): –

Silesia Region (which includes Dolnośląskie, Opolskie and Śląskie Voivodships);

Fig. 4.

Kapczyński (2021), however, identifies six main wine enotourism regions and others, these six regions being Małopolska, Małopolski Przełom Wisły, Podkarpacie, Lubuskie, Lower Silesia and Świętokrzyskie.

The presented aspects of geographical diversity, such as surface structuring or climate, are translated into the shape of a regional enotourism product. For example, the diversity of regions in terms of surface formation affects transport accessibility to vineyards. It can be used to make the offer of vineyards more attractive; for example, in lowland areas, enotourism is offered with the combination of cycling tourism. Another example of the impact on the enotourist offer in the context of elevation may be a vineyard in the mountains where the value added for tourists is the opportunity to experience the countryside with nature in the form of the surrounding landscape. So far as the impact of climate conditions on the regional enotourist offer is concerned, the role of unrestrained growth is the major one in ensuring the continued commercial lucrativeness or even feasibility of the concerned vineyard operation; specifically, the longer the vegetation, the more attractive the vineyard is to visitors. It is also worth emphasising that the peak of the growing season in particular regions falls at different times, which translates into wine harvest that can be a specific enotourist attraction.

Owing to the fact that vineyards are located all over the country, it was possible to create tourist routes dedicated to wine. According to data, there are nine enotourist routes (Enoturystyka w Polsce – poznaj piękno naszych winnic, 2020; Winogrodnicy. PL, 2022) in Poland, which include:

the Lubusz Wine and Honey Trail (Lubuski Szlak Wina i Miodu, 2021);

These routes comprise a few (only five) to even several dozen vineyards (even 50), and are varied in the context of the enotourist service experience (the available data show that the first Polish enotourism route was established in 2008, and the youngest in 2017), with some of them having received awards (for example, the Lubusz Wine and Honey Trail was awarded by the Polish Tourism Organisation [PTO] with the ‘Tourism Product of the Year 2011’, and in 2019 the Małopolska Wine Route was awarded in the competition ‘Małopolska Treasures of Tourism’ in the category of the most interesting tourist trail). The catalogue of these routes also includes the cross-border enotourism route, an example of which is the Carpathian Wine Route (Karpacki Szlak Wina), which is based on the Polish-Slovak agreement supported by European Union funds (under the Interreg V-A Poland-Slovakia Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2014–2020).

Based on the core of the Polish tourist product, which is vineyards, tourism market entities, such as accommodation and catering facilities and tour operators, have also composed their own enotourism offers.

The characteristics of accommodation facilities’ offers that fit into enotourism in Poland were based on the exploration of Internet data using the search terms ‘hotel’ + ‘wine’ and ‘hotel’ + ‘vineyard’. The result of the research process used was the identification of accommodation facilities (it should be noted that it did not concern vineyards offering accommodation services) that use the wine theme in creating their product. The analysis of the available data shows that there are no less than 20¹ such facilities in Poland. These facilities differ in terms of type, quality category and location. The wine theme in the analysed accommodation facilities is used in a variety of ways, e.g.: –

the name of the accommodation facility suggests a connection with wine;

When looking for information on the activities of Polish tour operators creating enotourism offers around the country, it can be concluded that this is a niche activity. While there are no major problems with finding a Polish tour operator offering products in the field of foreign enotourism, the problem occurs in the field of Polish enotourism. Perhaps this is so because of the ease of organising a national trip independently, tour operators do not see the need to create this offer for Polish tourists. According to the author’s knowledge, only three such tour operators can be found in Poland and it should be noted that these are not regular but occasional offers generally available at the request of interested tourists themselves. By evaluating the current situation, it is possible to confirm the conclusions of the research by Krupa and Stokłosa, who in 2015 stated that there had been little interest amongst travel agencies so far in organising wine tours, with tourism companies operating in Poland not considering that form of tourism as an important profile of their activities (Krupa, Stokłosa 2015).

Wine-related events are another element of the Polish enotourism product. Figure 5 shows the number of such events divided into individual months, promoted by their organisers on the EnoPortal.pl website (2022), entirely devoted to Polish winemaking. Its content is, inter alia, an interactive database of vineyards, which is an inspiration in the field of visits to vineyards for enotourists and a calendar of events broadly related to wine. It is a website connecting producers, consumers and wine lovers.

Fig. 5.

According to the presented data, the total number of enotourism events in 2021 was 340. It should be emphasised, however, that the obtained result does not fully reflect reality, because the reporting of events to the event calendar by their organisers is an optional task not bound by any statutory duty. For this reason, it should be presumed that there are actually more events. The author of the article observes that many enotourism events are promoted, among others, on individual vineyard social media accounts. This catalogue includes events such as commented tastings (stationary and online), wine fairs, wine festivals, wine training, wine workshops, music concerts combined with wine tasting, dinner tasting combined with thoughtful wine selection, wine premieres, vineyard runs, organised trips to vineyards (e.g. on an enobus or enotrain), wine events during non-working days (e.g. the May day picnic), the so-called open days in vineyards, wine picnics, bicycle trips to the vineyards or wine competitions.

The analysed events differ in their duration (from one day to a maximum of three days), scope of impact (local, regional, national, international) and size in terms of the number of participants (from a handful of people to several thousand), as well as weekly seasonality (most events take place from Friday to Sunday) and attractiveness in terms of time of the year (most events take place in spring and summer, and this can be attributed to the fact that a more attractive weather prevails at this time for participants to experience; additionally, the grape harvest season [usually September] is also a busy period in terms of enotourist visits, because it is regarded as the most spectacular and interesting period of the year from the point of view of enotourism).

The most recognisable and largest enotourism event in Poland is the September ‘Winobranie’ (grape harvest) in Zielona Góra. This Wine Festival obtained the certificate of the PTO for the best tourism product in 2007. It is an over 160-year-old and the most vigorously celebrated wine festival in Poland, in the form of a large outdoor event of a cultural, entertainment-oriented and commercial nature (Enoturystyka w Polsce – poznaj piękno naszych winnic, 2020). Another recognisable wine event, attractive in the context of tourism, is the Polish Wine Competition in Jasło (Konkurs Polskich Win – Jasielskie Stowarzyszenie Winiarzy ‘Vinum Pro Cultura’, 2021).

When discussing the issue of the shaping of the Polish enotourism product, one should not forget the role played by entities supporting and promoting wine tourism in a given area. Such entities include, first of all, non-profit organisations, whose purpose is the implementation of social tasks. As far as a tourism product is concerned, such entities include tourism organisations, industry organisations (regional tourism chambers) or social organisations (tourism associations) (Butowski 2007). When analysing the activity of the indicated entities in the context of the subject of the article, considerations regarding this subject should start with the PTO, i.e. a state legal entity established to strengthen the promotion of Poland in the field of tourism inside the country and abroad (Act of 25 June 1999 on the Polish Tourism Organisation, 1999). In the context of the Polish enotourism product, it can be noted that there is a potential for development in this area. This is confirmed by the fact that the use of wine and wine-catering heritage to encourage the diversification of the tourist offer in the form of thematic tourism products was included in the Marketing Strategy of Poland in the tourism sector for 2012–2020 (Strategia Marketingowa Polski w Sektorze Turystyki Na Lata 2012–2020, 2011). Moreover, the PTO, as part of its activities in 2019, awarded its certificate for the best tourist product to the ‘ENOTarnowskie’ project (ENOTarnowskie, 2019), owing to which tourists can buy a ready-made package tour. As part of this offer, numerous events related to wine routes are also organised – starting with the ‘Great Tarnów Dionysies’ (Wielkie Tarnowskie Dionizje). Apart from the national tourism organisation, local and regional² tourism organisations (LOTs and ROTs) are responsible for supporting tourism (including enotourism) in the country. Activities at the level of local administration and local governments to support and promote the broadly understood culinary tourism can be assessed better than the level of involvement of the Ministry responsible for tourism, although there are significant differences between the activities of individual entities (Pink 2017). Wine associations are an example of entities closely related to the subject of enotourism, due to their direct influence on the shape of an enotourism product. When analysing the statutory objectives of these organisations, it is worth noting that, in addition to wine production, they focus their activities on actions directly and indirectly related to the development of the Polish enotourism offer. The consequences of these actions include enotourism routes or events for enotourists. According to the available data, there are 15 wine associations in Poland³ (Winogrodnicy.PL, 2022).

The last element of the Polish enotourism product, according to the author of this article, is the content that inspires tourists to set off on wine trips or participate in such trips as part of a wider group. Examples include the following: –

trade press, including the quarterly ‘Ferment’;

The results of the conducted research allow concluding that Poland as a destination has a multi-element enotourism product. For the purposes of the study, the enotourism product is understood as the entirety of goods and services available on the broadly understood wine market offered by economic entities (including primarily vineyards) operating on the tourism market with the support of local government units as well as tourist organisations. Figure 6 presents the concept of the Polish enotourism product model in graphic terms.

Fig. 6.

The presented concept indicates the identified elements of the Polish enotourism product along with the division into individual substantive areas. The model in question indicates that Poland is a country with enotourism potential.

Table 1 presents the synthetic characteristics of the Polish enotourism product.

While complementing the issue of the Polish enotourism product, it is also worth paying attention to the applicable legislation, which may support or inhibit the development of individual economic sectors. Until 6 March 2022, a regulation was in force, which, according to Kosmaczewska (2008), did not encourage owners, especially of small farms, to establish vineyards because of a number of restrictions having the result of rendering unprofitable the annual production of 2,000– 3,000 L of wine that could be obtained in Poland from a small family vineyard. This could have resulted in fewer potential vineyards open to enotourists. However, from 7 March 2022, another law has been in force, whose effect introduces a change in this situation (Act of 2 December 2021 on wine products, 2022). The new regulations contain a number of solutions aimed at making it easier for wine producers to run their businesses, simplifying the keeping of documentation and entry into the register of regulated activities. Thus, an even greater increase in the number of new vineyards, which form the basis of the enotourism product, is to be expected in the future.

When observing the Polish wine market, it can be stated that it is developing at a fast pace. This situation is probably correlated with the fact that the preferences of Polish consumers regarding the consumption of alcoholic beverages are changing. The percentage of people most willingly choosing wine has been growing since 2007 (Poles drink less beer and more wine and premium alcohols, 2019). From November 2019 to October 2020, retail sales of wine increased YoY by 9.9% in terms of value, quantitatively by 6.5% in terms of the number of bottles and by 6.1% in terms of the number of litres (In Poland, the land of vodka and beer, more and more wine is being consumed, 2020). The consequence of this situation seems to be the development of enotourism in Poland, including the Polish enotourism product. Thus, over time, it may constitute a specific and recognisable tourist product.

In the course of achieving the goal of this article, the concept of Poland’s enotourism product model was developed, within which four main elements were distinguished, i.e.: –

natural values enabling the cultivation of vines;

When trying to characterise the current state of the Polish enotourism product, it can be argued that at present it is provided to tourists in an atomistic, dispersed manner that requires improvement in order to be able to respond to all their needs. Such a state of the Polish enotourism product requires a change, as it currently does not generate significant added value both for entities involved in its co-creation, as well as for the entire national development as a synergistic effect of their cooperation.

Recommendations that may improve the Polish enotourism product should concern, among other things: –

expansion of the infrastructure of the existing vineyards in terms of conditions for professional service offered to enotourists (including the organisation of tasting, training, etc.);

Summing up the issue of the Polish enotourism product, it would be extremely valuable in the next few years to come back to considerations in this area, in order to check whether the product in question has been improved and whether the proposed recommendations have been introduced.

To achieve the aim of the study, materials on the Polish enotourism offer available on the Internet were used. The analysis of the research material may be burdened with subjectivism and overinterpretation of certain issues. Therefore, in further research, it would be justified to conduct interviews involving the participation of entities playing an active role on the enotourism market (including winemakers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, etc.).