Several studies have addressed the role played by the Spanish wine routes in boosting the competitiveness of a territory, increasing wine production, improving the quality of life of citizens, and respecting the environment. However, to the authors' knowledge, the impact of COVID-19 on these wine routes has not been addressed in the academic literature. To overcome this research gap, this chapter aims to analyze the impact of the pathogen on the supply and demand of tourism activities through, on the one hand, the analysis of the evolution of the institutions adhered to the Spanish wine routes and, on the other hand, the study of the economic impact of the 32 routes that make up this tourism product.
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Changes in society have contributed to the transformation of patterns in tourism demand. Nowadays, travelers are attracted, beyond the classic sun and beach offer, by little-known and overcrowded destinations. This favors the generation of new tourist offers, in which culture and the elements that surround it play an increasingly important role. In this framework, at the end of the 90s of the last century, the so-called wine tourism arose, a new type of tourism whose purpose is to learn about the wine culture and the customs of the region where the wine is produced (Hall, 1996; Getz, 2000).
Wine and tourism offer a unique experience to tourists, promoting, in turn, the environmental, economic, and social development of the wine regions where this activity takes place (López- Guzmán et al., 2011; Marco-Lajara et al., 2022). Any tourist, regardless of their previous knowledge of oenology, can appreciate the smell of the different wines, visit the winery facilities, and learn how to toast with the right glass. Therefore, wine has gone from being a complementary activity to the trip to become the main reason for the visit (Stewart et al., 2008).
Wine tourism has had a great level of development and expansion in the last two decades in Spain. Thus, since the beginning of the new millennium, a process of creation and certification of wine routes has been developed through which it has been intended to revitalize the territories with a long wine tradition. These routes have succeeded in structuring the Spanish wine tourism activity, generating significant flows of tourists around the world of vines and wine (Vázquez-Vicente et al., 2021). As a consequence, wine tourism activity has been consolidated in the Spanish wine regions par excellence, i.e., La Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Penedés and Marco de Jerez. However, the COVID-19 has altered the proper functioning of tourism activities since its appearance, causing a sharp decrease in the flow of foreign tourists and, as a result, a negative impact on the tourism sector (Marco-Lajara et al., 2021a; Marco-Lajara et al., 2021b). In this context, the Spanish wine industry has not remained unaffected by the impact of the pathogen, as wineries have had to face an unprecedented hostile environment. Following the declaration of the state of alarm by the Spanish government on 14 March 2020, establishments in the hotel and catering sector (Horeca channel) were closed and leisure activities were cancelled as a result of mobility restrictions, thus directly affecting two key channels for the marketing of wine in Spain. Likewise, during the 99 days of the Spanish state of emergency, which ended on 21 June 2020, there was no wine consumption linked to the tourist flow, as no travel between autonomous communities was allowed, nor the arrival of foreign tourists, negatively affecting wine tourism activities. In 2021 the power to apply restrictive mobility measures has been decentralized to the autonomous communities, which have implemented different measures to avoid the agglomeration of people and control tourist flows. As a result, wineries and wine shops have started to develop and implement online services and home deliveries, considerably increasing sales through the online channel (Marco-Lajara et al., 2021a).
Several research address the role played by Spanish Wine Routes to boost the competitiveness of a territory, increase wine production, improve the quality of life of citizens and respect the environment (Jiménez & Sevilla, 2008; Guerrero & Albert, 2012; Romero, 2017; Portela & Domínguez, 2020). However, to our knowledge, the impact of COVI-19 on the Wine Routes of Spain has not been addressed in the academic literature. To overcome this research gap, the paper aims to analyse the impact of the pathogen on the supply and demand of tourism activities through, on the one hand, the analysis of the evolution of the institutions adhered to the Spanish Wine Routes and, on the other hand, the study of the economic impact of these routes. Therefore, the study aims to answer the following two research questions: What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the institutions adhered to the Spanish wine routes and what has been the impact of COVID-19 on the economic value generated in each of these routes?