ANALYSIS OF WINE TOURISM OFFER IN NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

Wine tourism covers wide range of tourist activities as visiting wineries, vineyards, wine tasting, wine routes, wine museums, wine events etc. Wine tourism is a specific type of tourism which is constantly growing and represents a significant part of the tourist offer of many countries worldwide, most of them countries with a tradition of wine production. The rich tradition of vine growing and wine production in North Macedonia started back in ancient times, and today, there are over 70 wineries located in the three wine regions. The subject of this paper is the analysis of wine tourism offer in North Macedonia. The paper presents review of relevant literature concerning wine tourism and wine tourism offer in the country. For the purpose of the paper, a research methodology and secondary data sources have been used by consulting literature, studies, statistical data and official web pages of the wineries in North Macedonia. In the paper, 28 wineries are analysed and beside wine tasting criteria, other aspects of wine tourism are covered in the research as restaurant services, accommodation and conference facilities. Data presentation in tables and analysis has shown that, in addition to the Central wine region, containing 24 wineries, the capacity of the wineries for wine tourism development in the remaining two regions (Eastern and Western) is insufficiently used.