Who am I? I’m Belgian, aged 42, I love to travel with my partner, I use the internet or tourist office to research my trip and I prefer to make my own travel arrangements. I enjoy wine and hope to stay in touch with the vineyards, I visit and continue to buy more wines from them. It’s important to me that I be well-received and I sometimes regret the low visibility of some estates and the limited access to others. Who am I? I’m the typical so-called “oenotourist”! 
Some time around mid-April, Wine Tour Booking attended a conference (which, we must say, was very interesting), on the subject of wine tourism. It was presented by the Aquitaine regional central tourist office. During the meeting we were given a detailed report on the profile and behaviour of the average oenotourist. We found it quite fascinating and knew you would too, so here is the gist of it. 
Firstly, you need to be aware that visits to vineyards in Aquitaine are expanding rapidly. Some 5.8 million visitors pour in annually. It’s mostly seasonal, with 60% of these arriving between May and September. 
So where do they come from? Some 70% are leisure travellers staying in the region, of which a third are foreigners. Contrary to popular belief, and even though their number is rising, they are not Asians. Europeans represent 75% of this category, especially our Belgian friends (23%) with British holidaymakers coming next (20%). North Americans, as well, indulge their appreciation of fine wines and form 11% of our visitors. Add Australians (4%) and the rest of the world to this total, and Asians make up a mere 10% of all foreign oenotouristes! What about French visitors you ask? They represent two thirds of the total and come from all over France, notably the Ile de France (more than 20%), all of which is no doubt due to the effect of fast trains and long weekends.
But what is the average wine tourist really like? Mostly the age group is homogenous, which goes to prove there is indeed quite a specialised interest in wine estates that does not conform to the peaks and troughs of other tourism graphs. Among visitors to sites of so-called cultural interest, for instance, you’ll find a preponderance of people aged over 40 (mostly pensioners); whereas in oenotourism half the visitors are less than 45 years old. Your average oenotourist is above all an epicure, curious about everything relating to the art of living, and he will mostly be a professional, usually earning a high income. So executives and retired people, both well able to afford such holidays, are the most representative. 
Finally, what do our wine tourism visitors expect? And how do they go about getting it? Mostly, they’ll visit vineyards renowned for their charms, they’ll meet the proprietor, do a bit of wine sampling and then buy… spending on average 85 euros. Which is why they want to be well-informed in advance, well-received, and get sound advice on their purchases. When this happens they show their appreciation with more than 50% returning again and again to buy their wine. 
This totally computerised sketch of the typical oenotourist makes it easier for proprietors of chateaux and intermediaries to meet real-life expectations. We’d like to point out too that our Wine Tour Booking site is precisely tailored to fill these needs and guide the internaut wine-tourist throughout his or her travels, also at the touch of just a few keys.