TASMANIA’S time as Australia's best-kept secret for wine lovers could be coming to an end.
The Apple Isle’s inclusion in the “10 best wine travel destinations of 2019” by a leading US wine magazine will bring more tourists to the state’s growing culinary sector, Tourism Tasmania believes.
The listing in Wine Enthusiast magazines comes just a few months after the Los Angeles Times featured a long piece highlighting Tasmania as one of the world’s top travel destinations.
Last month, Wine Australia provided $500,000 to Tourism Tasmania over two years to market the state as a global destination for wine tourism.
Tourism Tasmania chief executive officer John Fitzgerald said it all added up to a positive future for tourism in Tasmania.
“This gives us a great platform to work from in the international marketplace,” he said.
“Our wine experience is in our more mature markets. It is the US in terms of the western hemisphere, and more in Hong Kong in Asia, where you’ve got a more experienced global traveller very focused on their food and wine experience.
“The US and Hong Kong is where we’ll focus our marketing.”
The Wine Enthusiast article describes Tasmania as offering “serious enticement to compensate for the long flight” and a cool climate providing “diversity” to the state’s wine offerings.
While focusing mainly on Hobart and the south, the article also mentions the higher rainfall in the Tamar Valley as a source of wine variety.
Large companies such as Yalumba and Brown Brothers have also increased their investment in the state.
Mr Fitzgerald said culinary tourists – particularly from the US and Hong Kong – were increasingly looking for more immersive experiences, something he believed Tasmania could offer.
“Not only have we got an increasing number of wine tourism experiences and are planting more vines all the time, but a lot of people are opening up the cellar door experience. That’s another point of difference in Tasmania – more often than not, you’ll meet the people who produced the wine,” he said.