Possibilities and Opportunities of Wine Tourism Development in the Cross-Border Region of Greece-Bulgaria Through the Protection of Traditional Vine Varieties

Wine tourism as an alternative form of tourism is developed in rural areas with significant wine production. But rural areas are usually not characterized by dynamic local economies. Therefore the contribution of wine tourism to regional development is important. In the region we will focus on the present paper, i.e., the countries of Greece and Bulgaria, where the tradition in viticulture and production of quality wines is long. Especially in the cross-border area of Greece-Bulgaria, wine production is very remarkable. The project “VineSOS-SOS for endangered traditional vine varieties” implemented and funded by the Program “Cooperation Program Interreg V-A Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020” identified local grape varieties in danger of extinction. In addition, a comprehensive intervention mechanism was formed for greater protection and sustainability of these varieties. The next step after the protection and promotion of these varieties is their utilization for the region with the development of a common wine tourism product for the cross-border area of Greece-Bulgaria. The present research seeks to utilize the results of the VineSOS project to develop a proposal for wine tourism development in the cross-border region of Greece-Bulgaria as a single tourist product. The main hypothesis of our research concerns the investigation and formulation of a strategy for the development of wine tourism in the cross-border region of Greece-Bulgaria based on the rare vine varieties found in the region. The development of this strategy emerges through the study of the international literature on wine tourism and the study of good practices at the international level, as well as through the special features of the cross-border area of Greece-Bulgaria.

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