Wine tourism rises: 18 million Italians engaged in 2026

Wine tourism rises: 18 million Italians engaged in 2026

According to a study presented at Vinitaly by Roberta Garibaldi (Aite), Italian wine tourism involves approximately 18 million people in 2026, up 4.5 million from 2024. The findings point to changing traveller behaviour and a stronger focus on direct contact with producers.

• Relationship-driven experiences: visits to family-run wineries are now the most common wine-tourism activity.
• More structured tastings: cellar tastings rose by 15 percentage points, with greater interest in food-and-wine pairing over simple tastings.
• Wineries as key stops: visitors tend to reduce the number of wineries per trip, but wineries increasingly act as meaningful stops within broader travel itineraries.

For regions and operators this trend highlights the importance of investing in hospitality, curated experiences and storytelling that connect visitors to producers—strategies that can boost local value and attract a demand oriented to authenticity.