Sustainable wine tourism

Abstract

The North Georgia Mountains are home to an emerging wine making industry with distinct regional character. Tourists are drawn to the mountains in search of a unique experience in wine tasting and the local scenery. Currently, the region has thirteen wineries. If more wineries are developed, this will increase tourism. It will be demonstrated that it is the quality of the entire event—the wine, the landscape, the route driven, the small towns visited, the people encountered—that form the tourist experience important for the success of emerging wine regions. This thesis will explore whether the wine tourism industry in North Georgia can be made stronger, hence more sustainable, by identifying unique regional offerings and aesthetic character via the community, economy and environment.