Spain will host the 7th UNWTO World Conference on Wine Tourism in 2023

La Rioja will host the international event.

Spain will host the 7^thUNWTO World Conference on Wine Tourism in 2023

• Spanish Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said: “The celebration of this international event in La Rioja is a great recognition for a region that has placed wine at the centre of its tourism model.”
• In 2019, almost three million people visited the wineries and museums of the Wine Routes of Spain spending of nearly 80 million euros.

Spain will be the organising country of the 7^th World Conference of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on Wine Tourism in 2023. This has been announced by the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto; the Secretary General of the UNWTO, Zurab Pololikashvili; and the Regional Minister for Regional Development of La Rioja, José Angel Lacalzada, during the presentation of the book ‘The wine routes of the world’. La Rioja is the place chosen for the celebration of this event that brings together experts from all over the world related to wine tourism, from wine producers and distributors, to tour operators.

For the minister, “the celebration of this international event in La Rioja is a great recognition for a region that has placed wine at the centre of its tourism model. In La Rioja, wine is a culture, a way of life that tourists can experience during their visit ”, she pointed out.

According to Maroto, this recognition is also present in the book "The wine routes of the world", where La Rioja Alavesa and La Rioja Alta are included among the seven routes chosen in Spain. “The towns of La Rioja keep their traditions alive through their popular festivals such as the Wine Battle in Haro or the Harvest Festival in Logroño. Wine tourism is consolidated in La Rioja and in Spain as a high-quality tourism product that attracts an increasing number of tourists and has the strong support of the Secretary of State for Tourism and TURESPAÑA through the product club Wine Routes of Spain”, she highlighted.

Wine tourism in Spain

Wine tourism is the tourist proposal in which this product is an essential part. The combination of culture, architecture and landscape of wine, are united with the wine itself in a proposal that seeks to transmit the essence of a region through its bond to the wine product. The gastronomic tourism encompasses local gastronomy in a broader sense.

In 2019, almost three million people visited the wineries and museums of the Wine Routes of Spain with an expenditure of nearly 80 million euros.

Spanish wines are sold in 189 countries around the world. In 2019, Spain was the first world exporter in volume and the third largest exporter in the world in value, with nearly 2,700 million euros exported.