Without skills, guidance and system-wide support, the growth of food and wine tourism risks remaining incomplete. As highlighted in the White Paper on Food & Wine Tourism Professions, the digital and managerial transformation of agricultural and artisan businesses cannot happen without an adequate infrastructure of competences.
Many producers, while excellent in cultivation, processing and safeguarding traditions, do not yet have the tools needed to handle digital platforms, tourism markets or the language of the web effectively. This makes it essential to create a stable support system able to accompany these businesses in their opening to tourism and innovation.
Support structures are part of competitiveness
To make the transition sustainable, DMOs, trade associations, consortia and territorial networks need to play an active role in operational consultancy and continuous training. Qualified figures, such as the food and wine tourism consultant or the curator of food and wine experiences, should be made available to producers through territorial desks and coordinated programmes.
This model of shared consultancy would help bridge a structural gap. Small agricultural entrepreneurs cannot carry the full weight of highly specialised competences on their own, but they can work effectively with professionals already present within local institutions and sector networks.
The competitiveness of the system now depends on practical but essential tools: easy-to-manage booking and online payment systems, even basic CRM and loyalty tools, multilingual and accessible content useful for visibility within AI-driven environments, and minimum shared data standards on opening times, capacity, restrictions and experience types.
Italy still suffers from an international attractiveness gap
This transition matters because Italy still shows a structural gap in attractiveness towards international demand. Looking specifically at wine tourism, foreign visitors to Italian wineries account on average for 31.5%, compared with 41% to 43% among international competitors. This is a significant difference and it also affects larger companies, indicating a systemic issue rather than an individual capacity problem.
International promotion of Italian wine tourism has been limited, and this weighs on performance. This is why digital coaches for agritourism businesses, wineries and dairies, territorial hubs that gather micro-producers into regional or consortial platforms, and local digital curators able to assist small businesses in technological transition become so relevant.
The urgency is increased by the broader national context. While 56% of Europeans have at least basic digital skills, only 46% of Italians do, and just 36% in Southern Italy.
Professionalisation is no longer optional
The Global Wine Tourism Report by Hochschule Geisenheim University, developed with UN Tourism, OIV, the Great Wine Capitals Global Network and WineTourism.com, identifies the lack of qualified staff as the main limit to the development of wine tourism, in Italy as elsewhere.
Demand for specialised roles is growing steadily, but the labour market is still unable to respond adequately. New professions therefore need to be recognised within education and training systems, while certification of digital and tourism competences should be promoted more systematically.
Only by investing in professionalisation will it be possible to guarantee the quality and development of food and wine experiences, while also stabilising youth and female employment, improving the perception of tourism as a viable long-term career and making the growth of food and wine tourism truly sustainable from a social point of view.
Examples of social regeneration through food communities
The article also points to examples that show how territorial and social intelligence can reinforce this transformation. In Matera, the network La Città del Pane, created in 2019 during the year of Matera European Capital of Culture, brings together bakers, farmers, artisans and cultural operators around the enhancement of Pane di Matera PGI and local grain supply chains. The initiative combines open workshops, experiential routes and educational activities, helping regenerate spaces and relationships within the city.
Another significant example is Japan’s Satoyama Initiative, launched in 2010 by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and the United Nations University. It preserves and regenerates traditional socio-ecological landscapes while integrating agriculture, craftsmanship and hospitality into forms of regenerative tourism. Visitors become active participants in farming, gathering, cooking and landscape maintenance, contributing to community life rather than merely consuming it.
These examples matter because they show how sustainable tourism depends not just on promotion, but on systems that combine competences, cooperation, territorial care and long-term governance.
This article is adapted from the “2025 Italian Food & Wine Tourism Report”.
