WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 1 Just accepted 1 2 3 4 Virtual Wine Experiences: Is Covid Extending the Boundaries of Wine 5 Tourism? 6 7 Gastaldello G.1, Giampietri E.2, Zaghini E.3, Rossetto L.4 8 9 10 1 Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Italy. 11 Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (Padova). E-mail: giulia.gastaldello.1@phd.unipd.it 12 2 Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Italy. 13 Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (Padova). E-mail: elisa.giampietri@unipd.it 14 3 Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Italy. 15 Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (Padova). E-mail: elena.zaghini@studenti.unipd.it 16 4Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Italy. 17 Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (Padova). E-mail: luca.rossetto@unipd.it 18 19 20 Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Giulia Gastaldello Department of 21 Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Italy. Viale 22 dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (Padova). E-mail: giulia.gastaldello.1@phd.unipd.it 23 24 This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through 25 the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences 26 between this version and the Version of Record. 27 28 Please cite this article as: 29 30 Gastaldello G., Giampietri E., Zaghini E., Rossetto L. (2022), Virtual Wine Experiences: Is Covid 31 Extending the Boundaries of Wine Tourism? Wine Economics and Policy, Just Accepted. 32 DOI: 10.36253/wep-12177 33 34 mailto:elena.zaghini@studenti.unipd.it WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 2 Abstract 35 Wine tourism has long been a strategic tool for Italian wineries. The Covid-19 outbreak jeopardised 36 its dynamics on multiple levels, creating physical (e.g., social distancing, travel bans) and 37 psychological barriers. Online wine experiences constitute one of the key resilience strategies adopted 38 by wine tourism actors, being still a relatively unexplored phenomenon in the scientific literature. 39 The current study tackles this gap by analysing the drivers of interest in online wine experiences on 40 the demand side, i.e. among a sample of Italian wine tourists (n=408), through Structural Equation 41 Modelling (SEM). Notably, the model considers long-term (involvement with wine) and short-term 42 (Covid-19 fear and anxiety) factors, digitalisation and willingness to support local wineries by 43 partaking in wine tourism. Results highlight that the interest in online wine experiences is driven by 44 context-dependent factors like fear and anxiety linked to Covid-19, and the involvement with wine. 45 Diversely, willingness to go on a wine holiday is not a significant antecedent, even with Covid-19 46 fear and anxiety as limiting factors. Practical and managerial implications are discussed. 47 48 Keywords: virtual wine tourism; online experience; Covid-19 49 50 51 1. Introduction 52 The Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the tourism sector's dynamics, including rural and 53 wine tourism. Notably, restrictions applied to slow down the diffusion of the virus, e.g., mobility bans 54 and social distancing, have revealed the sector's susceptibility [1]. Accordingly, in 2020 the United 55 Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)1 reported that within a very short time, international 56 tourist arrivals in Europe fell to their lowest level since the 1950s (-70% compared to 2019). This 57 was mainly due to the prolonged international travel and hotel closures limitations. 58 The Italian wine tourism sector suffered the Covid-19 effects, although some key characteristics 59 helped its resilience to the pandemic. For instance, proximity to the place of residence has long been 60 identified as a success factor in wine tourism [2], as visitors of wine regions are found to be largely 61 domestic tourists. Indeed, except for during the lockdown phase, Italian wine tourists were allowed 62 to circulate within the country. Moreover, wine tourism usually takes place in rural areas, resulting 63 in a higher perceived safety of this form of tourism in the case of threats (e.g., terrorist attacks) than 64 urban destinations [3]. Nevertheless, international tourism flows have gained increasing importance 65 for many Italian wine regions: see, for instance, the Prosecco Region (worldwide known for sparkling 66 1 UNWTO (2021). https://www.unwto.org/covid-19-and-tourism-2020 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 3 wine production), where almost 50% of tourists in 2019 were travelling from other countries [4]. 67 International tourism flows, though, have been jeopardised by the Covid-19 outbreak. The pandemic 68 prompted the diffusion of fear and anxiety among the population [5,6,7], which have notably 69 contributed to changing tourists' travel patterns, including wine tourists. In 2019, Italy recorded 15 70 million wine tourists (+9% over the previous year), for a total turnover of 2.65 billion euros [8,9]. 71 According to a recent study by Garibaldi et al. [9], 44% of Italian wineries declared an overall 72 financial loss between 10% and 50% following the Covid-19 outbreak. The loss for wine tourism 73 activities reached -70% for almost 35% of the sample, raising concerns about the time needed to 74 restore to the pre-covid performance of the sector. 75 Given that wine tourism is widely recognised as a core marketing channel for the wine sector [10], 76 many wineries and oeno-gastronomic tourism providers found alternative ways to bridge the gap 77 between producers and the final consumers (i.e., wine tourists) created by mobility restrictions and 78 social distancing measures. In this context, online oeno-gastronomic experiences emerged as a 79 strategic tool for remote communication and marketing to retain existing customers and attract new 80 ones. Currently, this new trend is expanding from single wineries to consortia, which are offering 81 virtual wine tastings as a territorial marketing tool. In Italy, consortia (or Consorzi di Tutela), are 82 associations of producers and processors in charge of governing, protecting and promoting 83 Geographical Indications. 84 Thus, virtual wine tourism became a tool to overcome the deep uncertainty generated by the Covid 85 outbreak, which after two years is still undefeated, and to boost the resilience of wine tourism actors. 86 However, whereas the producer side of online wine experiences has been addressed [11], their 87 attractiveness is currently unexplored from a wine tourist perspective. 88 As a novel contribution, this study allows this gap to be filled by exploring the interest in online wine 89 tourism experiences (INTOWE) and examining its long-term and short-term potential predictors 90 while focusing on Italy, where wine tourism represents a stable and consolidated reality. 91 This research is of interest to the academic world as it represents the first attempt to investigate this 92 emerging topic in the literature, providing interesting insights for future research. Finally, this study 93 is helpful to understand whether online oeno-gastronomic experiences' attractiveness is short term 94 and context-dependent or if it leaves room for long-term wineries planning. In this regard, the 95 information provided can support wineries, stakeholders, and regulators in making strategic decisions 96 and developing online wine experiences. 97 The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: the first section proposes a review of the extant 98 literature on the main antecedents of wine tourism intentions and presents the research hypotheses, 99 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 4 while the following sections describe data and methods (second section), the results (third section), 100 and the discussion and conclusions (last section). 101 102 2. The Covid outbreak and the main antecedents of wine tourism intentions 103 Over the last decades, wine tourism has become an important segment of the wine industry [12, 13]. Wine 104 tourism experiences are indeed strategic marketing tools for wineries to establish a direct relationship with 105 consumers (and customers), also at international level, gaining long-term benefits in terms of wine sales, 106 customer education and loyalty creation [14, 15, 16]. Also, wine can be an essential way of presenting the 107 identity and local culture of many destinations [17], and wine tourism can contribute to a wine region's 108 economic development [18]. 109 The Covid-19 outbreak has caused significant impediments to both wineries (e.g., limiting their 110 operating space) and wine tourists, who were impacted physically (e.g., the pandemic prevented wine 111 tourists from travelling) and psychologically. Therefore, virtual (wine) experiences started to spread 112 in this extraordinary context, representing an essential tool for wine tourism stakeholders. 113 Intended as virtual tours of the winery, wine tastings, and food and wine events, virtual wine 114 experiences imply consumers' engagement with wine and winemaking. For this reason, they fall 115 under the definition of wine tourism [19]. According to the literature, people partaking in wine 116 tourism activities are also involved with the product and presumably possess a pre-existing intention 117 to go on a wine holiday. Traditional wine tourism activities are enjoyed by tourists looking for an 118 immersive activity and with the broader aim to experience the wine region as a whole, including 119 landscape traditions, culture, and heritage [2, 20]. 120 Accordingly, the literature generally identifies wine tourists as a heterogeneous group of people 121 pursuing the full enjoyment from different aspects of a wine tourism experience [12, 21], and 122 characterised by a different level of involvement with wine [22, 23]. 123 The following paragraphs provide an overview of the main antecedents of wine tourism intention and 124 factors that can impact the interest in online wine tourism experiences. Based on this, we present the 125 hypotheses that the study intends to test: for example, our path model involves testing the effect of 126 some variables on both the interest in online wine tourism and future wine tourism intentions. 127 Moreover, due to the pandemic's extraordinary circumstances, we test some hypotheses for 128 exploratory purposes, as in the case of the role of fear and anxiety linked to Covid-19 in (wine) travel 129 intentions. 130 131 2.1 Profile of wine tourists 132 Hall et al. [14], who cite Johnson [24, p. 19], report that wine tourists are "visitors to vineyards, 133 wineries, wine festivals, and wine shows for the purpose of recreation". As highlighted in past studies 134 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 5 [12, 20, 22], wine tourists possess a certain level of knowledge about wine. However, they are mainly 135 wine consumers looking for pleasant and relaxing sensations to fulfil a total experience in the so-136 called "winescape" – that is "the place where wine tourism activities take place" [20]. Also, they are 137 characterised by the need to connect with the origin of the product and visiting the wine region where 138 a specific wine is produced [25]. Wine tourism represents a social leisure activity [2, 26, 27, 28], as 139 tourists who engage in this are often accompanied by other people (e.g., spouse, partner, family 140 members, close friends) [22, 29]. Among others, gender, age, education, wine consumption habits, 141 financial status, lifestyle, motivation, and involvement are relevant to characterise wine tourists [14, 142 25, 28]. However, scholars realised that other details are relevant to better profile wine tourists, such 143 as demographic factors, and the psychographic profile [14]. 144 145 2.2 Involvement with wine 146 The literature extensively reported that one of the main antecedents of wine tourism intentions is the 147 product involvement, or involvement with wine (WI) [30, 31]. The concept of involvement refers to 148 "a person's perceived relevance of an object based on inherent needs, values, and interests" [32, p. 149 342]. For leisure activities as wine tourism, it is appropriate to consider ego-involvement, i.e., the 150 "unobservable state of motivation, arousal or interest toward a recreational activity or associated 151 product, evoked by a particular stimulus or situation, and which has drive properties" [33, p. 216]. 152 Indeed, Sparks [34] argued that ego-involvement might play a key role, acting as a motivator in wine 153 tourism. 154 Brown et al. [35] further conceptualised ego-involvement in wine tourism in a wine involvement 155 (WI) scale, that is a 3-dimensional tool embodying symbolic centrality, enjoyment, and expertise, 156 adapted from the Consumer Involvement Profile scale by Laurent and Kapferer [36]. 157 Furthermore, Zatori et al. [37] developed the concept of experience-involvement for referring to the 158 real-time involvement while undergoing a given experience. In fact, the most powerful phase in the 159 formation of the tourist experience is the on-site experience, as some experiences might be highly 160 involving and unleash positive emotions. As regards the consumer research field, scholars have found 161 that involvement with certain activities or products also increases involvement with the related 162 services [38, 39]. Furthermore, previous studies have demonstrated the positive relationship between 163 product involvement and destination image [38, 40]. Additionally, WI affects consumers motivations, 164 the perceived importance of wine sensory characteristics like bouquet and appearance [41] as well as 165 residents perceived the relevance of local production [42]. Since wine tourism activities revolve 166 around wine tastings, it follows that WI is paramount to the sector. Coherently, involvement is of 167 particular importance for hedonic products like wine, which consumption is complex and entails 168 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 6 cognitive, affective and sensory dimensions that may assume a different relevance based on personal 169 involvement levels [43]. 170 Given the above and following the literature, wine product involvement may directly or indirectly 171 affect consumers' wine tourism intentions [40, 44, 45], influencing their perception of the destination 172 and positively impacting on potential future travel intentions [38]. Since WI is largely recognised as 173 one of the main drivers of wine tourism intention, focusing on both the interest in online wine tourism 174 experiences and future wine tourism intention, we test the following hypotheses: 175 H1: Involvement with wine (WI) positively affects the interest in online wine tourism. 176 H2: Involvement with wine (WI) positively affects future wine tourism intentions. 177 178 2.3 Willingness to support local wineries 179 The Covid-pandemic and the resulting socio-economic crisis have potentially induced people to 180 become more sensitive to society's problems [46]. Therefore, willingness to support local wine 181 producers may play a role in making wine tourists inclined to both online and offline wine tourism 182 intentions. Several studies [47, 48, 49] highlight how consumers often perceive locally produced food 183 or buying directly from the farmer (e.g., direct selling at the farm) as a means to support local farmers 184 and communities. In this sense, tourists contribute to the value creation and economic sustainability 185 of the territories [50]. In line with this, several authors [51, 52] argue that the direct interaction 186 between producers and consumers creates or reinforces sentiments of trust and mutual regard, leading 187 to a sense of commitment and solidarity. In this sense, tourists can concretely support the local 188 producers. In this context, online wine tourism experiences can be practical tools when in-person 189 meetings are not possible and/or challenging to achieve, as during the pandemic. The desire to support 190 a winery during the pandemic might thus arise from a pre-existing interaction with the winery, since 191 the product experience is a fundamental component of loyalty to a brand [53]. 192 Moreover, the literature highlights that developing experiences that combine oeno-gastronomic 193 traditions in wine tourism destinations generate positive emotions [9, 54], and create a sense of 194 familiarity [55]. Familiarity is, indeed, the result of previous experiences (experiential familiarity), 195 the extent of information used (informational familiarity), and how people self-perceive their 196 familiarity with a place (self-rated familiarity), and it is affected by the perceived quality of a tourism 197 experience [56]. According to Baloglu [57], building an emotional connection with a place can 198 influence future behavioural intentions (i.e., future wine tourism visits). After the visit, online wine 199 tourism experiences can help wine tourism actors (producers or wineries) build long-term 200 relationships with their customers through long-distance actions that trigger trust and destination 201 attachment [58]. From this perspective, in a highly competitive sector such as wine tourism in Italy, 202 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 7 counting 408 wine Protected Designations of Origin, online experiences can be a strategic tool to 203 establish new emotional bonds or reinforce existing ones, also stimulating future wine tourism 204 intentions. Following this, we test the following hypotheses: 205 H3: Willingness to support local wineries (SUPLOCW) positively affects the interest in online wine 206 tourism. 207 H4: Willingness to support local wineries (SUPLOCW) positively affects future wine tourism 208 intentions. 209 210 2.4 Covid related fear and anxiety 211 Other than causing severe impediments to international mobility, the pandemic generated significant 212 psychological discomforts: these are due, among other things, to the ease of transmission of the virus 213 and the severity of the Sars-Cov-2 illness [59] and tend to be extensive and long-lasting [60]. 214 In this regard, the virus outbreak caused a general state of fear and anxiety [61]. Mainly, fear reflects 215 in the individual awareness of a danger arising from pain and/or harm [5, 62], while anxiety represents 216 a response to fear [63]. The recent psychological literature proposes several tools to capture 217 individuals' fear of Covid-19 [see, for instance, 7]. Nevertheless, Arpaci et al. [59] developed the first 218 self-diagnostic tool to detect the presence of both fear and anxiety towards the virus, the Covid-19 219 Phobia Scale (C19P-S). Notably, the original C19P-S comprises four dimensions: economic (i.e., 220 related to food security), psychological, psychosomatic, and social (i.e., referring to social 221 relationships). 222 Since travelling implies a risk of contagion due to uncontrolled social contact with other people, 223 which is the leading way the virus spreads [64], it may represent a dangerous activity. In this sense, 224 the fear of Covid-19 contagion might push scared tourists to participate in an online wine tourism 225 experience as a safer option. Therefore, we formulate the following hypotheses: 226 H5: Covid-related fear and anxiety (CPH) positively affect the interest in online wine tourism. 227 H6: Covid-related fear and anxiety (CPH) mediate the relationship between future wine tourism 228 intentions and the interest in online wine tourism. 229 230 2.5 Interest in online wine tourism experience 231 As mentioned, online wine tourism experiences (e.g., virtual tours of the winery, wine tastings, and 232 food and wine events) imply consumers' engagement with wine and winemaking just like in-presence 233 wine tourism activities. Therefore, wine tourists are likely to be interested in joining them, especially 234 if pushed by Covid-19 restrictions. Research highlights that Virtual Reality (VR) is a valid marketing 235 tool for tourism destinations, since it allows consumers to experience a destination without physically 236 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 8 visiting it, creating embodiment in the consumer, and acting as a trigger for wine tourism 237 development [16, 65]. Petit et al. [66, p. 42] argue that digital interacting technologies are helpful 238 tools for creating the "webmosphere", that is "the conscious designing of web environments to create 239 positive effects". Recently, Wen and Leung [16] conducted a lab experiment exploring the effects of 240 virtual reality (VR) and traditional videos of wineries and wine tours on young consumers' purchasing 241 behaviour, based on the theory of embodied cognition. The authors found that VR wine tours foster 242 stronger purchase intentions and a higher willingness to pay for wine by knowledgeable consumers, 243 especially when information on wine's sensory characteristics is provided. 244 Regarding wine digitalisation, it is reasonable to believe that wine tourists familiar with digital wine 245 tools like wine e-shops and wine apps are more prone to approach online wine experiences as well. 246 Notably, the literature highlights that highly involved wine consumers who consider themselves wine 247 experts are more prone to use technology for purchasing wine [67]. Furthermore, since younger 248 consumers of generations Y and Z are particularly familiar with these technologies [16, 68], they 249 could be assumed to be more receptive to online wine experiences. 250 Therefore, these consumers are reasonably more motivated to participate in an online wine tourism 251 experience, and we postulate as follows: 252 H7: Having an app on wine/wine tourism on the smartphone (WAPP) positively affects the interest 253 in online wine experiences (INTOWE) 254 H8: Purchasing wine online (BUYWONLINE) positively impacts the interest in online wine 255 experiences (INTOWE) 256 H9: Future intention to go on a wine holiday (FUTWTINT) positively affects interest in online wine 257 experiences (INTOWE) 258 259 3 Methodology 260 3.1 Structural Equation Modelling 261 To test the abovementioned hypotheses, we used the Structural Equation Model (SEM), as it is 262 commonly used in the literature. Indeed, this multivariate analysis allows for the simultaneous 263 relationships between different exogenous and endogenous variables, as hypothesised. In particular, 264 a preliminary exploratory factor analysis of the whole measurement model (MM) was conducted 265 through SPSS software, while confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the Structural Equation Model 266 (SEM) were performed with AMOS software. To provide preliminary evidence of the discriminatory 267 power of the MM, an EFA with maximum likelihood as extraction method and oblique rotation was 268 run on all items of our latent constructs, i.e., CPH, WI, FUTWTINT, SUPLOCW, and INTOWE. 269 Moreover, mediation is analysed through bootstrapping (1000 bootstrapping intervals) with bias-270 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 9 corrected confidence intervals (95%). This technique provides estimates without relying on 271 distribution, and it therefore constitutes a reliable tool to test for indirect effects [69]. Mediation is 272 present when the relationship between two observed variables or constructs (A and B) is affected by 273 a third one (Z), resulting in the presence of a significant indirect effect. Relationships to be tested for 274 mediation are first run without including the mediator in the model to assess A->B path’s significance. 275 Subsequently, the mediator is introduced in the model and the direct and indirect effect of A on B are 276 estimated. Two types of mediation can occur in SEM: complete mediation, when only the indirect 277 effect between A and B is significant while the direct effect is not; and partial mediation, in which 278 both effects (direct and indirect) are significant. In case of complete mediation, the third construct 279 (Z) fully explains the relationship between A and B [70]. 280 281 3.2 Data collection 282 Data were collected through an online survey administered on a sample of Italian wine tourists that 283 were reached through social networks and world of mouth snowball sampling. This sampling 284 technique, which is common in the social sciences, requires that participants share the questionnaire 285 (link) with other individuals. This allows for data collection in a short amount of time, and it is 286 effective for surveys in a rapidly changing environment like the Covid pandemic [71]. Specifically, 287 over 40 Facebook groups dealing with wine, food and travel were involved, jointly with actors from 288 the Italian wine sector, to target the segments of interest despite the extraordinary circumstances of 289 the Covid-19 pandemic. Data collection took place in Italy between June and July 2020. We collected 290 515 questionnaires, but retained only complete ones from wine tourists, restricting the final sample 291 to 408 valid observations. The present study considered wine tourists as people who visited a wine-292 producing region and/or participated in a wine festival in the last three years before the pandemic. 293 For this purpose, we adapted the statement from Brown et al. [35], who consider a 5-year timespan, 294 while restricting it to avoid the two years of mobility and operational barriers caused by Covid-19. 295 To the best of our knowledge, there is no unique definition of wine tourist in the literature. Therefore, 296 in this paper we considered a broader group than cellar door visitors (who are generally considered 297 wine tourists) by selecting people who recently engaged with wine-related events or visits to wine 298 festivals and wine holidays. This choice allowed us to collect reliable data from consumers who are 299 potentially interested in this new service, i.e. online wine tourism. 300 The survey investigates the following questions and factors: socio-demographics, wine digitalisation, 301 willingness to support local wineries (SUPLOCW), involvement with wine (WI), covid phobia 302 (CPH), future wine tourism intentions (FUTWTINT), and interest in online wine tourism experiences 303 (INTOWE). 304 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 10 More specifically, WI is captured through an adapted version WI scale by Brown et al. [35], referring 305 to ego-involvement. In particular, the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Reliability analysis 306 (Cronbach's alpha) are run on each scale separately, with principal component as extraction method 307 and oblique rotation. EFA results on the WI scale led to dropping the 6 items representing symbolic 308 centrality as, in line with previous research [35], they were not consistent with the rest of the scale. 309 Reliability statistics restrict the final scale to 7 items, which were measured on a 7-point Likert scale 310 where 1 = totally disagree and 7= totally agree (Cronbach's alpha = .96). 311 Fear and anxiety towards Covid (hereafter referred to as CPH) are captured through an adapted 312 version of C19P-S from Arpaci et al. [59]. Mainly, this paper includes the psychological and social 313 dimensions of the original C19P-S (Cronbach's alpha = .91) to assess the impact of Covid-related fear 314 and anxiety on the individual interest in online wine experiences (INTOWE). The latter dimension is 315 particularly relevant as travelling is a social activity implying several and often uncontrolled social 316 interactions, the primary source of infection. Based on Cronbach's alpha, one extra item was dropped, 317 and the final CPH scale includes five items measured on a 7-points (1 = totally disagree; 7 = totally 318 agree) Likert scale. 319 Future wine tourism intentions (FUTWTINT) are captured through a single item adapted from Sparks 320 [34] and measuring the willingness to take a wine trip in a future holiday on a 7-points agree-disagree 321 Likert scale. 322 Interest in online wine tourism experiences (INTOWE) is measured through two 7-points Likert scale 323 type items (1 = totally disagree to 7= totally agree), capturing interest the most common types of 324 online wine experiences (i.e., wine tastings – INTOWE1, and food and wine events – INTOWE2). 325 Finally, one item measured on a 7-points Likert scale (1 = totally disagree, 7= totally agree) captures 326 the willingness to support local wineries by partaking in wine tourism (SUPLOCW). 327 328 3.3 Descriptive statistics of the sample 329 As described in Table 1, men and women are almost equally represented within the sample. The 330 respondents are mainly aged between 30-50 (55%), and all age groups are adequately represented in 331 the sample except the over 60s (7%), presumably because data collection primarily relied on social 332 media. In line with past research [72, 73], most respondents are highly educated, and have a university 333 degree (49%). Moreover, the average family income is either sufficient (48%) or good (43%), 334 highlighting that most of the respondents enjoy a good economic situation. Half of the sample is 335 either married or in a couple. The level of digitalisation is remarkable, with over half of the sample 336 (52%) having an app dedicated to wine or wine tourism on their smartphone (WAPP), and a relevant 337 share (45%) buying wine online (BUYWONLINE). The level of involvement with wine (WI) is 338 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 11 rather high, albeit not remarkably (mean value = 5). Both future intentions to partake in wine tourism 339 (FUTWTINT) and the willingness to support local wineries (SUPLOCW) record significant mean 340 ratings (both around 6). Interestingly, both fear and anxiety towards Covid (CPH) and interest in 341 online wine tourism experiences (INTOWE) show low mean values (3.6 and 3, respectively). 342 343 Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the sample (n=408). 344 frequency % frequency % Age WAPP 18-29 74 18.1 No 197 48.3 30-40 121 29.7 Yes 211 51.7 41-50 102 25.0 BUYWONLINE 51-60 82 20.1 No 225 55.1 ≥61 29 7.1 Yes 183 44.9 Education High school 12 2.9 Mean St.Dev College 127 31.1 WI 5.2 1.65 University 198 48.5 CPH 3.6 1.66 PostGraduate 71 17.4 INTOWE 3.0 1.39 Gender Males 191 46.8 Females 217 53.2 Marital Status Married.cohabiting 107 26.2 Single 139 34.1 In a couple 96 23.5 Separated.divorced 57 14 Widowed 7 1.7 Other 2 0.5 Income Insufficient 3 0.7 Just sufficient 34 8.3 Sufficient 194 47.5 Good 177 43.4 Strongly disagree Strongly agree Mean St.Dev. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 FUTWTINT 0.7 1.5 2 6.6 8.8 16.2 64.2 6.3 1.23 SUPLOCW 1.2 1.7 3.7 9.3 15.4 18.9 49.8 5.9 1.39 345 346 4. Results 347 As regards the measurement model, EFA confirmed the items of the 3 latent constructs load on 348 different factors. The two items of the INTOWE scale are significantly correlated between them [r = 349 0.84; 71], while being uncorrelated with all other items in the MM. Single item measures FUTWTINT 350 and SUPLOCW are included in the model as single-item latent constructs with 0.85 best-guess 351 reliability [70]. Table 2 shows the results of the CFA on the whole sample. Construct Reliability (CR) 352 and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) are above the recommended thresholds for all latent 353 constructs [70, 75], and all the standardised factor loadings are significant and above the ideal 354 threshold (0.7). Therefore, convergent validity for each scale is confirmed. Discriminant validity is 355 supported by AVE exceeding inter-construct correlations [70]. 356 357 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 12 Table 2 Factor loadings and reliability of the measurement model 358 Factor loading a Average Variance extracted (AVE)b Construct Reliability (CR)c Fear and Anxiety towards Covid (CPH) PSYC1 0.90 82.8% 0.95 PSYC2 0.84 PSYC3 0.86 SOC1 0.82 SOC2 0.75 Involvement with wine (WI) ENJ3 0.83 73.2% 0.95 ENJ2 0.89 ENJ1 0.89 EXP1 0.90 EXP2 0.87 EXP3 0.85 EXP4 0.76 Note: a Based on standardised regression weights from AMOS. b AVE was computed based on the formula from Hair et 359 al. [68]as an indicator of convergent validity. c CR was computed based on Hair et al. [68]. 360 361 Table 3 Correlation matrix 362 INTOWE CPH WI WTINT SUPLOCW INTOWE 3.0 (1.89) CPH 0.195 3.6 (1.66) WI 0.376 0.024 5.2 (1.65) WTINT 0.312 0.064 0.669 6.3 (1.23) SUPLOCW 0.153 0.055 0.069 0.261 5.9 (1.39) Note: Mean (Std. Deviation) of each variable are reported in the diagonal. 363 364 Single item measures like SUPLOCW and FUTWTINT are included in the model as latent constructs 365 measured by one item in order to account for measurement error. Notably, factor loading is fixed at 366 the square root of 1 minus the best guess reliability (0.85), and error variance is computed subtracting 367 the best-guess reliability to 1 [70]. As regards INTOWE, a composite score of the two items is 368 computed (parcel) and used as indicator of this construct with factor loading fixed at 1 and error 369 variance calculated as follows: 370 θε = (1 − α) × 𝑠2 371 where α represents the construct reliability for INTOWE and s2 is the observed variance of the 372 composite score [76]. Goodness-of-fit (GOF) of the MM is evaluated through Root Mean Square 373 Error of Approximation (RMSEA) and Standardised Root Mean Residual (SRMR) for absolute fit, 374 and Tucker Lewis Index (TLI) and Comparative Fit Index (CFI) for incremental fit. Overall GOF of 375 the MM is acceptable (χ2 (408) = 494.47; df = 111; p < 0.001; χ2/df = 4.4; RMSEA = .09; CFI = .92; 376 TLI = .90; SRMR = .05). According to Hair et al. [68], the significance of χ2 is expected due to both 377 the large sample size (n = 408) and number of observed variables (m = 22). RMSEA is also acceptable 378 [77]. 379 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 13 The structural model (SM) is presented in Figure 1. GOF indices suggest an overall good fit (χ2 (408) 380 = 389.33; df = 130; p < .001; χ2/df = 2.99; RMSEA = .07; CFI = .95; TLI = .93; SRMR = .05) and 381 the model explains 22% of the variance of INTOWE and 49% of FUTWTINT. Results highlight that 382 interest in online wine tourism experiences is positively affected by gender. Specifically, female 383 respondents seem to be more interested in online wine experiences than male ones (β = .11; p = .03). 384 Respondent’s familiarity with digital wine tools also emerged as a significant antecedent (H7: β = 385 .12, p = .03; H8: β = .13; p = .02). Unexpectedly, the effect of age on INTOWE is not significant (β 386 = - .05; p = .44). WI represents a significant predictor of both future wine tourism intentions (H2; β 387 = .62; p < .001) and INTOWE, although the effect on the latter is smaller in size (H1: β = .22; p = 388 .003). Interestingly, FUTWTINT does not significantly predict INTOWE (H9: β = .05; p = .47), while 389 the direct effect of fear and anxiety towards the virus (CPH) is significantly positive (H5: β = .18; p 390 < .001). Instead, CPH does not mediate the relationship between FUTWTINT and INTOWE since 391 the indirect effect between the two variables is not significant (H6: β = .01; p = .22). Finally, 392 willingness to support local wineries (SUPLOCW) has a significant positive effect on both INTOWE 393 (H3: β = .12; p = .02) and FUTWTINT (H4: β = 20.0; p < .001). 394 395 Figure 1 Results of the SEM analysis 396 397 Note: *** p < .01; ** p < .05. 398 399 400 5. Discussion and conclusions 401 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 14 This study provides relevant information for a better understanding of people’s interest in online wine 402 tourism experiences, which has become a strategic tool for wineries in times of pandemic. In the last 403 decade, wine tourism gained increasing relevance for Italian wine regions, but recently the Covid 404 outbreak jeopardised its dynamics, pushing the actors (e.g., wineries) to find alternative solutions to 405 overcome the new barriers. The digitalisation of wine tourism experiences is one of these solutions. 406 Nevertheless, designing similar experiences requires the proper infrastructure and knowledge of 407 virtual platforms and video making and financial investments to adopt this innovation. Therefore, 408 there is an urge to explore the extent to which interest in such experiences is driven by context-409 dependent factors, and if there is potential for future developments. In the latter case, online wine 410 experiences can become a strategic marketing and communication tool for wineries and wine regions 411 to enhance their visibility. 412 Although other attempts have been made to explore wine consumers' perception of online wine 413 tastings [78], this paper is among the first to examine the determinants of online wine tourism 414 attractiveness based on an extensive sample of wine tourists. Therefore, its findings provide 415 interesting hints for both actors of the wine sector and policymakers. 416 Descriptive statistics reveal that the profile of the wine tourists in our sample, mainly women, highly 417 educated and with a good income level, is in line with other studies [e.g., 19, 72, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83]. 418 As for the involvement with wine, it is above the average but not remarkably high, stressing the point 419 that wine tourists are not necessarily wine lovers [20]. 420 While future wine tourism intentions (FUTWTINT) are strong, the average interest in online wine 421 tourism in the analysed sample is lower. In our opinion, this latter evidence can be explained by the 422 fact that online wine tourism experiences represented an innovative product at the time of data 423 collection, namely the timeframe immediately after the so-called "first wave" of Covid infection 424 (from March 2020 to May 2020). Due to this, it would be interesting to collect new data to explore 425 how the wine tourists' interest towards such innovative products has evolved with the progress of the 426 pandemic. 427 The primary result from this pioneering study is that the interest in online wine tourism experiences 428 (INTOWE) is apparently affected by several factors, and not all of them are related to the context of 429 the pandemic. Notably, interest in online wine tourism is the result of a combination between general 430 fear and anxiety of the virus (CPH) and a long-lasting involvement with wine (WI). Indeed, although 431 WI shows a greater effect on FUTWTINT, it also constitutes the major antecedent of INTOWE 432 among those analysed. 433 Surprisingly, the effect of FUTWTINT on INTOWE is not significant, meaning that the interest in 434 joining an online wine tourism experience like an online wine tasting is not necessarily consequent 435 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 15 to the individual willing to go on a wine holiday in the near future. Moreover, the relationship between 436 the two constructs is not mediated by Covid-related fear and anxiety (CPH). This result reveals that 437 interest in virtual wine tastings and oeno-gastronomic events does not arise in substitution of 438 conventional wine tourism when a greater fear and anxiety of Covid-19 is present. 439 Since INTOWE is predicted by WI but is not a result of FUTWINT (i.e., intention to visit a wine 440 region in a future holiday), online wine tourism products may attract involved wine consumers who 441 are not (yet) regular wine tourists, and the two activities may be seen as two separate products by 442 consumers. Future analyses should segment virtual wine experiences consumers based on their 443 personal involvement with wine to explore potential group differences in their intentions and 444 behaviour towards OWEs. 445 As previously reported, CPH also directly impacts INTOWE with an effect size comparable to WI. 446 This effect can reasonably be linked to a higher perceived safety connected to online experiences 447 since the Covid-10 outbreak, especially in light of the negative effect of Covid-19 fear and anxiety 448 emerging in tourism-related studies referring to conventional travels [e.g. 5]. Variables referring to 449 wine digitalisation (WAPP and BUYWONLINE) have a significant impact on INTOWE, confirming 450 that being familiar with wine-related digital tools significantly increases interest in online wine 451 tourism. This finding suggests wine apps may be an effective channel to advertise online wine tourism 452 experiences and target potential consumers. In this respect, age does not seem to play a significant 453 role, while gender differences are present. Finally, willingness to support local wineries predicts both 454 FUTWTINT and INTOWE. The latter constitutes an encouraging signal for wine tourism 455 stakeholders, who might emphasise this aspect in their communication strategies, to improve their 456 effectiveness. 457 Results of the present study refer exclusively to online wine tastings and oeno-gastronomic 458 experiences, while virtual wine tours seem to constitute a separate subject and represent an interesting 459 topic for future research. As previously mentioned, new data could assess changes in the relevance 460 of context-related antecedents with the pandemic's evolution. 461 The choice of snowball sampling has been widely applied to tourism and social science studies [84, 462 85], and like Villacé-Molinero et al. [86] is deemed the appropriate technique in light of the urge to 463 collect data on a rapidly evolving phenomenon under unprecedented circumstances (i.e., the Covid-464 19 pandemic). However, it comes with limitations such as self-selection bias, over-representation of 465 subgroups having similar characteristics [87], and thus lack representativeness. In this study, data 466 have been collected online through social media and via email to personal contacts, with no 467 compensation for respondents: this feature may have led to pre-selecting respondents who are familiar 468 with digital tools and are interested in the topic. As a consequence, respondents’ age in our sample 469 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 16 may be skewed towards younger wine tourists. The large sample size and the socio-demographical 470 diversity of respondents contribute to overcoming these limitations, although further research is 471 needed to assess the generalisability of our findings. 472 To sum up, our exploratory study suggests the presence of both a long- and short- term motivational 473 force behind the interest in online wine tourist experiences, which is not exclusively driven by fear 474 of the virus but is instead connected to long-term product involvement. Therefore, the study leaves 475 room for future developments in the online wine experiences market. It also suggests this kind of 476 product should not be seen as a substitute for regular wine tourism but rather as a marketing tool to 477 keep connections with existing consumers alive or attract new potential visitors. Indeed, online wine 478 tourism experiences can bring several advantages for wineries: first, they can overcome spatial 479 barriers, reach a broader audience of potential consumers, and boost the international diffusion of 480 wine and wine regions. Second, unlike other digital marketing actions, they preserve the possibility 481 to establish direct contact with the final consumer as happens with in-presence visits. Finally, virtual 482 wine tourism activities can also be provided during the low season, thus becoming a tool to attract 483 tourists during the pre-decisional and pre-actional stages of travelling [88]. In the latter case, the 484 benefits of online wine experiences can extend to the whole destination. 485 With this in mind, the actors of the wine tourism sector should try to implement and promote an offer 486 of virtual wine tastings and food and wine events having a long-term perspective in view. Indeed, 487 online wine experiences offer greater opportunities than just allowing to cope with Covid restrictions. 488 On their end, policymakers could facilitate farmers to overcome the objective technological 489 boundaries characterising the sector, both at a national and firm-level. Particularly, both financial and 490 technical support are crucial to implement broadband infrastructures, jointly with specialised training 491 for wineries and small-medium wine tourism enterprises (e.g., farms), to level up their digitalisation. 492 Wineries' digitalisation and proximity tourism, intended as travels close to tourists' place of residence, 493 are indeed two significant steps fuelled by Covid-19 that can have considerable repercussions on 494 future sector dynamics, especially for pursuing sustainability goals. 495 496 497 WEP – Wine Economics and Policy Just Accepted Manuscript 17 References 498 [1] Gössling, S., Lund-Durlacher, D. 2021. 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