BEER TRAVELER, WINE TRAVELER, OR BOTH? COMPARING BEER TOURIST AND WINE TOURIST SEGMENTS

Wine tourist and beer tourist consumer behavior have typically been researched separately. This study considers the overlap in wine and beer travelers, investigating attitudinal and behavioral differences between the three groups of beverage travelers (beer-only, wine-only, beer+wine) and neither beer nor wine travelers. This study finds a large overlap between beer and wine travelers. In most attitudinal and behavioral measures, there were no significant differences between the three types of beverage travelers, and all were higher than the “neither” group. Both wine and beer travelers travel to enjoy memorable eating and drinking experiences, influence others, and like to explore new foods—especially more than other travelers. They also use food and drink to differentiate between destinations to visit. Beverage travelers participate in more activities at the destination than other travelers and tend to spend more as well. 42.5% of American leisure travelers can be considered beer or wine travelers. These travelers can be divided into subsegments, revealing that 16.6% of American leisure travelers are beer-only travelers, 13.7% are wine-only travelers, and 12.2% are beer+wine travelers.