Wine tourism as a rural development strategy. The case of the enotourism cluster in the department of Colonia-Uruguay.

Abstract

The Department of Colonia (one of the nineteenth policy - administrative division of Uruguay) has an important tourism development, concentrated in the historical district of the provincial capital. Towards diversify tourism and in strengthening the departmental development framework arises wine tourism as an activity with potential. Therefore, in this paper, it is set to contribute to knowledge and promote the development of wine tourism cluster of the department, as strategy and instrument to promote rural development by identifying potential, brakes and implemented strategies. The study design was case study by qualitative analysis, in which 19 semi-structured interviews regarding the potential cluster actors performed. It corroborated the main working hypothesis, establishing the budding wine tourism cluster is composed of enterprises classified as "new" or "old", which operate independently with some coopetition could be considered the core of the cluster. The lack of articulation, coordination and projection of wine do not allow the acquisition of new proposals to complement the existing hindering their consolidation. The cluster may contribute to the development of the territory if articulates new proposals, and if it interacts with other actors, public or private land. To achieve the necessary interaction intends to conduct a participatory exploration of available resources, preparation of a development plan, including the creation of a seal of quality and the appointment of a coordinator for the plan, which will enable the continuation of the development proposal