ABSTRACT
The structure of the wine industry has important implications for wine tourism and the business strategies of individual businesses and the industry as a whole, as the strategies of the larger companies may have substantially different dimensions than those of the boutique wineries. The national tourism promotion organization, the New Zealand Tourism Board (NZTB) is supporting the development of Tourism Marketing Networks (TMN) and describes the concept as the fundamental pillar of their new promotional strategy, which has significant potential for increasing New Zealand's foreign exchange earnings. The first wine tourism TMN meeting was held in February 1999, which included members from the NZTB and regional tourism organizations from New Zealand wine regions. At the regional level wine tourism is a significant component of tourism in a number of wine regions as well as being a major contributing factor in the creation of regional tourism images.
