ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses innovation in New Zealand wine tourism. Using the results of surveys and interviews of wine tourism businesses and wineries, the chapter highlights the relationships between different areas of innovation and different business strategies. Some of these relationships are deliberate and some are potentially ‘accidental’. However, their nature is strongly connected to firm focus and, in particular, the partially industrialized nature of many tourism businesses. A number of areas of competence for innovative practices are examined, with the research highlighting that the respondents are primarily internally focused and that there are clearly significant issues in leveraging external competences. Many winegrowers appear risk averse, with New Zealand wineries appearing to adopt innovations only if there is a proven track record of their success. Nevertheless, tourism appears as one mechanism by which new competence innovation may be addressed, rather than existing competence enhancing sources.
