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The Rioja region's wineries welcomed almost 880,000 visitors in 2023. This is 17.5 per cent more than in 2022 and 2.5 per cent more than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019. The average spend per visitor also rose to a record 37.89 euros. The overall effect of ecotourism on the region grew by 30 million euros to almost 186 million euros. The added value generated by the wineries totalled 62 million euros.
33 per cent of visitors were international tourists, an increase of four per cent. Most of these came from the USA (27 per cent), Great Britain (16 per cent) and France (14 per cent). Wineries invested over two million euros in tourist offers, and two thirds of all wineries believe that enotourism will play an increasingly important role in their business. They want to develop more premium services and employ more staff to do so.
The number of Rioja bottles sold fell by over three per cent in 2023. Exports also fell by 6.6 per cent, but held up better than red wines from other Spanish DOs, which suffered a drop of over 14 per cent. These figures were announced by the Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja.
(al / Source: CRR)