What roles do wine-related personal traits play in shaping wine tourism motivations in the Thrace region?

Motivations serve as significant factors influencing the behavior of wine tourists. Therefore, understanding motivations is crucial for developing and managing wine tourism effectively. However, studies on this topic, particularly in Turkey, are limited. This study aims to fill this gap by determining the motivations for wine tourism and exploring their relationships with visitors' wine-related personal traits (wine product knowledge, wine product involvement, and wine tourist identity). Firstly, to determine the motivations, principal component analysis was conducted based on a face-to-face survey of a random sample of 399 visitors following their winery visits in the Thrace Region. Six motivational factors were identified: educational experience, socialization, destination attractiveness, winery presence, wine product, and vineyard aesthetics. Secondly, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to put forward the relationships between wine-related personal traits of visitors and the identified motivations. The results showed that wine product involvement significantly predicts four motivational factors: educational experience, socialization, winery presence, and vineyard aesthetics. Wine tourist identity influences the factors of educational experience, winery presence, and wine product, while wine product knowledge emerges as a predictor of socialization. These findings can help not only academics but also wine tourism stakeholders in developing, promoting, and enhancing a wine tourism concept.