Social interaction driving loyalty towards wine tourism in rural areas? The mediating role of learning and emotions

Purpose Social interaction is highly valued in tourism, particularly regarding host–guest interaction in rural tourism. This paper aims to examine, based on Social Exchange Theory, Affect Theory of Social Exchange and the Stimulus–Organism–Response paradigm, the mediating role of learning and positive emotions on the impact of visitors’ interaction with different stakeholders – staff, other visitors and local communities – on loyalty towards wine tourism destinations, as well as the mediating role of emotions between learning and loyalty. Design/methodology/approach A model is tested using structural equation modelling and data from a questionnaire survey (n = 422) conducted across three wine routes of Portugal. Findings Results reveal that wine visitors’ interactions increase loyalty to wine destinations, with learning and positive emotions playing a mediating role in this context. However, the consequences of interaction vary according to the type of interaction. These results reveal the crucial and complementary roles of these interactions in wine tourism, providing theoretical and practical contributions on how these social contacts may be managed in wine tourism taking place in rural areas. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the only study analysing the mediating role of both learning and positive emotions on the relationship between visitors’ interaction with different stakeholders – staff, other visitors and local communities – and loyalty towards wine tourism destinations. Therefore, this study goes beyond much previous research that only addresses wine visitors’ interactions, specifically with winery staff, or such interactions’ impacts on learning or positive emotions.