Sustainable Marketing Visions in Food and Wine Tourism: Stakeholder Profiles and Strategic Positioning

Abstract

This study investigates sustainable marketing in food and wine tourism through a stakeholder segmentation approach, aiming to identify homogeneous profiles and interpret alternative strategic visions of territorial positioning. Using data on perceived impact, desirability, and plausibility of different development drivers, a Two-Step Cluster Analysis is applied to detect distinct strategic orientations among operators. The results reveal differentiated profiles reflecting diverse approaches to sustainable value creation, experiential design, and market positioning. Some stakeholders already adopt sustainability as a core element of their value proposition, others are in a transitional phase, while a further group remains anchored to more traditional and product-centered models. These profiles highlight different ways of interpreting sustainability not only as an ethical principle, but also as a marketing and competitive strategy in food and wine tourism. The findings provide insights into how sustainability, authenticity, experience design, and innovation are combined in stakeholders’ marketing visions, offering useful guidance for policymakers and destination managers in designing place-based, evidence-driven strategies for the sustainable and competitive development of food and wine tourism sector.