Niagara Wine Tourism Growing Strong

The Niagara region is known world-wide for its most popular Niagara Falls attraction: the Falls. But each year, a large number of Niagara tourists explore many other options too; a Niagara wine tour is one of them. In fact, according to research, touring wineries is the seventh most popular activity while visiting Niagara, with one in six visitors enjoying this experience.

More than 10 years ago, Niagara’s wine tourism was like an undeveloped vine ready to mature. Several larger players controlled the event during the summer season. Today, the wine sector that’s now all-year-long and magnum sized has a large impact on the Niagara tourism.

Thousands visit the Niagara Wine Festival in the fall which takes place in the Niagara region as well as at St. Catharines’ Montebello Park. These regions also hold many events for families where children can enjoy white and red grape juice.

Robin Garrett of Niagara’s Tourism Partnership says whenever her office markets the things to do in Niagara Falls, it always places a strong emphasis on the wine industry.

The region’s nearly 80 wineries bring in various crowds from larger, tour-focused operations to smaller companies. The wineries are also famous for their food, especially outdoor grilling.

According to Garrett, the company recognizes this as a very memorable experience people enjoy when visiting Niagara Falls. Therefore, wine tours and culinary adventures have been implanted in many Niagara Falls tourism promotions. There’s still lots of work to be done, as Niagara’s winery charm can lessen with distance.

Garrett points out that many from Toronto and nearby regions are aware of Niagara’s continuing wine culture, however, that may not always be the case for farther-situated markets. To that end, efforts are being made to market Niagara’s wine tourism to larger cities and other regions of the country.

The wineries in Niagara are remarkably good at offering visitors a unique piece of wine country experience that’s special to each region.

As a result, visitors can have an even more enjoyable Niagara Falls vacation.

Photo by by Danielle Scott. Provided through the Flickr Creative Commons.