The 53 partner wineries of Ruta do Viño Rías Baixas, member of the Club de Producto (Product Club) of Wine Routes of Spain, received a total of 97,813 visitors during 2016. The average number of visitors per winery increased to 1,845.52, with an increase in numbers of about 300 compared to last year.
This result confirms the upward trend of opting for wine tourism as an alternative. In addition to the number of tourists visiting wineries, worth noting are the 4,094 registered visits to the four partner museums, resulting in a total of 101,907 people exploring this wine route in 2016.
These numbers were taken from an annual report of visits to wineries and museums, broken-down by region, produced by Ruta do Viño Rías Baixas. Compared to the previous year, the number of tourists increased by 14.9%. The non-profit association has high hopes for this 2017. “Until now, the general impression on behalf of the partner wineries is that there was a greater number of tourists and they hope that, during the summer, these numbers will only increase even more,” explained the general manager, Lorena Varela.
By region, Val do Salnés continues to be the most visited, with 88,298 registered visitors to its 35 partner wineries during 2016. The average number of visitors per winery was 2,522.80 and the winery with the highest number of visitors reached a total of 24,376.
O Rosal was the second region most visited of Ruta do Viño Rías Baixas, with 6,666 tourists last year. The average number of visitors for each of the 7 partner wineries in this territory was 952.29. The most-visited had an influx of 2,764 visitors.
The option of Condado do Teas was chosen by a total of 2,479 people, with the average number of visits for each of the 8 partner wineries being 309.88. The most-visited received 799 people interested in the world of winegrowing.
To close the list, the region Ribeira do Ulla received 370 visitors during 2016. In this case, the winery that was visited the most of the 3 partner wineries, registered a total of 204 people and the average number of visitors per winery was 123.33.
In the case of the partner museums of Ruta do Viño Rías Baixas, a total of 4,094 people visited. The average number of visitors per museum was of 1,364.67 and the most-visited registered a total of 2,107 tourists walking through its doors.
The general manager of Ruta do Viño Rías Baixas, Lorena Varela, concluded that these numbers “encourage us to continue working to show our ample wine and gastronomical offering to visitors. The rich natural, cultural and winegrowing heritage of this wine route has more and more supporters every day. Our association contributes to making them more visible through different leisure activities, such as those planned for this summer”.