Phygital Innovations for Wine Tourism During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of the Jurançon Wine Cooperative in South West France

The objective of this chapter is to analyse the innovations adopted by the Jurançon Wine Cooperative (South West France) during the COVID-2019 pandemic in 2020/2021) and show how innovation helped maintain its tourist activity. The Jurançon Wine Cooperative is an SME at the forefront in terms of technological innovation and sustainable strategy and it is the 6th largest company in France in terms of the number of visitors per year (270,000). Wine tourism players in France are more inclined to develop physical innovations related to local heritage than digital tools. Consequently, the implementation of “phygital” (i.e. both physical and digital) innovations in the wine tourism sector, as well as the analysis of a “phygital experience” for tourists, appears to have not yet been analysed. This chapter covers the outcomes of a case study method over a period of 1 year (2020) with the Jurançon Wine Cooperative. This was carried by out by a mix of focus groups interviews and observations with winegrowers, and analysis of secondary documents. The first results reveal that the COVID-19 crisis, which appeared in France in March 2020, accelerated the implementation of digital innovations in order to maintain wine tourist activity. However, it slowed down the implementation of a sustainable approach due to operational constraints. Conceptually, the results are twofold: firstly, innovations implemented by the Jurançon Wine Cooperative to develop its wine tourism strategy are physical, digital and partnership-based, which can be described as “phygital”. For example, physical innovations relate to a visit of the vineyards by small train or a pop-up store. Digital initiatives include videos for tourists arriving by bus and visiting the cooperative, or the development of JC’s website for tourists. Secondly, a wine tourism experience for tourists can be defined as “phygital” as contributes to creating a new way for tourists to experience wine tourism in a dual physical and virtual world. This “phygital” tourism experience is a radical change for wine tourists, and constitutes a new experiential model. Our recommendation to wine tourism professionals is to set up a similar “phygital strategy” to encourage more tourists to be able have a richer experience during their visit. However, it is strongly recommended that a balance between “physical” vs. “digital” strategies is maintained, because of the importance of the human contact in the wine sector.