Gender Differences in the Psychosocial Determinants of Motivation for Wine Tourism

Wine tourism is a form of tourism of growing importance, and understanding it requires a joint analysis of the psychosocial factors associated with visitor behaviour. The aim of this study is to analyse the relationships between motivation, perceived quality, satisfaction and loyalty amongst visitors to the Montilla-Moriles Wine Route, by comparing the patterns observed in men and women. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 671 wine tourists (331 men and 340 women), selected using non-probabilistic convenience sampling. The relationships between the constructs were analysed using multi-group structural equation models, following an assessment of the reliability, validity and metric invariance of the measurement model. The results show that perceived quality and satisfaction are positively and statistically significantly associated with motivation in both groups, whilst loyalty does not show a significant association with this variable. Although the relational structure is similar between men and women, descriptive variations are observed in the magnitude of certain associations: perceived quality carries greater relative weight among men, whilst satisfaction is comparatively more significant among women. These variations do not allow us to conclude that there are statistically significant differences between the two groups. The findings reinforce the multidimensional nature of the wine tourism experience and have implications for the design of experiences tailored to the diversity of visitors.