This study aims to evaluate the perception of the potential
tourists on wine tourism in Moldavia region. The area under study
represents Romania’s largest wine region, concentrating about 38% of the
total area covered by vineyards and about 47% of the area under grafted
bearing vineyards. Similarly, the counties comprised within the wine region
of the Moldavian Hills supply 40% of the total quantity of grapes and 38%
of the quantity of wine grapes produced in Romania. The importance of the
region is underlined by the existence of 12 vineyards and 55 wine centres;
thus, for the recognition of the quality and particularities of their wines,
there are several Controlled Designation of Origin/CDO. The main objective
of this paper is to evaluate the perception of a random sample, consisting
of 140 people from different regions of Romania (and the Republic of
Moldova), on the importance of the wine potential and the tourist
capitalization of the oenological patrimony of the region. It was found that
most respondents practised wine tourism both in the country and in other
states, some of them even visiting Moldavia region. Most of the
respondents fall into the category of young people, which led to different
perceptions of wine tourism and to various expectations related to its
practice in Moldavia region, especially when compared to other categories
of tourists. The personal experience of practicing this type of tourism has
led to answers based on the reality perceived by the respondents, both
with the advantages of Moldavia and with the issues inherent in a
developing region, especially those related to the promotion and
capitalization of the wine tourism potential. Respondents also provided
solutions to reduce problems in the region's development and suggested
that institutions be involved in achieving them.