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Akshay Kumar – Mumbai
Stuttgart, state capital of Baden-Württemberg has now opened up as a wine tourism destination for Indians. Famous for its automobile industry like Porsche and Mercedes, this destination also has numerous vineyards, along with wine museums, wine institutes which not only provides knowledge, but also gives a practical experience of wine tasting. Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Hans-Jörg Hadbawnik, regional director for India and Russia, Stuttgart Marketing and State Tourist Board stated, “Stuttgart is a very popular destination among Indian tourists and in 2013 we have seen a 6.5 per cent increase in tourist arrivals. On an average, the overnight stay by an Indian is 6.5 days and they spend € 175 per day. There are many family wineries in Baden-Württemberg, where tourists can learn how to smell, taste and also learn the styles of drinking these wines. Also, we host the biggest wine festival in the world. Indians have also developed a taste for good wine and we have some good wines which are only available in our region.”
Hector D’Souza, director India, Southwest German Tourist Board said, “Last year we introduced SouthWest Germany as a winter destination, we promoted the Black Forest as a film tourism destination. This year we have a new product – Wine tourism – for the Indians. With a lot of unique wineries in and around Baden-Württemberg, wine tourism would be widely appreciated by the Indian tourists.”
Stuttgart has a large number of family wineries which still produce wines by traditional methods. These wineries grow many different varietals of grapes which are bound to this region such as Blaufränkisch, Trollinger, Schwarzriesing and the famous Riesling. Indian tourists flock these family wineries to learn about the local blends. Andreas Unser, winemaker, Weingut Unser said, “We own a family vineyard, where grapes are hand-plucked, the fermentation and distillation processes are still carried out in a traditional manner. We produce a variety of grapes right from Riesling, which is well known globally to Trollinger which is famous locally. Many tourists visit our wineries throughout the year, Indians also visit in large numbers and learn about the process and taste our unique wines.”
Apart from promoting wine tourism, SouthWest Germany also introduced its summer activities this year for the period April to mid September. The activities include – boating on Lake Constance; canoing; cruising along rivers Nectar and Danube; swimming; sun bathing; self-driving across SouthWest Germany; hiking in Black Forest, Swabian alps and Stuttgart; camping in Black Forest and Freiberg; jogging across SouthWest Germany; ballooning in Baden Baden and Lake Constance; paragliding in Baden Baden to name a few.
On January 10-11, 2014, the LAPP Group along with Indo-German Chamber of Commerce organised the 10th ‘Stuttgart meets Mumbai’ festival. With the motto ‘A focus on tourism and film’, the festival aimed at promoting tourism in Germany’s southwestern Swabian state of Baden-Württemberg, in addition to promoting ‘Bollywood and Beyond’ Stuttgart Indian Film Festival – the biggest Indian film festival in Europe drawing over 10,000 visitors annually to Stuttgart.
