Zephyr Adventures, organizer of the annual Wine Tourism Conference, announced the first-ever Wine Tourism Day in North America will take place on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Participating wineries, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses will offer a variety of events to the public to promote the visitation of wine areas and its economic impact.

“There are now over 7,500 wineries in 205 American Viticultural Areas, 38 authorized wine appellations in Canada, and another 40 appellations in Mexico,” says Zephyr Adventures president Allan Wright. “Most of these wine regions and many of these wineries are dependent on visitors who sleep in hotel beds, eat in restaurants, and buy wine from cellar doors. Wine tourism is very important to the success of many local economies and is a subject worth commemorating.”

The idea for a Wine Tourism Day comes from Europe, where the European Day of Wine Tourism has been ongoing since 2009. Attendees of the 2012 Wine Tourism Conference, an annual gathering of the industry’s leaders, discussed bringing the concept to North America.

Wine Tourism Day is being supported by a number of industry partners including LocalWineEvents.com, Touring and Tasting Marketing & Media, WineAmerica, the Wine Industry Network, and the Wine Tourism Conference in addition to wine and tourism associations in wine regions throughout North America.

“Wine tourism is very important to the wineries and other businesses of the Finger Lakes region”, says Finger Lakes Wine Country president and CEO Morgen McLaughlin. “We love the idea of implementing Wine Tourism Day to give our wineries a chance to celebrate this with wine consumers.”

To host an event or attend an event in your area, visit www.WineTourismDay.org.