Stories of the nominees

WTA welcomes a new nominee: Professor Marianna Sigala

Greece

The WTA nominee registration for the second 2022-2023 edition has been open since November 1. We are glad to welcome new nominees and share their stories with you. Among them, Professor of Tourism and the Director of the Centre for Tourism & Leisure Management at the University of South Australia (2015 – 2021), the co-editor of the Journal of Service Theory & Practice, and the Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management. She was an academic staff at the University of Strathclyde and Westminster University (UK), and the University of the Aegean (Greece). Currently, Professor Marianna Sigala is the Research Fellow of CAUTHE. 

As a WTA Community member, she is nominated for the Wine & Food Influencer / Author of the Year. Works of Professor Marianna Sigala are widely published in the fields of Information & Communication Technologies in tourism and hospitality, as well as in wine tourism. Among her publications are such books in wine tourism as:

  • Management and Marketing of wine tourism businesses: Theory, practice and cases. Management & Marketing of Wine Destinations. Theory, practice and cases,  
  • Technological Advances and Innovation in Wine Tourism: New Managerial Approaches and Cases,
  • Thriving in wine tourism through technology and innovation: a survival or a competitiveness need, etc.

Such important personalities of the wine world, as Stellios Boutaris, Wine Maker Kir-Υianni Estate & President of the Association of Wine Makers of North Greece and Maria Joao de Almeida, Executive President, Associação Portuguesa de Enoturismo, Portuguese Association of Wine Tourism gave positive feedback on the books.

Stellios Boutaris: “The book is a valuable addition to our knowledge of wine tourism. It compiles under one roof research and case studies about innovation and technological applications in wine tourism from all over the world. As wine tourism organizations need to operate within a turbulent and continuously changing world, innovation and digital transformation are vital tools to ensure survival but also competitiveness”.

Maria Joao de Almeida: “Book focuses on contemporary technologies and the ways in which they are being deployed within the wine tourism sector, covers the use of a wide range of technologies including social media and influencers, GPS tracking and virtual reality. The book chapters nicely explain the use and impact of these technologies by discussing various cases and practical examples from all over the globe”.

More extensive information about the professor’s activities, her books, articles and wider reviews could be found on Marianna’s WTA profile. 

It is important to note that the participation in the Wine & Food Influencer nomination is completely free, thanks to the Nomination’s Sponsor – Dr. Ricardo F. Nunez, owner of the Vinos de La Luz group of companies, who again, now for the second edition of WTA, sponsored the influencers and wine personalities to support them.

Vinos de La Luz not only undertakes the mission of ensuring free entrance of wine & food influencers, journalists, writers and bloggers to the second edition of WTA, but also acts as a Fund Prize Sponsor for the winners of this nomination. 

On behalf of Dr. Ricardo F. Nunez, according to the results of the the 2022-2023 awards in the Wine & Food Influencer nomination, the winners get:

1st place – 1000 euros,

2nd place – 500 euros,

3nd place – 500 euros.

Join the WTA community! Fill in the registration form here!