Beer tourism in Canada along the Waterloo-Wellington Ale Trail

Food and beverage tourism is increasingly recognised as a way to showcase local products and stimulate tourism demand. The use of an ale trail, similar to a wine trail also represents an important option for small retailers to partner to promote their products. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the results of a self-reporting survey conducted over a 3-year period at six breweries along the Waterloo-Wellington Ale Trail located in south central Ontario, Canada. A total of 2136 valid surveys were returned and the results are examined under visitor profile, visit information and the Ale Trail experience. The paper stresses the importance of partnering and collecting baseline data for new ventures.