Beer Tourism Increases Despite Slowing Sales Growth

Despite a chorus of less-than optimistic predictions for the future of craft beer, beer tourism is at an all-time high, according to Allan Wright, head of Zephyr Conferences, at this year's Beer Marketing and Tourism Conference. Though sales growth has slowed, the amount of quality craft brewers in concentrated like Asheville and San Diego craft beer hubs capable of drawing international attention. For more, see the release below:

BEER TOURISM IS ON THE RISE ACCORDING TO BEER INDUSTRY CONFERENCES HELD LAST MONTH

(Red Lodge, MT) – Zephyr Conferences recently held two beer-focused events, Beer Now in Sheffield, England and the Beer Marketing & Tourism Conference (BMTC) in Asheville, North Carolina. Attendees at the events heard from local breweries, travel experts, tourism organizations, beer writers and bloggers, as well as marketing professionals and tour operators.

                Beer Now featured keynote speakers Bob Pease of the US-based Brewers Association and Louis Van de Perre of Belgian Brewers. The US-based BMTC featured Travelocity’s Keith Nowak, who created the Beer Tourism Index, as the events keynote speaker. Topics presented to the collective 300 attendees ranged from tap room management, events and tourism to marketing and communications.

                “Beer tourism is significantly on the rise among consumers and it’s important for the industry to seize the momentum,” said Allan Wright, president of Zephyr Conferences. “Our conferences are an opportunity for the beer industry to stay on top of the latest trends in events, marketing, technology and communication, as well as how to utilize these tools in today’s tourism industry. The events are a great opportunity for education, but more importantly collaboration.”

“Each session was well attended and all attendees seemed eager to learn and participate both about beer  marketing and tourism,” added Mark Lyons of Brews Cruise, Inc. “The presenters were enthusiastic and offered a great deal of worthwhile information that we can implement in the industry.  Zephyr Conferences did a fantastic job of putting on an event that specifically caters to our sector of the craft beer industry.”

                Zephyr Conferences will host the BMTC and Beer Now again in 2018 with locations to be announced later this year. In the meantime, the Beer Blogger Conference, featuring keynote speaker Susan Evans from the Smithsonian who brings both traditional brewery experience and a non-traditional viewpoint based on her current work with the Food History Program at the Smithsonian, will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin August 3 – August 6, 2017.

About Zephyr Conferences

Zephyr Conferences runs six conferences each year in the food, wine, and beer industries. The organization is committed to delivering outstanding experiences for attendees, speakers and sponsors. Current conferences organized by Zephyr Conferences include the Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference, the Beer Now Conference (formerly the European Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference), the Beer Marketing & Tourism Conference, the Wine Bloggers Conference, the Wine Tourism & Marketing Conference and the International Food Blogger Conference. For information about our conferences, please email [email protected].