A lot really depends on the location. Where I live,most everywhere I need or want to go there's a road leading there and southern European roads are overall quite good. At least the main roads are fairly well maintained, and while tetriary local roads can be a bit gnarly and potholed in parts, you can just unweight a saddle for a few minutes until you are clear of it. I'm also no stranger to doing a bit of light offroad on a road bike - as long as you take it slow (and protective tape on downtube and other bits so rocks don't mar the paint), it's really not a big deal. So, where I live - the road bike is eminently practical and versatile and there's much more road to ride than gravel. I've put together a gravel bike this fall and while it's nice to have more places be accessible, I have to remember to chart a route where it'll be put to good use (without charting one which is too ambitious for a gravel bike).
However, if you live where there's a sparse road network but there's a lot of forest or gravel paths without asphalt then I can see the allure of it. A gravel bike loses much less on the road than a road bike does on gravel, and yet more stuff becomes accessible - you can do proper MTB trails on a gravel bike although it's not going to be the fastest bike on it. So, it is more versatile in many ways, and that's the basic allure of it.
Last summer I went to Montenegro and I took my road bike there; I could take only one bike for myself because we have rear rack space for only four bikes. I did some road riding and a race, but since it was all I had to ride while there, I also rode it on the local forest paths and so on with the kids - a gravel bike and a spare set of wheels with road tires would be a bit more practical for traveling for the holidays somewhere where there are more offroad paths to ride and sights to see. I would have probably ridden more through the woods than on the roads if I had had the bike suited for it (or at least a spare wheelset with something wider and tougher on it, had 23s on at the time).
Last edited by Branko D; 01-12-22 at 07:46 AM.