Celebration of heritage: linkages between historical re-enactment festival attributes and attendees’ value perception

ABSTRACT

Community-based festivals celebrate a sense of community and place. Communities across the United States (US) and elsewhere have turned to various community-based events to celebrate local heritage and culture. This study investigates the relationship between the attributes of a historical re-enactment festival and participants’ perceived value. Drawing on means–end theory and event experience literature, we examined event attributes, perceived benefits, and attendees’ perceived value in the context of a historical re-enactment festival in the Midwestern US. The results highlighted the importance of four attributes of historical re-enactment festivals, namely historical re-enactment, social interactions, event design, and physical facets. Each factor contributed differently to attendees’ perceived value of such a festival experience. In addition, perceived benefits of attending such an event mediated the relationships between event attributes and perceived value. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Behavioral intention of visitors to an Oriental medicine festival: An extended model of goal directed behavior

Despite the importance of Oriental medicine festivals to Oriental medical tourism, little research has been conducted to understand the behavioral intention of visitors to these festivals. Therefore, this study examines the behavioral intention of visitors to a Korean Oriental medicine festival. This study employs the extended model of goal-directed behavior (EMGB) that incorporates two constructs related to Oriental medicine festivals: the Oriental medicine image of festival site (image) and the perception of Oriental medicine (perception). An on-site survey was conducted with 423 visitors attending the Sancheong Herbal Festival in South Korea. Results reveal that attitude, subjective norm, and positive anticipated emotion influenced visitors' desire to attend the festival, which, in turn, influenced their behavioral intentions. Two constructs of image and perception formed positive and significant relationships with attitude toward attending the festival. Practical implications of the study results are discussed.     

Local attendees' perceptions of festival impacts: A factor-cluster analysis approach to the Zanzibar International Film Festival

Appraising residents' perceptions of the impacts of festivals is imperative to festival success. Such residents can rightly claim ownership of the place where the festival is staged and the cultural aspects the festival showcases. This study aimed at elucidating local attendees' perceived festival impacts at the annual Zanzibar International Film Festival. Data for this study were collected using a structured questionnaire that yielded 263 responses conveniently drawn from festival-goers, which were then subjected to factor-cluster analysis. The results reveal the presence of three clusters (advocates, ambivalents, and cautious-advocates) that differ significantly on their perceived impacts of the festival with respect to its environmental, socio-cultural, and economic contributions. These results have both managerial and policy implications on the inclusion of the locals in planning and managing festivals.     

Factors Affecting Group-Oriented Travel Intention to Major Events

Large-scale, major social events, such as music and cultural festivals and international sporting events, are an important motivator of tourism activity and an increasingly significant component of destination marketing. Despite the growing consumption trend of group-oriented travel behavior and the economic significance of large-scale, event-based tourism, a theoretical gap exists in understanding what drives potential attendees' desire to attend these events, particularly in groups. A theoretically developed conceptual model is empirically tested using survey data from 170 Australian respondents planning to attend, and travel in a group, to a major social event. The results support the model showing that travel motivations (configured as a Type II multidimensional model), affective destination image, and enduring involvement in the event category influence group-oriented travel behavior to major events. Managerial implications and recommendations for future research are also presented.     

Local festivals,social capital and sustainable destination development: experiences in East London

This paper explores the nature of social capital arising from engagement in local festivals and the implications of this for the social sustainability of an emerging destination. Two case studies are developed from a longitudinal research project which investigates local festivals staged in the Hackney Wick and Fish Island area adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London, UK between 2008 and 2014. This area has been directly affected by extensive development and regeneration efforts associated with the staging of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The two festivals considered here respond to the challenges and opportunities arising for local people as the area changes. One festival aims to foster a sense of community by creating shared experiences and improving communication across diverse groups. The other draws together the cultural community, links them to the opportunities arising as the area emerges as a destination, and attracts visitors. These festivals increase social capital in the area, but its distribution is very uneven. The accrual of social capital exacerbates existing inequalities within the host community, favouring the “haves” at the expense of the “have nots”. There are tensions between the development of social capital and social sustainability in this emerging destination.     

The way of generation Y enjoying Jazz festival: a case of the Korea (Jarasum) music festival

ABSTRACT

Research studies about the attributes of music festival experiences and the effect of information technology in music festival help us to understand Millennials. With the purpose of providing more insights about the perception and behavior of young people at a festival, this study aims to investigate how festival attributes and the interactivity of information sources affect festival attendee satisfactions and behavioral intentions in a music festival. The results are expected to assist festival organizers in managing and implementing market-oriented service strategies to improve the quality of festivals and therefore to enhance the attendee satisfactions and their behavioral intentions.     

An exploration of lesbian,gay, bisexual,and transgender pride festival sponsors

Pride festivals, events defined as a parade, march, rally, or festival organized for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, continue to rely on sponsorships for festival operations. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the current makeup of pride festival sponsors in the United States and Canada. A content analysis of 780 of 30 U.S. and Canadian pride festival sponsors found that all 30 pride festivals utilized sponsors. Findings indicate that a majority of the sponsors that came from states outside of the pride festival state were private corporate sponsors, and came from industries such as services, health, media, and beverages. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Impacts of festivals and events on residents’ well-being

This study investigated how residents’ participation in local festivals may influence their subjective-well-being and their quality of life. Using data collected from local attendees of a film festival, this study examined the relationship between socio-cultural impacts of a festival and subjective well-being of local residents. Findings revealed that while community benefits and cultural/educational benefits are positive predictors of subjective well-being of residents, quality life concerns were found to have negative impact on the well-being of residents. Findings also revealed no significant relationship between community resource concerns and subjective well-being of residents.     

The Festival in My Hometown: The Relationships Among Performance Quality,Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intentions

Despite the high volume of research on festivals in Western cultures and the incredible growth of festivals over recent decades, little empirical research has been conducted on festivals in Thailand, many of which have existed more than 100 years. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the motivations that drive people to attend the Tenth Month Merit-Making Festival (TMMF) in Nakhon Si Thammarat, a province in southern Thailand, what they thought of products and services provided at the festival, what their level of satisfaction was, and whether or not they would recommend the festival to others or attend it again in the future. There were 324 respondents participating in the study. Friend—family togetherness, festival novelty, excitement, and escape were the leading motivations for attending the festival. Respondents were most satisfied with arts and crafts, entertainment, ticket price, displays and exhibitions, and the festival's duration. The activity–culture factor was the best performer. Those who were satisfied with the festival would encourage others to attend the festival, but they might not attend again in the future themselves.     

Evaluating the efficiency of Korean festival tourism and its determinants on efficiency change: Parametric and non-parametric approaches

Local festivals may leverage local specialties and various historical, cultural, and artistic resources throughout their respective regions to attract tourists, inducing positive economic impacts. In this study, this paper is a first attempt to analyze the relative efficiency of local festival tourism by using parametric and non-parametric approaches with the data from local festivals held in Korea from 2015 to 2018. We also deal with the efficiency determinants of each typology of festivals by employing a truncated regression with double bootstrapping. Results showed that the leading sources of inefficiency were primarily embedded in pure technology inefficiency, while the principal operational drivers posed different effects depending on the typology of festivals. These insights have important practical implications for the local festival organizing committees and operators in Korea and are helpful in developing tailored operational strategies to maximize the efficiency among different typologies of festivals.     

Perceived crowding and festival experience: The moderating effect of visitor-to-visitor interaction

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of two types of perceived crowding (spatial crowding and human crowding) on festival experience as well as how the interactions among visitors moderate the relationship by introducing the variable ‘visitor-to-visitor interaction’. To this end, taking Chinese local cultural festivals as the research object, empirical tests with regression analysis are conducted on 555 questionnaires concerning people's festival experience and perception of spatial crowding and human crowding. The results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived human crowding and festival experience, whereas perceived spatial crowding consistently negatively affects the festival experience. Furthermore, the moderating effect of interactions among visitors is confirmed: the quality of interaction has different moderating effects on the relationship between different types of crowding perception and festival experience, and the quantity of interaction positively moderates the relationship between perceived spatial crowding and festival experience.     

Segmenting tourists to aboriginal cultural festivals: An example in the Rukai tribal area, Taiwan

Festivals are increasingly being used as instruments for promoting tourism and boosting the regional economy. Festivals are a type of cultural events and are travel attractions with unique features. Much research, undertaken from a variety of perspectives, exists on festivals. However, very few studies related to aboriginal cultures have been published. The main objective of this study is to profile tourists based upon their motives and demographic characteristics, as these traits are associated with attraction to aboriginal cultural festivals and other related activities. The research reveals that cultural exploration, among other motivational dimensions, is the most important factor attracting tourists to the aboriginal cultural festival. In addition, not all tourists have the same degree of interest in the festival cultural experience. Furthermore, motivational variables are found to be more important than demographic variables in explaining and segmenting visitors to an aboriginal festival.     

The role of moderating variables on music festival volunteer management

The growth and popularity of festivals and events has led to a need for examination of volunteer program management. An increase in music festivals in the United States in the last decade has resulted in managers recruiting and managing volunteers to operate music festivals. This research examines relationships between moderating variables and factors of self-image congruency, motivation, satisfaction, and intent to return as a volunteer at Austin City Limits, a large-scale music festival in the United States. This research demonstrates the benefit of incorporating self-concept theory in volunteer, event, and tourism research and provides practical implications for practitioners who manage volunteer programs.     

Music festival motivation in China: free the mind

This paper explores the extent to which music festival attendance is ‘universally’ motivated or determined by the Chinese cultural and socio-political context. A novel qualitative approach was employed comprising observation of social media conversations and ‘chat room’ interviews with members of a festival online community. Seven motivators were identified, some similar to those in Western studies but others more specific to festival-goers in Mainland China. The culturally specific motivators were identified as ‘spiritual escape’ and ‘spiritual pursuit’ and the universal motivators as ‘togetherness’, ‘love of the music’, ‘novel experience’, ‘music sharing’ and ‘educational enrichment’. This paper focuses on the two culturally embedded motivators only. The implications of the study are that, although, growing, there are still very few music festivals featuring ‘pop’ or ‘western’ style music and these few are relatively new to Chinese people. Their attendance at them is, therefore, motivated differently to attendees at similar festivals in western countries. These motivating factors are mediated by the particular social, political and cultural factors at work in this complex country. The findings indicate that although many of the motivational factors for attending a music festival appear to be universal, there are clearly factors which are culturally bound and therefore unique to the cultural context. These differences appear to be created by the social constraints, rapidly changing economy and the many contradictions inherent in modern Mainland China. These conditions create a greater contrast between everyday life in Mainland China and the liminal hedonistic space provided by the festival. Further research is needed to validate theses initial findings within China and to explore how rock music festival motivations differ in other non-western cultures.     

Music Festivals and Social Inclusion – The Festival Organizers’ Perspective

There is growing interest in how festivals can help to build strong and cohesive communities, particularly whether they can reach a broad swathe of the population or operate as enclaves. This article explores ways in which festival organizers may contribute to social inclusion goals through a qualitative phenomenological study of music festivals. Findings suggest that these festival organizers may contribute to social inclusion across four areas of society—consumption, production, political engagement, and social interaction or communitas—through factors such as providing opportunities for local participation, learning new skills, and access to education about social justice. However, it appears that these festival organizers tended to direct their social inclusion efforts toward portable communities, focusing on attendees but failing to reach out to local residents. This limits their ability to embrace the local community in its broadest sense, and calls into question their likelihood of achieving inclusivity outcomes.     

A model of community-based festival image

This study initiates an original inquiry into the image of community-based festivals (CBFs). A CBF image model was proposed and empirically tested based on existing destination image models. Four image constructs were identified as Attributes, Family and Friendliness, Affective Association, and Overall Evaluation. The interrelationships among these constructs were tested by structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that Attributes affects Family and Friendliness and Affective Association, which in turn, affects Overall Evaluation. This study also included visitor loyalty in the understanding of CBF image. It was found that repeat visitors had more favorable perceptions of the CBF than did first-time visitors. Significant perceptual differences were found in Family and Friendliness, Affective Association, and Overall Evaluation between the two groups of festival goers. In addition, it was revealed that loyalty exerted significantly negative interaction effects on the relationship between Attributes and Family and Friendliness, as well as the linkage between Family and Friendliness and Overall Evaluation. In addition, this study illustrated the importance of the support of local residents for CBFs. CBF planners and local tourism organizations would benefit from this study in terms of cultivating visitor loyalty to these festivals and building the destination's brand.     

Festival Tourism: A Contributor to Sustainable Local Economic Development?

Towns, villages and cities are increasingly keen to share their culture, environment and spending opportunities with visitors by the promotion of festivals. The fact that income can be generated by such festivals is clear but the true value of visitor spend is more complex to calculate with accuracy. This paper considers the contribution of festival tourism to sustainable local economic development. A festival typology is created that broadly identifies three festival types termed 'home-grown', 'tourist-tempter' and 'big-bang'. Here three festivals matching the typology are analysed against the model of sustainable local economic development activity created by the environment charity Forum for the Future. Results suggest that although festivals may have the potential to provide opportunities for sustainable local economic development such opportunities frequently remain unexploited. Nevertheless, some festival scenarios do indicate a closer match to the model of sustainable local economic development activity than others. This paper analyses why this should be and suggests ways in which festival tourism's contribution to local economies might begin to be better understood, and consequently, improved.     

Customer’s Perception of Familiness in Travel Experiences

Festival-goers (“festinos”) put time and effort into deciding to attend a festival, and the way they decide what to see and the length of time they take to decide vary greatly. To attract those who buy tickets for shows—sales of which are crucial for the survival of festivals—and to know when to start promoting the event, festival organizers and marketers need to know how far in advance the visitors make their decision to attend and what influences their decision. This study categorized 438 visitors to the Innibos National Arts Festival, South Africa, using a survey of their decision-making time. Four groups were identified, and labeled “spontaneous,” “limited,” “extended,” and “routine” decision-makers. These market segments can be taken into consideration in the festival's marketing campaign so as to attract visitors to a variety of events and help ensure the long-term sustainability of the festival.     

Host perceptions of music festival impacts: time and space matter?

Music festivals are growing phenomena worldwide. How a festival is perceived, interpreted and understood is an essential part of public response and attitudes toward the phenomena. Understanding dynamic and diverse host perceptions and attitudes toward the festival impacts can help planners ensure the effectiveness of the event planning and management. The study aims to monitor host perceptions of impacts of Beijing Strawberry Music Festival in time and space using longitudinal and comparative data. The findings suggest that there are both significant changes and consistencies in positive and negative perceptions of the music festival impacts over time; findings also suggest that residents from three distant zones share similar perceptions of the impacts over time in a local-wide area. The study offers a holistic insight into tourism impact research, and has practical implications for event management and planning.     

Historical and geographical context in festival tourism development

Festivals have increasingly become a significant tool for economic development through both tourism and the re-imaging and re-branding of cities and regions as modern cultural centers. To understand the issues and challenges of festival tourism events, it is important to know the historical and geographical context in which they occur. Conceptually, the historical context can be viewed through the degree to which an event has a vernacular indigenous origin or is newly created. The geographical context, on the other hand, reflects the degree to which a festival is defined by the place in which it occurs or is more global in its thematic orientation. A contextual framework for festival tourism that takes these two factors into account results in four types of festival events: Local Heritage Festivals, Local Contemporary Festivals, National Heritage Festivals, and Global Contemporary Festivals. These four festival types face issues related to their local identity, uniqueness, liminality, and authenticity. The contextual framework for festival tourism is applied to the current situation of rapid festival development in China, with recommendations that Chinese event managers need to focus more on historically and geographically meaningful themes developed in partnership with local populations if they want to ensure an event's long-term success.