Different Hearth, Different Worth: Sustaining an Emerging Festival in the New Cultural City of Singapore

Abstract

city faces in trying to sustain an emerging festival. Festival sustainability depends on visitor numbers and the entry fee, among other factors. Thus, this study uses contingent valuation (CV) to focus on the willingness to pay (WTP), as well as the attitudes and preferences, of tourists, local attenders, and potential attenders-that is, local residents who have not been to the festival. These are all critical parties whose patronage keeps festivals running. It is particularly important to understand the Introduction Cultural tourism's rapid growth makes it a major driving force of the urban tourism system (Ark & Richards, 2006). In particular, highly urbanized cities face greater competition from other cities that have caught onto festivalization to develop and broaden the scope of their appeal to tourists (Whyte, Hood, & White, 2012 This study examines some challenges and draws lessons for a new cultural city promoting an emerging festival. This was done by considering the valuation of the festival and its determinants by foreign tourists, domestic tourists, and potential attenders (a group often ignored in the literature). For a young festival, it was encouraging to find that the festival's social value to tourists, local attenders, and potential attenders exceeded the entry fee. Overall, the Biennale was more popular with younger people, and local attenders appreciated the educational dimension of the event. This augurs well for the future of this festival. However, for the festival's sustainability, it is important to strike a balance between catering to preferences of international and local attenders as well as avoid trying to achieve multiple objectives that may lead to a dilution in the focus and identity of the new festival.