Influence of the Preference Factor on the Behavior Patterns of Participation in Festival Activities

Abstract

Festival activity marketing is one of the most popular tourism strategies around the world. Festival activities combined with marketing for interacting and communicating with the tourists, can enhance tourists’ preferences and impressions on the tourism destinations and it becomes an important source in leading the development of regional economic. Festival activities held in each and every region shall be coordinated with relevant factors to integrate into distinguishing features and be implanted deeply into people’s mind, and only after different marketing strategies are prepared for tourists with different preferences, can the best result of festival activities be achieved.This study mainly discusses whether there are any difference in the pattern of associations of the tourist groups with different preference on festival activity in regards to relevant factors on festival activities, festival attractiveness, tourists’ cognitive values, and behavioral intention. The result witnesses that: (1) the cognitive value of tourist groups with high preference for festival activities further promotes their behavioral intention for participating in festival activities; (2) tourist groups with medium preference for festival activities feel attracted by the favorable atmosphere of the environment, which fosters their intention to participate in festival activities. Therefore, suitable and satisfactory festival marketing strategies shall be established for different types of tourist division.