The effects of festival attendees’ experiential values and satisfaction on re-visit intention to the destination

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was first to examine how goal-oriented attendees and experiential-oriented attendees were related with their overall satisfaction and loyalty of the destination with respect to international food and wine festival. It also investigated how these relations are mediated by different dimension of experiential consumption values such as consumer return on investment (CROI, active value), escapism (active value) and service excellence (reactive value) and aesthetics (reactive value). Design/methodology/approach Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to and collected from attendees at the 2011 Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami, Florida. A total of 450 subjects were collected from attendees indicating a response rate of about 88 per cent. Total 13 hypotheses were tested using structural equation model (SEM) with AMOS, and the results were interpreted adapting Mathwick’s (2001) typology of experiential value. Findings The findings indicate that goal-oriented attendees had stronger relationship with reactive experiential values such as service excellence and aesthetics than active values, whereas experiential-oriented attendees had more significant relations with active experiential values such as CROI and escapism than reactive values. In addition, CROI, escapism and service excellence were found to have a positive influence on the overall satisfaction with the festival; in turn, the attendees’ satisfaction had a positive effect on their intention to revisit the destination. Further, the results demonstrated that all experiential values, including CROI and escapism (active values), and service excellence and aesthetics (reactive values), played a mediating role between goal-oriented/experientially oriented attendee and satisfaction with the festival. Practical implications The festival organizers and managers should understand what drives the attendees’ participation in the festival. Implementing experiential marketing through various dimensions of experiential value can attract more potential attendees, provide unique experiences and create favorable perception toward the destination. Originality/value The research is original in terms of conceptualizing and empirically testing the relation between experiential consumption values and behavior loyalty within the special events and festivals with a specific focus on international food and wine festival. A finding of particular importance here is verifying the unique characteristics of goal-/experiential-oriented attendees in festival settings and determining the linkages between these different attendees and active/reactive experiential values, not to mention the relation with the overall satisfaction and loyalty to the festival destination.

Impacts of authenticity, degree of adaptation and cultural contrast on travellers’ memorable gastronomy experiences

“…Finally, Alderighi, Bianchi, and Lorenzini, (2016) also indicate that previous experience with local food specialities is positively related to the intent to revisit a destination, Ji, Wong, Eves, and Scarles (2016) confirm a direct positive impact of food satisfaction on tourist loyalty (revisit intention and WOM), and Lee, Sung, Suh, and Zhao (2017) find that satisfaction with a food and wine festival had a positive effect on attendee intention to revisit the destination.…”

The Influence of Tourists’ Experience of Quality of Street Foods on Destination’s Image, Life Satisfaction, and Word of Mouth: The Moderating Impact of Food Neophobia

“…Previously, scholars have conducted a number of studies to better understand the role of food consumption for tourists including food experiences in various festivals [15][16][17], food travel for experiencing local island foods [18,19], and urban tours for food [20][21][22]. Particularly, previous research on street foods have been mainly focused on the food safety for public health issues such as hygiene or disease from street foods [23][24][25] and the traveler's knowledge of street foods [26].…”

Measuring the economic contribution of beer festivals on local economies: The case of York, United Kingdom

“…Specifically to beverage tourism, many studies investigating its economic effects highlight positive relationships between this and other types of tourism, such as cultural and heritage tourism (Bruwer & Johnson, 2010; W. Lee et al, 2017). For instance, research on wine tourism shows how local communities and authorities use wine to promote themselves across different tourism networks and segments, strengthening brand identities related to specific wines and defined geographic areas too (Bruwer & Johnson, 2010; Charters & Ali‐Knight, 2002; Velikova, Slevitch, & Mathe‐Soulek, 2017).…”

“…In recent years, several empirical studies indicated event tourism, the form of tourism associated with specific events such as cultural or gastronomic events (Getz, 2008), as an effective contributor for local economic development due to its potential in terms of creating employment and generating taxation revenues (Balaguer & Cantavella‐Jordá, 2002; Laing, 2018; W. Lee, Sung, Suh, & Zhao, 2017; Tohmo, 2005). Increasingly more cities and towns organize festivals and events to enhance their visibility and improve their image and profile, with the aim of creating a surplus value for resident taxpayers (Backman, 2018; Brännäs & Nordström, 2002).…”