The Gourkovo city bio-rally - between tradition and alternative tourism

Abstract

Event tourism, as an alternative form of tourism, has established itself on the Bulgarian market, because it satisfies specific travel demands. Every year at the beginning of September in the city of Gourkovo, it is held a Bio-rally (donkey cart race), which traditionally attracts many guests and visitors from the country and abroad. The race with donkey carts is a special local event and it has long since become a trademark of the city. The purpose of this study is to trace and study the development of specialized kind of event tourism in the town of Gourkovo, following the example of the Bio-rally with donkey carts. Based on a recently conducted survey, an attempt was made to identify tourist's motivational factors for traveling, as well as their satisfaction with the event. The used scientific methods are analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction.Key words: bio-rally, alternative tourism, event tourism I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDThe term "event tourism" has become quite popular in contemporary literature as a relatively new type of tourism, which has aroused considerable interest. Here, the primary goal of the journey is to attend a specific event. Event tourism offers a unique festive atmosphere, great conditions for recreation, and unforgettable experiences. The main distinctive feature of event tourism is the multitude of exciting and unique moments. This is a fast-developing type of tourism with great potential (1).In the beginning of the XXI century, a number of leading authors have claimed that festivals and events comprising a one-time performance within an urban environment or a city performance can bring high economic gains by improving the reputation of the populated areas, their products and institutions. They attract tourist flows, capital and investments. For many cities, the key motivation for the development of strategy and organizing an event, which attracts tourists' interest, is to _______________________________ * Correspondence to : Blaga Stoykova, Department of Regional Development, Faculty of Economics, Trakia University, Stara Zagora 6000, Bulgaria, email: blaga_st@abv.bg recover from long-term economic stagnation. It can be said that festivals and events are a wider spectrum of new "cultural strategies" (2, 3).A number of researchers view these events as an important engine of tourism, as well as an efficient stimulant for improving the destination's public image (2, 4-9).Special local events attract a varied tourist flow. Studying the motives for their visit is a leading element of the studies. Such studies are very important, in order to find the precise market niche and, to a great extent, to take measures in order to satisfy the visitors' demands.During the last decades of the XX century several classic studies have been published in English-language literature, with regard to festival motivation related to festivals from various parts of the world, covering a wide spectrum -starting from the USA, passing through a number of European countries and reaching countrie...