The impact of COVID-19 on regional event attendees' attitudes: a survey during and after COVID-19 lockdowns

Abstract

PurposeThe current research presents a case study on how COVID-19 has influenced event attendees' attitudes toward safety procedures, venue capacity, purchasing tickets in advance, type of events (e.g. theatre, music and art) and the mode of the event (i.e. live vs online).Design/methodology/approachIn two timeframes (i.e. during and after COVID-19 lockdowns), data were collected via a self-completed online survey from a regional Western Australia (WA) town, Geraldton. In total, 94 event attendees were recruited in Wave 1 (during lockdowns), and 126 respondents were recruited in Wave 2 (after lockdowns). The naturalistic data collection examines how COVID-19 has influenced attendees' attitudes.FindingsThe findings suggest that attendees have adapted to the new normal of COVID-19. If safety procedures are followed, most respondents are comfortable attending an entertainment event during and after the lockdown (Wave 1 and Wave 2). Furthermore, respondents exhibited comfort following COVID-19 safety precautions at events even after COVID-19 lockdowns, except for mandatory mask-wearing. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted event attendees to prefer lower seating capacity at events, while the gradual easing of restrictions reduces their discomfort toward higher seat capacity.Originality/valueAlthough some research has examined the financial and economic impact of COVID-19 on the event industry, there is limited research on consumers' or attendees' perceptions and attitudes toward events, particularly entertainment events and festivals, as the world emerges from the pandemic. Thus, the current case study is the first to examine event attendees' attitudes toward entertainment event management and operation during and after COVID-19 lockdowns. The finding provides significant theoretical and managerial implications surrounding the reaction of event attendees toward entertainment events (i.e. festivals) during health crises such as COVID-19.

Building the Virtual Dancefloor: Delivering and Experiencing House Music Events in the Time of COVID-19

“…As such, we may observe that whilst recorded music has yielded to the advance of digital technology despite initial resistance [14,78,108], live music has not [107]. Whilst live and recorded music are not comparable products per se-they offer different experiences [109,110]-the paradox lies in that the industry has not materially attempted to harness the willingness of consumers to embrace digital music towards virtual music events [108] in the same way that has been attempted with high-profile theatre performances [110]. This must change considering the shift in consumer behaviour during the pandemic, some of which is likely to remain post-pandemic [109].…”

“…Whilst live and recorded music are not comparable products per se-they offer different experiences [109,110]-the paradox lies in that the industry has not materially attempted to harness the willingness of consumers to embrace digital music towards virtual music events [108] in the same way that has been attempted with high-profile theatre performances [110]. This must change considering the shift in consumer behaviour during the pandemic, some of which is likely to remain post-pandemic [109]. Virtual music events represent a new market with huge potential that is ripe for promoters and innovators to explore [108,111,112].…”

“…It is imperative to note that neither virtual events nor the basic technology to facilitate them are new [5,10,109]. The term 'virtual event' [5], though, has become common now that virtual events have themselves become a mainstream concern, although it does not yet appear to have a firm definition beyond the use of mediating technology [113].…”

“…For example, Mueser and Vlachos [110] note the '4 Ps' of live (i.e., venued) events-People, Purpose, Period of time, and Place-inferring that virtual events cannot, therefore, be 'live' due to the lack of Place. Indeed, the event studies literature has a conspicuous lack of virtual events research and discussion, though, in the wake of COVID-19, this type of research and discussion is growing [38,109,111,114]. Some studies see virtual events as intrinsically linked to virtual reality [10,115], others as a means to augment a venued event [51,110,116], and these events are even suggested to be inherently inferior to venued events [3,5].…”

“…As such, we must arguably conceive 'virtual events' not as an event type or form, but as a fundamentally distinct phenomenon with the scale, diversity and depth we perceive in the term 'events', and whilst venued events and virtual events have much in common, they are not entirely similar. Since 2020, the general conception of virtual events has revolved around online technology [111], which fits seamlessly into the milieu of the 'online self' [29,109], increasingly indistinct from our lives offline [32]. Social media, virtual reality and portable and wearable technology have all in some way changed our interactions in the 'real world' to the point where now, accelerated by pandemic restrictions, a virtual event experience is commonplace within our engagement with technology [21,51] such as the significant (and arguably central) role social media plays in society [109].…”