Exploring communication channels used by festival visitors: Traditional channels versus the Internet

Abstract

Various communication channels are available to festival managers to present messages to specific target markets. Today's festival visitors live in the Information Age, and have become mostly unresponsive to traditional communication methods. Therefore this research investigated the communication channels used to gain information from attendees of the Ficksburg Cherry Festival in South Africa. The overall aim was to establish the use of the Internet and the use of the other traditional communication channels to gain specific information on the festival among the various groups of visitors. Questionnaires were administered to visitors of the Ficksburg Cherry Festival on the festival grounds (N=103). This research provided insight into Ficksburg Cherry Festival visitors’ characteristic profile and their use of communication channels, especially the Internet. Management teams of food festivals can use this information to market their festivals better using the best-suited communication channels. Recommendations could assist the management of food festivals to attract more visitors to the festival by improving their communication strategy.