Residents’ Emotional Solidarity with Tourists: Explaining Perceived Impacts of a Cultural Heritage Festival

Abstract

In an effort to attract tourists, rural communities promote their festivals that are unique to the area and local culture. An examination of impacts beyond those of a monetary nature is rarely undertaken by these communities. Furthermore, the role that the relationship between residents and tourists plays in explaining perceived impacts of these festivals is nonexistent. The current work utilizes the Emotional Solidarity Scale in an effort to predict Caldwell, Texas, residents’ perceived impacts of hosting the Kolache Festival through the Festival Social Impact Attitude Scale. Results reveal strong measures of reliability and validity for each scale. Considering the relationship between emotional solidarity and perceived impacts of the festival, results showed that Emotional Solidarity Scale factors explained a considerable degree of variance (i.e., 29% to 36%) in the resulting Festival Social Impact Attitude Scale factors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed along with limitations and opportunities for future research concerning this line of research.