Abstract
<p>Marketing activities represent one of the drivers of regional industrial development. Festival marketing activities, in particular, have been widely adopted by local governments and business owners as marketing strategies to attract tourists and investors, thus boosting local economic development. How should the festival marketing activities be conducted in association with other relevant factors, in order to be distinctive and effective in local development is the topic to be discussed in this paper. This study aims to investigate the influence of factors, including festival marketing, regional image, infrastructure and local characteristics on tourists’ value perception, post-travel feelings and revisit willingness. The results showed that festival marketing activities are most effective in enhancing tourists’ value perception, followed by local characteristics and infrastructure. The social and hedonic values perceived by the tourists could enhance their satisfaction, thus further elevate their revisit willingness. Local governments and business owners should thus attach more importance on whether the content of festival marketing activities could highlight the local characteristics and infrastructure, thus drawing better results from these activities.</p>
Highlights
In recent years, many local governments and business owners have been aggressively promoting festival-themed marketing activities with the hope to attract tourists and enhance the visibility of the region with festivals and local cultural characteristics
This study aims to investigate the influence of factors, including festival marketing, regional image, infrastructure and local characteristics on tourists’ value perception, post-travel feelings and revisit willingness
In terms of festival marketing campaigns, commitment could be measured with multiple constructs, such as continuous commitment, which refers to the extent to which tourists think the participation of the festival marketing activity as worthwhile (White & Schneider, 2000); and emotional commitment, which refers to the extent to which that tourists are willing to connect to the activity in their behavior or attitude (Harrison-Walker, 2001)
Summary
Many local governments and business owners have been aggressively promoting festival-themed marketing activities with the hope to attract tourists and enhance the visibility of the region with festivals and local cultural characteristics. Besides promoting the festive events, the coordination of regional image, infrastructure and local characteristics is to be considered by local governments and business owners. History and culture, and traditional skills can be integrated into local characteristics, they can become an influential force to attract tourists Whether for festive events, infrastructure, or local characteristics, only actual experiences can enhance tourists’ value perception If those factors could meet the demands of the tourists, their impression toward the region and value perception would be improved, as well as satisfaction and commitment (McLuhan, 2000). The findings can provide a more complete conceptual framework and practical data, in order to help local governments and business owners to formulate suitable marketing strategies
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