To Attend or not to Attend a Rural Folk Festival: Examining Nonattendees' Behavior Using a Temporal Approach

Abstract

This article considers a temporal dimension and extends the theoretical framework beyond the leisure constraints theory to incorporate passive use and direct use values for the first time, to examine nonattendees' intention to attend a rural festival. It was found that passive use values affect only the decision to attend but direct use values influence that decision to take place sooner rather than later. Results also support the family life cycle stage theory for a potential first visit but not the decision to visit soon while the reverse was found for the distance decay theory. Overall, the impact of the various dimensions of the barriers within the leisure constraints theory, the perceived beliefs, and visit motivations differed among would-be visitors and those intending to visit sooner rather than later. Thus, a dual marketing strategy aimed generally at the former, and specifically at the latter, would be effective in attracting new visitors to rural festivals.