Beyond a tug-of-war: Motivation-based segmentation of visitors to a national arts festival

Abstract

Travel motivation is a leading research interest and of value to various tourism sectors, including festivals and events. Most national arts festivals in South Africa compete for the same market, and it is crucial to understand what motivates visitors to attend such events. Utilizing a multi-year destination-based data collection technique at Woordfees produced a combined sample size of 1005 responses. Four phases of analysis: a descriptive analysis to profile the respondents; an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on motives for attending the festival; a cluster analysis based on the motives for attending the festival; and an analysis of significant differences between the market segments was performed. Two motivation factors were identified: festival attributes and attraction and escape, socialization, and enjoyment. Three market segments are identified: arts, ambivalent, and hedonic festival seekers. Arts and ambivalent festival seekers are more motivated by festival attributes and attraction (pull motive), while the hedonic festival seeker is more motivated by escape, socialization, and enjoyment (push motive). Motivation-based segmentation provides an excellent alternative perspective based on an Afrikaans literary festival. Although similar segments are expected to be present at other national arts festivals, more personalization could be implemented to satisfy market needs based on motivation to attend.

Keywords:

• Market segmentation
• national arts festival
• push-pull theory
• South Africa
• travel motives

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the festival organisers for allowing the research to be conducted and to the field workers and respondents who graciously formed part of the research. The author would also like to thank Prof. Martinette Kruger for her support in conducting the research. Finally, thank you to Patricia Finlay for the language editing of the article.

Notes

1 A Low Franconian West Germanic language, rooted in Dutch.

Additional information

Funding

This work is based on research supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF). Any opinion, findings, conclusion, or recommendation expressed in this article are those of the author, and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard.