INTRODUCTION
Events have significant economic, cultural, and social outcomes that give them the potential to contribute to the development of destinations. The first event is thought to have been organized in Athens in 543 BC (Quinn 2005). In the Middle Age, city states formed created civic unity through public rituals and, festivals against inner divisions and external threats. Thus, city states used events to provide control over their territories (Muir 1997).
Although the events held in many countries are a unique tourism product, their impact on destinations has only recently become a topic of discussion in the tourism literature (Getz 1989). This discussion has generally focused on economic effects, with little concern for social, cultural, and environmental impacts. In the last 20 years, events have been recognized as an important attraction and tourism product for destinations while promoting cultural and social life (Getz and Frisby 1990).
Rapid urbanization has increased the longing for rural and traditional life. Therefore, the diversification of tourism is important to meet the demands of tourists with different expectations. Events organized to promote the cultural values of destinations increase tourism diversity and activities. Event tourism is defined as the planning, development, and marketing of activities as primary or secondary tourist attractions to maximize the number of tourists participating in such events (Getz 1997).
Changes in consumer behaviour have led tourists to search for novelty and experience different types of tourism. People have become bored of routine, everyday life and prefer to travel shorter distances more often to relax and have fun (Ross and Iso-Ahola 1991). Festivals provide an indispensable opportunity, especially for those tourists who are seeking new experiences and adventure (Chang and Tsai 2016).
The Alaçatı Herb Festival, which has national significance in Turkey, was initially organized to introduce regional herbs to consumers, encourage the public to adopt healthy lifestyles, extend the tourism season, and increase the variety of touristic products (Coşar and Akgündüz 2017). As interest in the festival every year increased, it became popular throughout the country, inspiring the organization of other festivals in various destinations, such as Urla Artichoke Festival, Seferihisar Lavender Festival, and Karaburun Daffodil Festival. The Alaçatı festival promotes sustainable environmental awareness through collecting herbs, informative seminars, and events to plant olive and gum trees. The festival has become more and more important as it grows in both supply and demand (Coşar and Akgündüz 2017), with a possibility of becoming an international event in the future. In addition to this importance, the absence of many academic studies about this festival was influential in choosing it as a research topic.
This study aims to determine the reasons for participation, the participants’ satisfaction levels, and their future behavioural intentions (specifically revisit intentions and recommendation intentions). Data was collected at the 8th Alaçatı Herb Festival, held in 2017 in Alaçatı/İzmir. The paper first explains event management, festivals, and motivational factors that encourage participation in events, before explaining the methods employed and presenting the research findings. The concluding section compares the findings with the literature to provide suggestions for public administrators and business managers operating in the region.
1. LITERATURE REVIEW
Event management
Organizing events dates back to prehistoric times, but research on event tourism only began in the late 1980s and early 1990s with special interest tourism (Goldblatt 1997). For example, the Hogmanay Festival in Scotland is an old Celtic tradition, the Palio Festival in Italy is an ancient tradition from the Middle Ages, and the Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Festival in Japan is an important festival that explains Japanese culture and philosophy. Although such activities are important, both in terms of tourism and conserving of cultural heritage, these topics have not been thoroughly examined within the scope of event tourism.
There are several definitions of event in the literature.Shone and Parry (2004) define it as a non-routine event other than the normal activities of people’s daily lives.Silvers (2004) describe it as a carefully designed experience to make an impact on the participants. Each event is a unique formation where people come together and experience various rituals for a certain temporary period (Bladen et al. 2012). Activities can be defined as temporary events, or specific events with a particular duration, concept, management, and participation (Tassiopoulus 2005). According toBrown and James (2011), most of the events emerge with a good idea and all these events have a cultural basis.
A good event experience must be perfectly planned in terms of its technical elements and have an invisible effect on the participants (Babacan and Göztaş 2011).Silvers (2004) notes that an event involves the experience of six dimensions: marketing costs, environment and decoration, entertainment, transportation and entrance, food and beverage, comfort and memories. Because events produce an experience for the participants, the effectiveness of an event can positively or negatively affect the success of the destination where it is held.
Events range from mega events to special events, festivals, and cultural, political, and business events. Researchers have developed various classifications considering the different characteristics of the activities, such as contents and size (Hall 1989;Getz 1997;Shone and Parry 2004;Goldblatt 2005;Getz 2008). Activities may develop and differentiate over time so classifications also change. Some of the classifications introduced so far are presented below.
Among the various classification schemes, that of Hall and Getz is widely accepted in the literature.Getz (2008) classified events as cultural celebrations (festivals, carnivals, memorials, and religious ceremonies), political and official meetings, royal events, political events and VIP talks, arts and entertainment (music and award ceremonies), business and trade (meetings, congresses, consumer and trade shows, fairs and markets), educational and scientific events (conferences, seminars, clinics), sporting events (amateur, professional, participant), and special events (weddings, parties, social events).Hall (1989), on the other hand, classified events according to their scale, such as mega, special, featured (hallmark), and local. Mega (Olympics and World exhibitions), special (Grand Prix, American Cup) and hallmark events are significant both nationally and internationally whereas regional events are significant regionally and nationally. Hallmark events include all other events.
Mega events can be cultural (including commercial and sporting events) activities with an impressive character, a popular appearance, and international significance (Roche 2000), such as the Olympic Games and Expos. Although mega and special events are similar, special events belong to a particular destination whereas mega events can be performed at different times in different destinations. Special events also usually have a historical aspect. Both activities make a significant contribution to the hosting destination and create a brand and destination image.
Getz (1997) categorized special events into two groups. In the first group, activities are carried out at a time other than normal activities and they are rarely organized events whereas the second group includes leisure activities and events that offer cultural, and social experience opportunities. Special events include reception ceremonies (reception, product trials, openings, and demonstrations), institutional meals (in-house or off-premises), participation activities (sport activities and games), and large participatory events (festivals, fairs and exhibitions, ceremonies) (Armstrong 2001).
In contrast to Hall and Getz’s classification,Shone and Parry (2004) classified events under four categories: leisure activities (sports, recreation), cultural events (ceremonial, religious, cultural heritage, folklore), corporate events (commercial, political, sales), and personal events (weddings, birthdays).Tassiopoulus (2005) distinguishes two groups of events: planned and unplanned. Planned events are subdivided into two groups: ordinary and special events.
Hallmark events are short or long-planned, national or international events that are held once or repeatedly over a limited period of time. By attracting large crowds to the region, they usually raise awareness, status and prestige, and revenues for a tourism destination (Ritchie 1984;Akgunduz et al. 2018). Hallmark events may include traditional and symbolic elements so that the event and the destination can gradually come to mean the same thing. Such events are costly to organize and require new investments in the destination. Hallmark events are perceived as events that participants should experience at least once in their lives (Jago and Shaw 1998).
The festival as an event
Festival derives from the word ‘feast’ meaning ‘celebration time’ (Derrett 2004). Festivals can be considered as cultural celebrations under Getz’s classification or featured events according to Hall’s definitions. There are also several specific definitions in the literature for festivals. According toChacko and Schaffer (1993), festivals are social activities that express the social norms and values of society whileGoldblatt (1997) defines festivals as part of individual, social identity that strengthen ties between society, the cultural environment, and individuals.Green (1997) describes it as a periodic celebration of a sacred event or special day whereas forDredge and Whitford (2011), it is an event that gathers people on specific days to celebrate important days.
Festivals have symbolic features for local culture, such as authenticity, uniqueness, hospitality, accessibility, and themes (Derrett 2004). Today, many people travel to participate in festivals (Babacan and Göztaş 2011). As one type of alternative tourism, festival tourism is defined byVisser (2009) as a visit to a region during a festival. For tourists, either the festival itself or the destination can attract them (Picard and Robinson 2006). For tourists who travel directly to participate in a festival, the destination is the festival itself (Babacan and Göztaş 2011).
Local people are the target group of a festival, although it also catches the attention of visitors so festivals increase tourist movement towards the destination. The most important factor in the continuity and success of local festivals is support and engagement by local people (Shone and Parry 2004). The region is associated with the event when it is adopted by the local people, reflects the region’s cultural characteristics, and continues for a long time.
Festivals have been influential in the cultural formation of countries (Getz 2008). It is possible to see this influence in Europe in areas such as Avignon (France), Venice (Italy), Edinburgh (Scotland), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Wexford (Ireland), and Spoleto (Italy). There are also well-known destinations for hosting festivals, such as Rio Carnival (Rio de Janiero), October Fest (Munich), and Mardi Gras (New Orleans) (Coşar and Akgündüz 2017). These activities create a vibrant environment in the destinations where they are organized and ensure that the region becomes a centre of attraction. Thus, they make an economic, social, and cultural contribution to the destination (Getz 2005).
Factors motivating event participants
Many factors motivate people to travel, which makes the question asked byLundberg (1971) of why tourists travel an important research area for tourism researchers (Dann 1981;Gnoth 1997). Answering this question mainly involves determining the factors that trigger travel motivation.Pizam et al. (1979) describe travel motivation as a need that encourages people to travel before traveling. The motivating factor that drives people to travel stimulates, directs, and integrates their subsequent behaviour (Iso-Ahola 1980).
According toWahab (1975), the motivations for traveling should be studied within the field of tourism as tourists travel for different reasons (cited inÖzgen 2000). However, it is difficult to determine travel motivations for two main reasons (Dann 1981). The first is that personal value judgments differ due to individual differences. The second is that some factors sub-consciousnessly motivate people to travel, although they are not aware of these.
Researchers have identified many factors that lead tourists to travel. Among these, push factors vary according to individual psychological characteristics whereas pull factors depend on the characteristics of destinations. Push factors explain how tourists are driven to a destination whereas pull factors explain how people are attracted by the influence of external factors (Yoon and Uysal 2005). Thus, push factors influence the decision to travel and create tourism demand. Pull factors affect which destinations are chosen (Klenosky 2002), thereby creating a supply for tourism. Push factors include exclusion, escape, relaxation, prestige, social interaction, and quest for adventure, desire for entertainment, innovation seeking, family ties, gaining new experiences, hobbies, and developing human relationships. Pull factors include transportation to destinations, quality of services, prices, diversity of opportunities, outdoor activities, historical and natural environment, sports activities, and shopping opportunities (Hill et al. 1990;Yuan and McDonald 1990;Uysal and Hagan 1993;Ryan and Glendon 1998;Hanqin and Lam 1999;Klenosky 2002;Prayag and Ryan 2011;Akgündüz and Kızılcalıoğlu 2016).
Apart from push and pull factors, instincts lead people to participate in festivals, such as the six suggested byCrompton and McKay (1997): cultural exploration, innovation, balancing, socialization with a specific group, social interaction, and increasing family unity by interacting with relatives.Getz (1997) divided event goers into three groups based on their reasons for participating. The first group travels for physical motives, such as eating and drinking, exercise, relaxation, or comfort; the second group travels for social and interpersonal motives, such as socializing with family and friends, involvement in groups, links to cultural and ethnic origins, expression of sociality and nationalism, and the desire to gain status and recognition; the third group travels for personal motives, such as seeking information and understanding, realizing their passions, or searching for new experiences.Neirotti et al. (2001) point out that the uniqueness of the event is an important motivating factor by giving participants the opportunity of a once in a lifetime experience. Finally,Thompson and Matheson (2008) emphasize the importance of authenticity in festivals to stimulate participation.
Each festival is unique and reflects the local identity, thereby offering the possibility of cultural exploration in different destinations. Those whose work prevents them spending time with can strengthen family ties by having fun together. These all constitute push factors for festival participants. In contrast, easy access to the festival, quality of services, prices, and diversity of activities are pull factors for festival participants.
Research questions and hypotheses
The choice of travel destination, the event, and the amount of money to spend are affected by many economic, social, and psychological factors (Cohen et al. 2014). People’s decision to travel can be influenced by the possibilities of the region, the nature of the event, its scope, its history, and by whom it is organized (Guillet et al. 2011).
If participants’ actual event experiences overlap with their expectations then they are satisfied; conversely, failure to meet expectations causes dissatisfaction. Participants’ different personality traits, cultural traits, and travel experience affect their expectations. Consequently, an event or service that satisfies one participant may dissatisfy another. Therefore, this study first aimed to find determine the factors leading people to participate in the Alaçatı Herb Festival (RQ1).
RQ1: What are the motivating factors that lead people to participate in the Alaçatı Herb Festival?
If event participants are satisfied, then they are more likely to revisit the destination and recommend it to people around them. The many studies in the marketing literature on this topic (Chen and Tsai 2007;Dayour and Adongo 2015;Liu and Jang 2009;Ha and Jang 2010;So et al. 2016) indicate that participant satisfaction or dissatisfaction depends on expectations.
Because motivation drives behaviours, tourist motivations are likely to also affect revisit intentions and recommendation intentions (Wakefield and Blodgett 1999).Kaur and Kaur (2016) andYoon and Uysal (2005) both find that motivation affects revisit intentions and recommendation intentions. The present study investigates this in relation to Alaçatı Herb Festival, as in the following hypotheses:
H1: Motivation factors have a positive effect on participants’ satisfaction levels.
H2. Motivation factors have a positive effect on participants’ revisit intentions.
H3. Motivation factors have a positive effect on participants’ recommendation intention.
2. METHODOLOGY
Measurement
A survey questionnaire with three sections was used to collect data. In the first section of 28 items, motivation factors were measured by combining two scales. The first scale was the Event Motivation Scale, designed byUysal and Hagan (1993) with 17 items. The second motivation scale was developed byLee (2011) with 11 items. Finally, four items were added following a literature review. These items were added depending on the uniqueness and gastronomic characteristics of the Alaçati Herb Festival. These items are “Thinking that you should attend the festival at least once”, “Interest in gastronomy”, “Believing the festival is unique”, and “Observing other participants in the festival”.
In the second section measured satisfaction levels using the 12-item scale developed byTayfun and Arslan (2013). Two further statements measured revisit intentions (“I would like to come back to this festival in the future”) and recommendation intentions (“I would recommend this festival to my friends or others”). All items in these two sections were measured on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1=Strongly Disagree to 5=Strongly Agree.
The final section had six questions to determine the participants’ age, gender, income, number of times they had attended the festival, form of participation, and their ideas regarding internationalizing the festival.
Sample and data collection
Data was collected from participants at the 8th Alaçatı Herb Festival held on April 6-9, 2017. The number of participants in the previous festival was known to be over 10,000 but there were no official statistics on the number and characteristics of participants at the 2017 event. For this reason, the population of the study was accepted as an unlimited universe. Sample size was calculated as 384 based on the unlimited population formula and considering the rate (p=.5) giving the highest variance (n=z² (p*q)/e²), where .05 mean and .05 error margin (Hair et al. 2010).
As each participant who participated in the data collection process agreed to complete the questionnaire, they were all included in the sampling. Therefore, convenience sampling was used. By the end of the festival, 467 questionnaires had been collected. However, 12 incomplete questionnaires were excluded, leaving 455 questionnaires to be transferred into IBM SPSS Statistics 23 program for analysis.
3. RESULTS
According to the participant profile inTable 1, 65% of the participants were women, 65% were 31 years or older, 53% earned less than $1,001 per month, and 60% participated for the first time. In addition, 82% came with their own vehicles and 81% had a positive opinion about the future internationalization of the festival.
Validity and reliability analysis of scales
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to analyse inter-relationships between the large numbers of variables and to define such variables in terms of their common underlying factors (Hair et al. 2010). EFA was run separately for two sets of questionnaires. If the factor eigenvalue was greater than 1 and consisted of at least three items, then it was assumed that there is at least .40 item factor loads and at least .10 load differences between the pair items (Hair et al. 2010). In addition, Cronbach’s alpha values were used to determine scale reliabilities.
Table 2 summarizes the results of the EFA conducted on the factors that motivate people to participate in the herb festival. Six items overlapped and their factor load differences were below .10 while 2 items fell under a single factor. Consequently, they were excluded, which reduced the number of items from 28 to 20.
KMO = .971; Barlett’s test of sphericity = 3823.510 p=<.001;
Overall Mean = 4.154; Cronbach’s alpha (CR) =.920
The factor analysis was performed on the assumption that the sample size was sufficient and that the items had multiple normal distributions, as confirmed by the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy (0.97) and Barlett’s test of sphericity (3823.510; p<.01). The scale explained about 61% of the total variance; the mean was 4.154; and the overall reliability value was .920.
The first factor of six items explained about 18% of the total variance. This factor had an eigenvalue of 3.531 and a mean of 4.119. The factor loadings ranged from .765 to .594. This factor was renamed Regional Attractiveness because it included factors like the festival date, accommodation facilities, reliability of the region, climate, and image.
The second factor of seven items explained about 17% of the total variance. This factor had an eigenvalue of 3.316. The factor loadings ranged from .753 to .488. This factor was renamed Festival Attractiveness because it included factors like believing that the festival is unique, inspiring and exciting, and considering it as an event to attend at least once.
The third factor of four items explained about 15% of the total variance. This factor had an eigenvalue of 2.949. The factor loadings ranged from .805 to .693. The factor was renamed Travel Attractiveness because it included the need to escape from the daily routine, change the speed of life, and feel psychologically relaxed.
The fourth factor of three items explained about 12% of the total variance. The factor’s eigenvalue was 2.311. The factor loadings ranged between .800 and .647. The factor was renamed Entertainment Attractiveness because it included the importance of sharing the same environment with friends, having fun, and enjoying special events.
Reliability is measured by the Cronbach’s alpha which indicates a high reliability for all the construct.Table 2 show that for all the factors the Cronbach’s alpha is more than 0.79, which indicates a high reliability. Nunnaly (1978) suggest that the Cronbach alpha more than 0.70 is acceptable.
RQ1 investigated the motivating factors that lead people to participate in the festival. From the EFA summarized above, the answer to this question is (1) Regional Attractiveness, (2) Festival Attractiveness, (3) Travel Attractiveness, and (4) Entertainment Attractiveness.
Table 3 summarizes the results of the EFA for the 12-item satisfaction scale, which indicates that all the items fell on one dimension. The factor analysis was carried out on the assumption that the sample size was sufficient and that the multiple normal distribution in the data set was satisfactory, based on the KMO measure of sampling adequacy (0.924) and Barlett’s test of sphericity (2803.327; p<.01).
KMO= .924; Barlett’s test of sphericity = 2803.327 Sig<.001;
Overall Mean = 4.106; Cronbach’s alpha (CR) =.922
The 12 items in the single-factor satisfaction scale accounted for about 54% of the total variance while the eigenvalue was 6.524. The overall mean was 4.106 while the factor loadings ranged between .834 and .548.Table 3 shows that for the factor, the Cronbach’s alpha is more than 0.90, which indicates a high reliability.Nunnaly (1978) suggests that the Cronbach alpha more than 0.90 is excellent.
**. Correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed). S.D.= Standard Deviation
Table 4 shows the discriminatory and convergent validity of the scale of participation motivations. The strength of the relationship between the four factors varied between .401 and .582, indicating that the scale has both discriminative and convergent validity (Hair et al. 2010).
Table 5 presents the results of the multiple regression analysis of the effect of the participation factors on participant satisfaction. The Durbin Watson (D-W) statistic was used to identify significant differences among the variables in terms of tolerance value, variance magnification factor (VIF), and condition index (CI), and whether there was auto-correlation.
R=.716; R²=.512; ΔR²=.508; F=117.605; p=<.001; s.d.=.477; D-W=1.786
*p<0.01; the dependent variable is overall satisfaction from the Alaçatı Herb Festival.
Table 5 indicates that the regression model formed is meaningful (F = 117.605). The fact that the VIF values are between 1.422 and 1.916 and the CI values are between 14.730 and 19.867 indicates that the variables do not have multiple linear connectivity problems. In addition, the D-W value of 1.786 in the regression model proves that there is no auto-correlation.
The strength of the ability of the motivating factors to explain participant satisfaction was .51. That is, 51% of the variation in satisfaction levels was explained by regional attractiveness, travel attractiveness, festival attractiveness, and entertainment attractiveness. Based on these results, H1 was confirmed. This relationship can be expressed in the following equation:
Y (Overall Satisfaction) = .926 (constant) + .375 (Regional Attractiveness) + .241 (Festival Attractiveness) + .114 (Travel Attractiveness) + .149 (Entertainment Attractiveness)
Tables6 and7 present the results of the multiple regression analysis conducted to determine intention to revisit and intention to recommend the festival.Table 6 indicates that the regression model is meaningful. The VIF values lie between 1.426 and 2.065; the CI values lie between 14.716 and 21.200; and the D-W value is 1.828, indicating that the variables do not have multiple linear connectivity problems and there is no auto-correlation in the model.
R=.562; R²=.316; ΔR²=.310; F=51.060; p=<.001; s.d.=.442; D-W=1.828
*p< .05; dependent variable is revisit intention to Alaçatı Herb Festival.
The regression analysis indicates that 32% of the variation in the participants’ intentions to revisit Alaçatı Herb Festival is explained by their motivation to participate. More specifically, regional attractiveness, festival attractiveness, and entertainment attractiveness affected revisit intention whereas travel attractiveness had no significant impact. Thus, H2 was partially confirmed. This can be expressed in the following equation:
Y (Revisit Intention) = .511 (constant) + .334 (Regional Attractiveness) + .204 (Festival Attractiveness) + .118 (Entertainment Attractiveness)
Table 7 shows that the regression model is meaningful. VIF values were between 1.411 and 2.048; CI values were between 14.689 and 21.173; and the D-W value was 1.858, indicating that the variables do not have multiple linear connectivity problems and there is no auto-correlation in the model. The results indicate that 27% of the variation in recommendation intentions can be explained by the participation motivation factors.
R=.520; R²=.270; ΔR²=.263; F=41.139; Sig.=<.001; s.d.=.445; D-W=1.858
*p < .05; independent variable is recommendation intention for Alaçatı Herb Festival.
The results show that regional attractiveness, festival attractiveness, and entertainment attractiveness affected intentions to recommend the festival to others whereas travel attractiveness had no significant effect. Thus, H3 was partially confirmed. This can be expressed in the following equation:
Y (Recommendation Intention) = 1.216 (constant) + .294 (Regional Attractiveness) + 142 (Festival Attractiveness) + .193 (Entertainment Attractiveness)
CONCLUSION
As in many countries, various regional, national, and international events are held in Turkey – one of which is Alaçatı Herb Festival. What started as a regional event is currently planned to be internationalized from 2018 onwards. The festival is visited by thousands of people from other regions and interest is growing every year (Coşar and Akgündüz 2017). To ensure participants’ satisfaction in such events organized by both the public and private sector, it is necessary to determine visitors’ satisfaction levels and their motivations for participating. This study therefore investigated the Alaçatı Herb Festival participants’ motivation factors, satisfaction levels, revisit intentions and recommendation intentions. It contributes to the literature in three ways: first, it adds to the literature on the factors motivating festival participants; second, it explores how satisfaction levels can vary depending on motivation factors; third, it explores how participants’ behavioural intentions (revisit and recommendation) can vary depending on motivation factors.
The four factors found to influence participation in the Alaçatı Herb Festival were (1) regional attractiveness, (2) festival attractiveness, (3) travel attractiveness and (4) entertainment attractiveness. This shows that accommodation and transportation opportunities, and the festival area’s safety and image are important factors determining people’s decision to participate. This also implies that people may hesitate to participate in an event when there is insufficient accommodation capacity in the area where the event is organized, when there are transportation problems, or when the region has a negative image.
Travel attractiveness and entertainment attractiveness are two factors that motivate people to travel. The need to stay away from the usual living place, have fun, escape from the daily routine, spend time with friends, and relax are included in these factors (Uysal and Hagan 1993;Özgen 2000;Kozak 2002;Yoon and Uysal 2005). These needs can be met by participating in events such as the Alaçatı Herb Festival.
However, the results of this study indicate that the festival participants are not only motivated by travel but also by regional, festival, and entertainment attractiveness, which affect their revisit and recommend intention. This supports the findings ofUysal and Hagan (1993),Kozak (2002),Yoon and Uysal (2005), andHeitmann (2010), which suggests that product variety and destination attractiveness are both push and pull factors.
Regarding satisfaction, the results indicate that region attractiveness and festival attractiveness are the strongest factors. In terms of event implementation, this suggests that managers who want to increase participant satisfaction need to investment in these factors to improve regional attractiveness to a satisfactory level. More specifically, it seems necessary to increase gastronomic variety to differentiate the Alaçatı Herb Festival from other similar events. For example,Robinson and Clifford (2012) found that if gastronomic festival are organized in a destination, tourists are more likely to revisit and recommend this destination. Festivals are described as being ‘unique’ and ‘worth seeing’ because of their regional or national originality. These descriptions also affect people’s travel decisions. To do this, it will be useful for public and business managers to carry out other promotional activities, especially those related with public relations. These should mainly focus on the target group while taking into consideration other stakeholders and promoting the festival and the region.
The main factors driving people to participate in the Alaçatı Herb Festival are the region attractiveness, festival attractiveness, travel attractiveness, and entertainment attractiveness. While all of these factors affect the satisfaction of participants, intentions to revisit and to recommend to others were associated with regional attractiveness, festival attractiveness, and entertainment attractiveness, but not travel attractiveness. Previous studies have also reported that higher satisfaction levels tend to increase intention of revisit and recommend to others (Yoon and Uysal 2005;Kozak and Rimmington 2000). This suggests that local governments and business managers must first increase regional attractiveness and festival attractiveness to increase participants’ intentions to recommend or revisit.
There are also some limitations to this study. Firstly, it is limited to the Alaçatı Herb Festival, so the findings cannot simply be generalized to other events. Further studies should be conducted on different events and the results compared. Secondly, the sample size was only 455 participates, so the results may differ with larger samples, as can be explored by future research. Finally, this study only investigated motivational factors, satisfaction level, and revisit and recommendation intentions from the perspective of participants. Further research could investigate the satisfaction and disturbance the festival may cause from the perspective of the local community.