KEY SUCCESS FACTORS IN REGIONAL FESTIVALS: SOME AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCES
The state of Victoria, Australia, suffers from a scarcity of iconic natural advantages, to attract both domestic and international visitors, relative to those possessed by other Australian states, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland or Uluru in the Northern Territory. As a
result, event tourism based on cultural activities becomes a key differentiator for tourism in Victoria. Regional events now play a significant role in the Victorian tourism product with the state hosting over 60 regional tourism events and festivals each year. The contribution of these events
and festivals to regional and state economies is important, as is the contribution they make to social and cultural development in regional Victoria. However, they are often developed and planned in a manner that may not lead to the success originally anticipated by organizers. Hence, any
means developed to enhance their chances of success may be considered valuable. This article studies the development of two regional Australian festivals and the range of factors that contributed to their success, including the degree of market orientation, analyzed within a framework suggested
by Mayfield and Crompton. A heightened awareness of underlying key success factors for these two festivals is likely to assist organizers of other festivals in prolonging their destination's life cycle and to maximize the potential benefits associated with staging the festival.
Keywords: Market orientation; Regional tourism; Success factors
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: School of Tourism and Hospitality, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Publication date: 01 January 2004
- Event Management, an International Journal, intends to meet the research and analytic needs of a rapidly growing profession focused on events. This field has developed in size and impact globally to become a major business with numerous dedicated facilities, and a large-scale generator of tourism. The field encompasses meetings, conventions, festivals, expositions, sport and other special events. Event management is also of considerable importance to government agencies and not-for-profit organizations in a pursuit of a variety of goals, including fund-raising, the fostering of causes, and community development.
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content