| Festivals are one of the fastest growing markets in the tourism industry; more and more researchers have devoted themselves to understanding festival attendance behavior. Outside of the plethora of festival motivation and satisfaction research projects, the decision-making process with respect to festival attendance has not previously been studied. The purpose of the study is to establish a more integrated model to explain and predict festival attendance behavior. More specifically, this study identifies the facilitating and inhibiting factors influencing visitors` intention to attend a festival. Eight sets of essential factors were identified from previous research, including: demographics, behavioral characteristics, motivation, information sources, festival attractiveness, subjective norms, constraints and satisfaction. A logistic regression model was established for the empirical testing of each variable.;The festival chosen for this study was the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival held in Bloomington, Indiana and the subjects of the study were the largest population of residents---Indiana University faculty, staff and graduate students. Subjects were recruited from IU`s Global Address List Directory Service. Four hundred and eighty three valid data were collected through a web-based survey during May 2010. Descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis and logistic regression analysis were adopted to analyze the collection of data.;Logistic regression analysis shows that IU affiliation, past experience, subjective norms, motivation---socialization, and festival attractiveness---affective evaluation are facilitating factors; and structural constraints---money and intrapersonal constraints are inhibiting factors that predicts the Lotus attendance intention. Among these factors, past experience, affective evaluation of festival attractiveness and subjective norms are the most salient predictors. Findings of this study suggest that marketing strategies regarding customer retention and advertising on the affective aspect of the festival attractiveness through social networks should be focused to attract Lotus intenders. Future research is necessary to test the current model on different festivals in order to expand the knowledge on festival attendance decision-making process. |
