Festival attendees’ motivations: the case of International Troia Festival

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate underlying motivational dimensions of visitors attending the International Troia Festival (ITF), Çanakkale, Turkey. Design/methodology/approach – Surveys with 26 items on six motivational dimensions were empirically tested. Data were collected by a self-administered survey. The study sample comprised attendees of particular festival events which were suitable for survey practice in the ITF lasting for five days. The participants of the survey were the attendees of two theater shows, two conferences, and two folk dance shows. A total of 473 usable forms were obtained from the visitors and processed in the analysis. Findings – Significant differences and relations in motivational dimensions were found on the basis of visitors’ socio-demographic origins. Female visitors are more likely to attend festival events with high motivation of family togetherness and cultural exploration. Also male visitors are more likely to attend the events with more motivation of event attraction and escape and excitement than family togetherness. Motivation of cultural exploration is also high for all socio-demographic groups of festival visitors. Thereby, cultural exploration and family togetherness are also highly important for attendees. The basic theme of the ITF was identified as a cultural festival which essentially motivates visitors to attend particularly for cultural exploration. Research limitations/implications – The findings of this paper solely reflect the motivational dimensions identified during a Turkish festival with a cultural lifestyle. Practical implications – The field research of the study demonstrates the application of methodology by event managers to gain better understanding into visitor motivation, satisfaction, behavioral intention, event organization, and event theme. Originality/value – The important theoretical contribution of the study is in the area of establishing a meaningful and empirical relation between motivation of festivals and cultural structure of community as part of the perceived socio-cultural impacts of festivals. This implies and empirically substantiates the common belief that festivals and events can be instrumental in enriching cultural life.