Case Studies in Festival and Event Marketing and Cultural Tourism - Tapa blanda

"Case Studies in Festival and Event Marketing and Cultural Tourism: An Introduction" is written by Donna Chambers and Jane Ali-Knight, Centre for Festival and Event Management, Napier University Business School, Edinburgh, Scotland. This collection of papers emanates from the 2005 Leisure Studies Association Conference hosted by the Centre for Festival and Event Management at Napier University, Edinburgh. For the conference organisers, the focus on 'Festivals and Events: Beyond Economic Impacts' was inspired by a joint Tourism Society Scotland/LSA seminar - 'Running Events in Scotland: Local, National and International Perspectives' - held in Edinburgh in March 2003. This seminar highlighted the growing interest in, and lack of awareness of, the measurement of impacting factors with regards to the expanding festival and event industry. Several of the speakers from public bodies such as Edinburgh City Council and the Scottish Executive emphasised the need to expand current festival and event analysis beyond economic impacts with a strong desire to attempt to measure the social and cultural impacts of events - particularly on host destinations. The LSA 2005 conference featured more than 80 papers from a very diverse and international range of writers and researchers. This text pulls together an eclectic mix of some of the case studies presented, revealing a strong focus on festival and event marketing and cultural tourism. It offers a balanced selection of interesting festival and event case studies from academics and practitioners alike from around the globe, and that is where its interest and relevance lies. Impact and importance of festivals: Nowhere is the impact of festivals and events more evident than in Edinburgh (UK). Steve Cardownie (2001), Festivals Champion for the city, emphasises this when he says that "Edinburgh's Festivals are a vital part of city life - both for local residents and for the hundreds of visitors who come to Edinburgh each year." A recent economic impact study by key stakeholders in the city outlined that the Summer Festivals generated around GBP127m of new expenditure into the Edinburgh economy, GBP31m of income and an additional 2,500 full-time equivalent jobs which would not have existed if the festivals did not take place (City of Edinburgh Council, 2005). The multiplier effect on tourism businesses in the city is also significant with hotel occupancy rates typically soaring to 80-90 per cent in the capital during the festival period. Edinburgh City Council claim to be making GBP150million yearly from the festivals, making Edinburgh one of the fastest growing cities in the UK (The Guardian, 2002). The study also stresses that economic impacts is only one of many factors in the success of a festival, and one of the key strengths of the festivals is their ability to position Edinburgh as a 'Festival City' and maintain this in the face of increasing competition from other festivals. The Edinburgh Festival Community recognise the competitive nature of the industry and have commissioned a report, aptly entitled 'Thundering Hooves', to examine this in further depth and ensure that Edinburgh stays ahead of the field. While every festival must have identified cultural outcomes and associated criteria, some will offer only marginal economic benefit and others may have less obvious social impact (Graham Devlin and Associates, 2001) It is therefore unrealistic to measure each festival against the same criteria but to recognise the growing economic, social and cultural importance of festivals and events. The case studies presented in this volume complement work that has been done in the area of economic impacts of festival and events (Hall, 1992; Allen et al., 2005) and also give insight into the social and cultural impacts of events. All events can be seen to have a direct social and cultural impact on their participants and this impact can vary from a pure entertainment or aesthetic experience to increased civic pride, community cohesion and cultural expansion (Allen et al., 2005). Events can also help to politicise communities and bring key issues to the forefront to debate, uniting communities under a common goal or cause. The following case studies address some of these issues and give an insight into the wider contextualisation and benefits of festivals and events. Festival and event marketing: Much has been written on the ability of festivals and events to market a destination, position them in the marketplace and help create a desirable image to key market segments. In both theory and current applied activity, destination marketing is seen to assist a city in designated goals of tourism development, while also complementing the aims of the holistic strategic plan of the place. The core drivers of any strategic plan are to raise the competitiveness of a city and attract internal investment and improve the image of the destination, while also ensuring the best possible environment for citizens of the destination (Ali-Knight and Robertson, 2003). The use of image as a strategic destination management tool, and the measurability of its effects, has been common in the destination management literature. However, what has been clear is that current research has not developed one clear conceptual framework for this evaluation. Cities, enthusiastically, aim to market themselves and develop a destination image through the use of festivals and events as a key component in their tourism portfolio. This process of 'imagineering' a destination is not always advantageous: it can often serve to polarise economic and geographic disadvantage and alienate the host community (Robertson and Guerrier, 1998). The risk for many cities is that attempting to compete in the international festival and event arena, the cost required to compete at this level - and with short-term economic benefits unlikely and image-change being a long procedure - leads to a lack of focus for the destination, displaced funding and no clear image narrative (Ali-Knight and Robertson, 2003). What is clear therefore is that festival and events do have a place in destination marketing and image generation, but that this process must be carefully planned, researched and monitored and there must be a clear 'fit' with the strategic plan of the destination. Cultural tourism: Cultural tourism is seen to attract many definitions, as outlined in Buczkowska's chapter in this text, but it is evident that it can be seen as both a product and a process. Festivals and events can provide a key cultural product that can serve as a pull factor to the destination. Festivals and events are also part of the cultural process and policy of the destination, for example as outlined in Edinburgh's Cultural Policy which states that 'Culture is the mechanism through which individuals, communities and nations define themselves' (City of Edinburgh Council, 1999). It is this role therefore of festivals and events in helping to preserve, authenticate and develop the cultural framework of a destination that is explored in this text. The chapters: In Chapter 1, Mark Stewart, Tourism Development Manager of Liverpool Culture Company, examines whether Edinburgh's festival and events meet the needs of target tourism markets. Written whilst Mark was an employee in the Economic Development Unit at Edinburgh City Council, the chapter examines the role that festivals and events play as part of a product portfolio of a destination matched against the needs of an identified tourism market. He analyses the role of festival and events in meeting the needs of Edinburgh's target tourism markets - UK short breaks, European City Breaks and International Association conferences. Edinburgh's strategic approach to festival and event tourism is compared with another destination - Melbourne, chosen because of the perceived similarities as both cities strive to maintain their competitive edge through the development of a successful, focused and well-known festival and event portfolio. Key findings indicated that festivals and events are being used to increase visitor numbers to Edinburgh and that there is a strong link between the market for festivals and events and tourism generally, showing that they are meeting consumer needs. However, he further argues that when it comes to using festival and events strategically to reposition Edinburgh to different markets, conclusions are less easy to draw. What is clear however is that festivals and events are an increasingly important product and positioning tool for destinations and that this is evident in Edinburgh. Finally, Stewart offers practical recommendations for future research in this area including conducting research with visitors to Edinburgh, devising festival and event marketing imagery for all key stakeholders to include on marketing communications to target markets, and carrying out benchmarking with other cities - this is being conducted, as noted earlier, with the forthcoming 'Thundering Hooves' report. The theme of event marketing and destination image is explored further in Chapter 2. Ferrari and Adamo's case study focuses on a small Italian town, Rocella Ionica, where an annual International Jazz Festival takes place. They too examine the use of destination image as a flexible marketing tool and its ability to help position a place as a desirable target destination for specific target consumer groups. They devise a model to illustrate the main effects of an event and to show their relation to tangible effects such as an increase in tourist flows and new investment, as well as intangible effects related to place awareness and destination image. They attempt to define and describe the relationship between the place image and the event: in the case study this involved investigating the image of Rocella and the impact of the event on the town from the residents' point of view. Results revealed that the festival was successful in repositioning Rocella from a traditional seaside resort to a vibrant festival town appealing to new, younger, more diverse target markets. Finally, they analyse how the festival aids image improvement and increased notoriety of the des...