The Effects of Evaluation Attributes of Cultural Tourism Festivals on Satisfaction and Behavioral Intention

문화관광축제 방문객의 평가속성 만족과 행동의도에 관한 연구 - 2006 광주김치대축제를 중심으로 -

Festivals are an indispensable feature of cultural tourism(Formica & Uysal, 1998). Cultural tourism festivals are increasingly being used as instruments promoting tourism and boosting the regional economy. So much research related to festivals is undertaken from a variety of perspectives. Plans to revisit a particular festival have been viewed as an important research topic both in academia and the tourism industry. Therefore festivals have frequently been leveled as cultural events. Cultural tourism festivals have become a crucial component in constituting the attractiveness of tourism destinations(Prentice, 2001). As a result, a considerable number of tourist studies have been carried out in diverse cultural tourism festivals(Backman et al., 1995; Crompton & Mckay, 1997; Park, 1998; Clawson & Knetch, 1996). Much of previous literature empirically shows the close linkage between tourist satisfaction and behavioral intention in festivals. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of evaluation attributes of cultural tourism festivals on satisfaction and behavioral intention. accomplish the research objective, to find out evaluation items of cultural tourism festivals through the literature study an empirical study. Using a varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization, the research obtained four factors in the 18 evaluation attributes of cultural tourism festivals. Some empirical studies have examined the relationship between behavioral intention and actual behavior. To understand between tourist satisfaction and behavioral intention, this study suggests five hypotheses and hypothesized model. In this study, the analysis is based on primary data collected from visitors who participated in '2006 Gwangju Kimchi Festival'. In total, 700 self-administered questionnaires were distributed and 561 usable questionnaires were obtained. Respondents were presented with the 18 satisfactions item on a scale from 1(strongly disagree) to 7(strongly agree). Dimensionality and stability of the scale were evaluated by a factor analysis with varimax rotation. Four factors emerged with eigenvalues greater than 1, which explained 66.40% of the total variance and Cronbach' alpha raging from 0.876 to 0.774. And four factors named: advertisement and guides, programs, food and souvenirs, and convenient facilities. To test and estimate the hypothesized model, a two-step approach with an initial measurement model and a subsequent structural model for Structural Equation Modeling was used. The AMOS 4.0 analysis package was used to conduct the analysis. In estimating the model, the maximum likelihood procedure was used.In this study Chi-square test is used, which is the most common model goodness-of-fit test. In addition, considering the literature about the Structural Equation Modeling, this study used, besides Chi-square test, more model fit indexes to determine the tangibility of the suggested model: goodness-of-fit index(GFI) and root mean square error of approximation(RMSEA) as absolute fit indexes; normed-fit index(NFI) and non-normed-fit index(NNFI) as incremental fit indexes. The results of T-test and ANOVAs revealed significant differences(0.05 level), therefore H1(Tourist Satisfaction level should be different from Demographic traits) are supported. According to the multiple Regressions analysis and AMOS, H2(Tourist Satisfaction positively influences on revisit intention), H3(Tourist Satisfaction positively influences on word of mouth), H4(Evaluation Attributes of cultural tourism festivals influences on Tourist Satisfaction), and H5(Tourist Satisfaction positively influences on Behavioral Intention) are also supported. As the conclusion of this study are as following: First, there were differences in satisfaction levels in accordance with the demographic information of visitors. Not all visitors had the same degree of satisfaction with their cultural tourism festival experience. Therefore it is necessary to understand the satisfaction of tourists if the experiences that are provided are to meet their expectations. So, in making festival plans, the organizer should consider the demographic variables in explaining and segmenting visitors to cultural tourism festival. Second, satisfaction with attributes of evaluation cultural tourism festivals had a significant direct impact on visitors' intention to revisit such festivals and the word of mouth publicity they shared. The results indicated that visitor satisfaction is a significant antecedent of their intention to revisit such festivals. Festival organizers should strive to forge long-term relationships with the visitors. In addition, it is also necessary to understand how the intention to revisit a festival changes over time and identify the critical satisfaction factors. Third, it is confirmed that behavioral intention was enhanced by satisfaction. The strong link between satisfaction and behavioral intentions of visitors areensured by high quality advertisement and guides, programs, food and souvenirs, and convenient facilities. Thus, examining revisit intention from a time viewpoint may be of a great significance for both practical and theoretical reasons. Additionally, festival organizers should give special attention to visitor satisfaction, as satisfied visitors are more likely to return sooner. The findings of this research have several practical implications for the festivals managers. The promotion of cultural festivals should be based on the understanding of tourist satisfaction for the long- term success of tourism. And this study can help managers carry out this task in a more informed and strategic manner by examining the effects of demographic traits on the level of tourist satisfaction and the behavioral intention. In other words, differentiated marketing strategies should be stressed and executed by relevant parties. The limitations of this study are as follows; the results of this study cannot be generalized to other cultural tourism festivals because we have not explored the many different kinds of festivals. A future study should be a comparative analysis of other festivals of different visitor segments. Also, further efforts should be directed toward developing more comprehensive temporal models that can explain behavioral intentions of tourists.

문화관광축제는 전국의 지역축제 가운데 광역시 도에서 추천한 축제 가운데 관광상품성이 크고, 경쟁력 있는 우수한 축제를 선정하여 지원하는 사업이다. 문화관광축제 종합평가계획(문화관광부, 2006)에 의하면 방문객의 만족도 평가, 전문위원 평가, 그리고 축제 개선실적 등을 감안하여 최우수축제, 우수축제, 유망축제, 예비축제로 선정되고 있다. 특히 예비축제를 제외한 문화관광축제는 공공부문의 사업비 지원을 받기 때문에 1,000여 개가 넘는 지역축제의 방문객 만족도 평가는 상호비교가 가능한 평가척도를 이용하여 종합평가분석이 이루어진고 있다. 이러한 견지에서 본 연구에서는 문화관광축제 공통평가속성이 방문객 만족과 사후행동의도에 미치는 영향관계를 파악하여, 향후 축제기획 시 방문객 만족도 제고와 지속가능한 문화관광축제로 선정되기 위한 시사점을 제시하였다. 본 연구에서는 이론연구를 통하여 문화관광축제 평가속성, 만족, 그리고 행위의도에 관한 변수를 도출하였으며, 2006 광주김치대축제 방문객을 대상으로 실증분석을 수행하였다. 문화관광축제 평가속성에 대한 요인분석을 통하여 홍보안내, 행사내용, 기념품 음식, 편의시설 요인을 도출하였으며, 축제방문객 만족과 행동의도와의 관계를 분석하였다. 연구모형을 통해 수립한 연구가설은 차이분석, 회귀분석, 공분산 구조분석 등을 통해 검증하였으며, 연구결과 모든 가설은 채택되었다. 향후 본 연구결과를 바탕으로 본 축제와 성격이 유사한 축제방문객 분석을 통한 비교연구를 기대한다.