Resumen de Information Source Preferences and Associated Expenditure of First-Time and Repeat Visitors at a South African Wine Festival
Martinette Kruger, Karin Botha, Melville Saayman
Growth in the number of festivals urges festival organizers and researchers alike to find ways to effectively identify and attract visitors. The reason for this is an increase in competition due to an increase in the number of events as well as a greater need for festivals to contribute to the economic well-being of communities where these events/festivals are hosted. One such approach is segmentation by means of information sources, associated expenditure, and frequency of visitation. The Wacky Wine Festival in Robertson, South Africa is one of the country's largest wine festivals. This wine festival is unique in that it takes place on an existing wine route where 48 wine farms actively participate in the festival. This article presents the results of a survey that was conducted during the festival in June 2009 when visitors to the festival completed 424 questionnaires. The aim of this exploratory research was to determine first-time and repeat visitors' information source preference at the festival as well as the associated expenditure. Correspondence analysis, as well as ANOVAs, was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that visitors to the Wacky Wine Festival have specific preferences for certain information sources and that visitors' expenditure at the festival also varies. The results also revealed valuable information concerning the design and implementation of marketing strategies aimed at both first-time and repeat visitors at the festival.
