Motives and attitudes of food and drink festival visitors: A case study of Serbia

Abstract

Festivals are taking an increasingly more significant place among contemporary Serbian tourism products. They represent a unique visitor experience enabling the fulfillment of the wish to meet the Serbian culture, socialize, directly participate and entertain oneself. Also, festivals are an ever more significant factor in the selection of tourist destinations whose lure attracts millions of visitors in the course of the year. The objective of this study was to present the preferences and habits of food and drink festival visitors, identify the major factors that motivated visitors to attend the festivals as well as determine the factors which had a discouraging effect on non-regular visitors. A survey of 153 respondents was conducted from December 2011 to January 2012. This study used a survey instrument specially designed to answer which organization mode is the most acceptable for visitors and what is it that motivates or prevents them from attending such festivals. Results indicate that the lack of information on festival organization prevents nearly half of the respondents from visiting them. It has been also confirmed that the lack of free time has a negative impact on the number of visitors. The factor analysis singled out the products promoted on the festival, entertainment and escape from everyday life as the key factors influencing the visitors to attend such events. The presented findings have practical implications for food festival organizers to further attract food tourists.