Who is Riding to the South African Bike Festival?

Abstract

Events play an integrated part in tourism industry. South Africa events have grown over the past years, especially when it comes to promotion and hosting of events. One such event is South African Bike Festival. The event's organizers host these events for special causes, such as riding for a purpose, social implications, and social responsibility. Motorcycles have been around since the early 1900s for the dual purpose of transportation and recreational or pleasure riding, but little is known about motorcyclists' sociodemographic profile and behavior. From an international perfective, the sociodemographic and behavior aspects of motorcyclists are well documented; what is lacking is literature within the South African perceptive. The purpose of this research is to characterize those who attended the first South African Bike Festival. The research attempts to segment the motorcycle market and identify bikers' motivations, needs, and behavior. A structured self-completion questionnaire was developed and handed out to willing participants. Trained fieldworkers distributed the questionnaire over a 3-day period and received a total of 484 usable questionnaires. A multiple regression based on sociodemographic variables and spending habits was done to determine any significant differences. Respondents were segmented based on their motives for attending the event. In this way three markets were identified, namely hardcore biker, feisty biker, and fortuitous biker. The results showed that there are indeed significant differences between the three markets identified. This research not only contributes to the motorcycling literature, but also to motorcycling behavior of bikers in South Africa.