Ethnic minority cultural festival experience: Visitor–environment fit, cultural contact, and behavioral intention

Abstract

This study aims to identify significant factors that influence visitors’ experience in ethnic minority cultural festival and to examine the underlying relationship between attendees’ experience and their future behavioral intention. The study used an exploratory sequential mixed method combining qualitative and quantitative stages. A grounded theory approach was adopted in analyzing the qualitative data collected from 20 in-depth interviews with past festival attendees and 453 online review posts from social network platforms. The developed conceptual framework was empirically tested by a quantitative study of 276 additional festival attendees through intercept data collection. The results indicate that cultural contact determines festival attendees’ future behavioral intention, while visitor–environment fit, including facilities, environmental functions, and activity knowledge, influences attendees’ experience of cultural contact. The study provides a non-Western perspective regarding ethnic minority cultural festival experience.