Segmenting Festival Visitors Using Psychological Commitment

Abstract

Despite the popularity of festivals and events across destinations, many have failed because of tight budgets and a lack of marketing knowledge. Accordingly, this study aims to assist festival organizers understand more about their target audience. The present study examined the utility of psychological commitment for segmenting festival visitors. We first profiled festival visitors based on their commitment levels and then investigated whether the segments differ in their sociodemographic characteristics, satisfaction, and loyalty. The results demonstrated the presence of three segments, each of which displayed meaningful and significant variation in the intensity of their festival commitment. The groups differed in age, education, and past experience. We also observed that the more committed visitors were to the festival, the higher their overall satisfaction was with the festival experience, and the more likely they were to exhibit loyalty intentions toward the festival. Based on these findings, practical and theoretical insights are provided.