Back Issues 11-20

EXPLORING EVENT VISITORS' COGNITION, BENEFITS AND SATISFACTION

Hsing-Hui Lin¹ & Hsueh-Ying Wu²

¹ Department of Culinary Arts & Hotel Management, Hungkuang University

²Department of Accounting Information, Aletheia University

Abstract

Currently, local governments using events to activate local tourism development and drive regional economic benefits have become a trend in Taiwan. This study aims to explore the perception of participating tourists on festivals, and then affect their personal benefits, local benefits and satisfaction with festivals by taking the Taroko Canyon Music Festival, one of the important tourism events in Hualien. A questionnaire survey method was adopted. A total of 350 questionnaires were distributed to tourists participating in the event, and 316 valid questionnaires were collected as valid samples for subsequent data analysis. 

Through multiple regression analysis, the research results found that visitors' cognition of the Taroko Canyon Music Festival has a significant relationship with their personal benefits, path coefficient =.377, p<.001; visitors’ cognition of the event was significantly correlated with local benefits, path coefficient =.472, p<.001; visitors’ personal benefits and event satisfaction showed a significant relationship, path coefficient =.641, p<.001; visitors’ local benefits were significantly positively correlated with event satisfaction, path coefficient =.388, p<.001. In addition, the factor analysis method shows that, in the cognitive dimension, the participating tourists have the lowest awareness of the event commissioning unit. In the aspect of local benefits, most visitors agreed that the handling of festival activities can enhance tourists' recognition of the cultural assets of the conservation of the Taroko National Park. Moreover, the personal benefit dimension showedtourists agreed that participating in the festival can effectively promote a harmonious relationship with friends. In addition, most tourists have a high evaluation of the overall satisfaction of the event, and the willingness to revisit is as high as 97.5%. 

The results of this study can not only provide a reference basis for festival organizers when promoting activities, but also through strengthening the introduction of the commissioned organizers of the activities, so that visitors can learn more about the activity information when participating in the activities. Most importantly, awakening tourists' attention to the conservation of the natural and cultural assets of national parks, promoting interpersonal interaction, and deepening tourists' impression of  festivals are also beneficial to achieve the goal of increasing tourists' overall satisfaction with the festival. 

Keywords: Event tourism; personal benefit; local benefit; festival awareness; satisfaction