Customer satisfaction and expenditure behaviour in musical festivals

Abstract

We evaluate the determinants of the two different types of tourists’ expenditure behaviour at a musical festival: the expenditure per day in the city of the event and expenses in the enclosure during the event. We prove that the domestic tourists who live out of the town of the event and foreigners who came purposely for the event spend more in the enclosure. Comparing the expenditures in the city, foreigners spend more in town than the nationals who came from out of the city. Four distinct factors of satisfaction emerged in the application of the factorial analysis: organization of the festival, kind of music, conditions of the enclosure and accessibility to the venue. It was also found that the most satisfied with the event also have a higher propensity to spend more on the enclosure and in the city. This research reveals an important framework for event managers and for politicians. The results of this study will be important for the promotion and dissemination by the event organization to the extent that marketing campaigns should be directed to the identification of socio-demographic characteristics of the tourists, the factors of satisfaction and the lovers of the event that positively contribute to the expenditure in the city and in the enclosure. The results may be of interest to politicians, as the event, if properly assessed and planned, can be used as important marketing strategy in cities where it occurs. Moreover, this kind of event is already part of an itinerary tourism tour and for this reason, its social, cultural and economic importance will have to be properly assessed.