Abstract
This article aims to analyze the influence of festival tourism on the loyalty of tourists to the event and the destination where it takes place. The focus is placed on a rather poorly investigated field - on the ability of events to generate repeated visitations. The mediating role of the overall satisfaction as a key factor for the formation of loyalty among visitors of festivals is displayed at the forefront of the analysis. The author investigates the annual festival Kavarna Rock Fest, initiated by the Municipality of Kavarna and organized by leading Bulgarian promoter companies. The opinion of 81 visitors of the festival is studied concerning their satisfaction in the last five years and the possibility to visit Kavarna again and disseminate positive impressions and recommendations of the destination. The survey shows that the majority of respondents remained satisfied with the time spent during the event and demonstrated key features of loyalty. The author argues that tourism managers need to work towards providing high quality and well organized events at the destinations to attract tourists and to gain their loyalty. As a result of the article it appears that is it reasonable for local governments to participate in the arrangement of events and that events are very efficient for generating repeated visitations.
Full publication: https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A15%3A10488687/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Ascholar&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A121610217&crl=c