Analyzing Tourism and Community Impact: Cambridge Folk Festival

This report examines the Cambridge Folk Festival's impact on local tourism and the community. It discusses the festival's history, tourism activities, and development strategies, including cultural ethos, advanced broadcasting, and sustainability frameworks. The report also covers organizational and operational planning, capacity management, and location significance. Furthermore, it analyzes the positive and negative short-term and long-term impacts of the festival on local tourism, including internationalization, cultural development, environmental considerations, transport issues, and waste management. The report concludes with recommendations for enhancing the festival's positive impacts and mitigating its negative effects, emphasizing sustainable practices and community engagement. Desklib provides this report and other resources for students.

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SPORT AND EVENT TOURISM
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Executive summary
Cambridge Folk Festivalis a popular folk music event in UK that started its journey since 1965.
However, there is a major impact of the event on the local community as the local groups are
highly moved by the festival. Besides the cultural implication economic development is also
considered to be an important aspect for the discussion. In response to this, the purpose of this
report is to identify the relation between tourism and festivals. In addition to this, the role of the
non sport events and its impact on the local community is also discussed into the report so that it
will cover up all the aspects of tourism and events.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Tourism activities............................................................................................................................4
Development of tourism..................................................................................................................5
Cultural ethos...............................................................................................................................6
Advanced broadcasting................................................................................................................6
Sustainability framework.............................................................................................................6
Organisational plan to develop the event.........................................................................................7
Operational planning...................................................................................................................7
Capacity management..................................................................................................................7
Location.......................................................................................................................................8
Impact on the local tourism.............................................................................................................8
Positive........................................................................................................................................8
Short term impact....................................................................................................................8
Long term impact.....................................................................................................................9
Negative.......................................................................................................................................9
Short term impact..................................................................................................................10
Long term impact...................................................................................................................10
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................11

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Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Reference.......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The Cambridge Folk Festival is considered to be one of the major non-sport festival in
UK that has both a tradition and a legacy to attract a number of tourists both domestically and
internationally. The festival is highly popular because of the eclectic mix of music and a wide
range of folk music so that it will deliver better experience of folk culture through music. The
event stagers in the summer at Cherry Hilton Hill and was sponsored by the BBC Radio 2. This
folk music festival was initiated in 1965 and the Cambridge village of Cherry Hilton since the
inception. Moreover, the festival has a strong impression on the local communities as well as the
international forum of folk music is also moved by the presence of Cambridge Folk Festival.
From that point of view, it can be stated that the purpose of this report is to identify the
tourism industry developed through the presence of this festive event. Moreover, the plan to
establish better framework for the event is also considered to be an important aspect on which
the report also focuses. In addition to this, both the positive and negative impact on the
community is also mentioned within the discussion so that it can perceive a clear vision
regarding the event.
Discussion
Tourism activities
According to Cambridgelivetrust.co.uk (2018) the Cambridge Folk Festivalis one of the
longest running music festival in the world with its initiation in 1965. There is a huge number of
fan base with approximately fourteen thousand people are getting attracted through this festival.

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There are renowned folk artists and international bands that are contributed a lot to the
establishment and popularity of the music fest. Popular artists like Frank Turner, Laura Marling
and Jake Bugg enriches the culture and heritage of the festival quite extensively
(Cambridgelivetrust.co.uk 2018). As a matter of fact, the festival is held near the historic city of
Cambridge. Therefore, a historical impact is always glorified the folk festival of Cambridge.
In this regard, since 2011, the organisers of the Cambridge Folk Festivalare like to incorporate
the local folk music bands so that it will facilitate a blend between the international folk music
and the local pulp to develop the folk music culture more effectively (Irwin 2018). As a matter of
fact, encouraging the local bands increases the popularity of the festival in a rapid manner and
now the festival looks a hinterland for international folk brotherhood. In addition to this, the
organisation creates workshops, sessions and platforms for the young bands so that they can also
get the opportunity and encouragement to perform effectively (veggievagabonds.com 2018). In
addition to this, the organisers also set up local Folk Club and tried to establish strong
connections with the visitors and audiences so that they get attracted to attend the festival. This is
a pure sense of public relationship that is also considered to be one of the major strategy for the
organisers to expand the popularity of this folk music festival. The local folk club with the name
of The Club Tent is identified to play significant role in this regard (veggievagabonds.com
2018).
Development of tourism
There are series of approaches and strategies that the organisers follow in order to make
the folk music festival at Cambridge a success. In this context, three key factors are responsible

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in order to foster better development of the tourism resembled with the Cambridge Folk
Festival.
Cultural ethos
Cultural ethos are contributed a lot to the expansion of the Cambridge Folk Festival. In
this respect, the organisers mainly put emphasis on retaining the folk culture and heritage within
the festival. In the writing of Taylor (2016) it can be seen that the root of the modern folk culture
is bestowed into the Cambridge Folk Festivalso extensively that it symbolises the hub of
modern folk music in an international perspective. In this regard, the organisers are not only
invited the renowned folk musicians across the world but also puts emphasis on the development
of local folk music practices that can help to solidify the initiative profoundly (Cummings and
Herborn 2015).
Advanced broadcasting
It is further facilitated by the advertisement and broadcasting which is identified as an
essential part for the development of folk music festival in Cambridge. The selection of such
venue was quite strategic and relevant with the purpose of the fest. For an instance, Maasø
(2018) stated that the for the rural festivals broadcasting and advertising are considered to be the
most effective part in order to attract a great number of people. Therefore, the arrangers of the
folk music festival at Cambridge are also came to an agreement with popular broadcasting
company BBC to take all the responsibilities of broadcasting the shows (Luther et al. 2018).
Sustainability framework
As a matter of fact, the organisers also keep their eye on the sustainability framework so
that it will deliver a positive image and motive of the festival. For the sustainability framework

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the arrangers emphasise on the green issues so that the festival adds new image of environmental
sustainability to its development of folk music festival (Schippers and Bendrups 2015).
Therefore, establishing the mixed recycle facilities with around the venue with mixed recycling
bags are contributed a lot to the sustainability framework of the festival. As a result of that in the
year 2014 the festival got the Greener Festival Award for outstanding environmental
performance (Lee et al. 2015). Those sustainability efforts make the audience and the visitors
more and influence them to visit in this festival.
Organisational plan to develop the event
Operational planning
As per the research of Hudson et al. (2015) it can be opined that the role of the
operational planning in a musical event is related to the series of plans and actions supporting the
strategy. In this context, it is pertinent to deal with the successful implementation of the event
(Andersson, Armbrecht and Lundberg 2017). In fact, the operation of an event includes the
administration, staging, security and the risk management. In case of the Cambridge Folk
Festivalthe organisers put more emphasis on the operational planning so that it will provide a
good atmosphere and friendly environment for both the performers and the visitors.
Capacity management
Besides this, Pastoor et al. (2018) advocated that enough space for the audience and
audible distance are also considered to be effective measure for the capacity management
program. In this context, amount of staff, time space and the required management expertise are
identified as the key factors for the development of capacity management. For an instance, in
Cambridge Folk Festivalthe event management tries to evaluate and analyse the possible crowd

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in the upcoming festival. Based on this capacity management it can be argued that the
organisational management is very concern about the capacity and crowd management regarding
the Cambridge Folk Festival.
Location
According to Bachman et al. (2017) location is considered to be one of the major aspect
for the success of a festival or event. As the Cambridge Folk Festivalis a folk music festival
therefore it is essential to choose the venue properly which has prolong musical culture and rich
cultural diversity that is associated with the folk culture. Besides this, it is important for the
people to get acknowledged with the benefits and facilities for the visitors. It is coupled with the
tourism and travel facilities so that it can be effective enough to manage proper accommodation
for both the international and domestic visitors. Therefore, location plays a strategic role in order
to make the festival a success.
Impact on the local tourism
Positive
The impact of the festival on the local community is also considered to be an important
aspect in this regard. Such as,
Short term impact
Internationalisation
According to Vinnicombe, T. and Sou (2017) the popularity of the festivals and events
created huge opportunity for the local hotels and restaurants to get enough customers during the
festive season. In this context, it can be started that the local tourism industry in Cambridge

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comes under the limelight of international tourists and it will become an international tourist
hotspot for visitors who are fond of music.
Long term impact
Developing healthy culture
On the other hand, McKay and Webster (2016) pointed out that the music festivals have a
great deal of impact on the local community because the music festivals are identified as a
cultural blend of both the international and cultural identities. For an instance, in case of the
Cambridge Folk Festivalthe local bands are also got the opportunity to perform in the festival.
As a result of that they get in touch with some other international and regional bands who have
cultural differences. Therefore, the cultural exchange will help the local tourism industry in
Cambridge to make an unique and hybrid tourism practices that can be international standard.
Impact on the tourism environment
Moreover, Kruger and Metsi (2018) advocated that the role of the music festivals had a
sharp influence on the local tourism in terms of the environmental considerations. In this regard,
the Cambridge Folk Festivalinitiate some important measures in order to ensure the safety and
sustainability of the environment. In response to this, the introduction of the green festival is also
a strategic measure for the organisers to follow.
Negative
There are huge environmental impact that can be caused by the Cambridge Folk
Festival. For instance,

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Short term impact
Transport
According to the report presented by Pastoor et al. (2018) it can be argued that the role of
the music festival has a great deal of impact on the community life. During the investigation on
the impact of UK music festivals on community, Lee et al. (2015) ascribed that 500 festivals in
UK had created around 84,000 tonnes of CO2per year. Festival goers are primarily responsible to
increase detrimental impact on the environment. For the popular festivals the situation is even
more fatal. With the growing visitors and travellers, the environmental degradation was also
increased in a rapid pace in Cambridge Folk Festivaland it will be continued without taking
necessary steps.
Waste
In his research, Andersson, Armbrecht and Lundberg (2017) pointed out that the waste
management is a growing concern for the event organisers as in the popular events and festivals
the visitors did not follow any protocols and left their wastes here and there. Besides this, use of
plastic and other harmful items create severe threat to the soil and as a result of that
environmental degradation is considered to be a common factor during the music festivals. The
same thing happened with the Cambridge Folk Festivalwhen some of the visitors found it very
difficult to relax and sit as they wished. The entire ground was piled up with trash and waste
materials that seemed an inhospitable place for them to go.
Long term impact
Tourism Culture

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As per the investigation of Bachman et al. (2017) it can be argued that the cultural
influence is considered to be one of the major factor that had a great deal of impact on the local
tourism. Based on this argument it can also be seen in case of the Cambridge Folk
Festivalwhere many young music lovers started using illegal substances. It is not good for the
music environment that Cambridge Folk Festivalwas known for and it created a grievance to
some of the Cambridge Folk Festivalgoers. Moreover, some political lyrics used in the music
fest were indirectly influenced the local community that should not be happen in the first place.
As a result of that the image of the local tourism will be damaged.
Recommendation
In this regard, the report can identified some important recommendations that will
provide strategic advantages to not only the Cambridge Folk Festivalbut also the organisers to
earn success effectively. The recommendations are as follows,
 Curbing down the CO2 emission will be a strategic measure that the event organisers can
follow. In this regard, using E-vehicle and bus services for the visitors will be an
effective means because it will deliver effectiveness into the purpose of taking steps for
safeguarding the environmental degradation. It will foster a better image for the event.
 Procuring a better waste management system will consider to be an important aspect for
the event arranger. It can be stated that appointing more volunteers into the waste
management team will be an advantage. Besides this, taking measures to develop
visitors’ perception will be effective enough to tackle the waste management related
issues.
 Implementing more security and policing system with adequate CCTV cameras will help
to reduce the use of illegal substances within the event campus. Moreover, the leading