Analysis of the Role of Festival and Event Tourism in the UK Context

This report delves into the multifaceted role of festival and event tourism, examining the relationship between culture, heritage, and festivals/events. It explores the advantages of festival and event tourism at local, regional, and national levels, highlighting its economic impact and job creation. The report analyzes the influence of UK public sector policy on festival and event tourism development, emphasizing the importance of destination branding and marketing strategies. Furthermore, it discusses the need for balanced event portfolios and critiques strategic planning approaches for festival and event tourism development. The report provides examples of successful festivals and events, such as the Modhera Dance Festival and Burns Night, to illustrate the cultural and economic significance of these activities. It also touches upon the negative aspects of event organization, such as increased costs and potential corruption. The report emphasizes the importance of destination marketing in attracting tourists and generating revenue, concluding with a comprehensive overview of the key aspects of festival and event tourism in the UK context.

ROLE OF FESTIVAL
AND EVENT TOURISM

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Relationship between culture, heritage and festivals and events...........................................1
Advantages of festival and events at local, regional and national levels...............................2
Role of UK public sector policy in festival and event tourism development.........................3
Importance of Destination Branding/ Marketing...................................................................4
Need to develop balanced and strategic event portfolios.......................................................5
Critique a recognised strategic planning approach for the development of festival and events
tourism....................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Festival and Event Tourism are prominent aspects of tourism activities globally. While
event tourism is associated with adoption of tourism activities for some specific event, festival
tourism refers to tourism activities for some certain festivals (Akhoondnejad, 2016). The
following project is based upon role of festivals and event tourism. It covers analysis of broad
spectrum of festivals and how they relate to culture, heritage and tourism and evaluation of the
nature of public sector policies for festivals and event tourism. It also covers strategic planning
framework for development of festivals and event tourism.
Relationship between culture, heritage and festivals and events
Culture refers to amalgamation of behaviour, norms, values, beliefs within the citizen of
the country. It is an expression shows by the people by doing dance, music, rituals, religions etc.
Besides this, heritages spell all the qualities which the country has in their traditions that have
been passing over the years. Both the above mentioned point make the national festival in which
they share their experiences like foundation Europe day etc. Modern day trends in tourism have
shown the world that culture, heritage, events are one of the most important elements of the
tourism and its industry. Every tourist in the world now wants to learn about every country they
visit as it magnifies their trip in a positive way. Besides this, events play secondary part in the
destination visit in which it assist the tourist to enhance their engagement experience with the
country. There are many examples in which festivals and events organised in the country shows
culture for it.
For instance, One of the best dance festival in the world organised in Gujarat India with
the aim of celebrating the modhera sun temple by showing the past of the country. This
mesmerizing festivals held in the month of January every year and attracts thousands of tourist
all around the globe (Fairs and Festivals of India, 2019). Other eyes catching example is in
Scotland, UK is burns night in which country celebrate the great legendary poet Robbie burns.
Citizen of Scotland organised dinner on the burns night in which they eat haggis which is
traditional country's dish which includes sheep heart, liver, lungs, taties etc. Women wear gowns
and male counterpart wear kilts and ready their poetry, listen traditional music and dance etc.
(Burns Night, 2019). Main aim of celebrating this type of festivals is to enjoy their culture and be
proud it by doing traditionalism things. At last is the Bunkum Mela which is one the biggest
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gathering in the planet which happens every three years’ gap. This Mela held in Praygraj in India
where they worship their God Shiva. It held in different places of India like Banaras, Haridwar,
Ujjain and Praygraj. Reason behind this culture and heritage festivals is in which Lord Brahma
advice Shiva started churning of nectar of immortality and could not share with any other
Asuras. People has a belief that some portion of the nectar fell in these four mentioned positions
(10 Surprising Things about the Bunkum, 2019).
It is expected from the sources that more than 150 million people will visit this events
from more than 100 countries in the world (Whopping 150 million expected to attend, greater
than population of 100 countries combined, 2019). One of the famous festivals in UK is Totally
Thames festivals which is organised by the government of UK and arts council of England.
Festival main motto is to enjoy and share their culture experiences by performing art, films,
performance etc along side the river from Westminster. Mission of organising this festival is to
appreciate the efforts done by the river to smooth-en their life as it is the largest river in the UK
which provides shelter to many species, flaura and fauna etc (THE MAYOR’S THAMES
FESTIVAL, 2019). But government and people should take care that while promoting their
cultural and events they should considered about the environment and try to enhance it instead of
deteriorating.
Advantages of festival and events at local, regional and national levels
Tourism plays an essential part in the development of country and their various sectors as
it produces small and medium enterprise to grow, creation of job to many unemployed people,
enhancement in the infrastructure etc. (Getz and Page, 2016). There are many positive aspects of
tourism to the local economy which is explained below,
 It creates employment for people as it requires high number of workforce to organise an
event for a longer period of time. For instance, UK music festival has generated more
than 1.7 billion euro in 2014 and apart from this more than 13,500 full time jobs are also
created for it (THE IMPACT OF BRITISH MUSIC FESTIVALS, 2015)
 Festivals organised at the local level helps local citizens to start their business by doing
cooking traditional foods to tourist, selling various heritage ornaments in exchange of
monetary value.
Regional level
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It has the main benefits to the regional level as it assists them to increase their tourist in
the territory which generates high amount of profits to the government. It also increases
sustainability of income of the people living there, besides this market will grow due to which
chances of more jobs is high (Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth, 2013). For instance,
Glastonbury is the 5 day festival which happen in Somerset, England and have attracted more
than 175, 000 people all around the world. It leads to better flow of money in the region level
due to which living standard and disposable income of citizen enhances to a certain level (Best
UK Festivals 2019, 2019)
National level
This factor is connected with the economic impact of the festival in the country tourist
spends their money to the local level which generates money for the country. For instance,
tourism sector in UK assist main economy by contributing more than 3.7% of GDP in 2017
which will rise with the average of 2.1% in 2018. Along with this, it also reduced unemployment
rate of UK to a certain level as it creates 4,055,000 jobs in 2017 which will rise to 4,113,500 jobs
in 2018 i.e., 11.8% of total employment (DEFINING THE ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF
TRAVEL & TOURISM, 2019). So it can be said in the last then it assists country to enhance their
financial situations so that they can become the global leader.
Negative aspects
But on the other side there are some negative aspects of organising event and festivals
like increase in the price of land where it is happening, more money is charged by the local just
for the sake of earning money, corruption while organising it etc. low pay to the workers
(Employment Opportunities and Challenges, 2016).
Role of UK public sector policy in festival and event tourism development
Tourism in an industry is a very important and crucial activity as it adds to prosperity and
growth of a country. Public sector consists of those organisations which are directly controlled
by government There is a crucial role of UK public sector policy in event and festival tourism.
The public sector policy sets out various reforms in relation to governance of event and festival
tourism. It has stated various agendas which are required to enhance festival and event tourism
within the country. For instance, it aims at funding ambitious and promising marketing campaign
which helps the country in attracting visitors globally. Moreover, the policy also sets out
strategies which aims at enhancing proportion of residents within the country that participate in
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UK's event and festival tourism, for instance, UK music festival, then those who participate on
global levels.
UK public sector policy also strains at bringing tourism bodies within the countries
together which would help and assist them in working together to enhance value of event and
festival tourism within the nation. Moreover, to a certain extent the policy stresses at the aspect
that partnerships must be formed between public sector and local attractions and businesses
which would allow strengthening the scope of event and festival tourism effectively.
Development of festival and event tourism is one of the major concern for UK public
sector policy. For instance, the Notting Hill Carnival within the UK have witnessed various
political changes on various factors within the festival such as density of people and public
safety, presence of security and police, provision of facilities, location and routes associated with
travelling to and from the festival, etc. UK public sector policies effectively emphasises on
development of local and regional festivals in order to enhance festival and event tourism at
national level.
All the dynamics which are being adopted by the UK public sector policy focuses
appropriately on development of events and festival tourism. From involvement of local
authorities, to activities being held, to funding, etc. all these activities are rightfully addressed in
the policy. The main agenda satisfied the same through its various steps and strategies is to
develop the scope of these tourism activities and enhance these activities on a global level.
There are various strategies which are adopted by UK public sector policy to develop
event and festival tourism. For instance, these tourism are treated not just as an aspect for
tourism development but also there are separate events and arts strategy for the same. Such
diverse strategies are being adopted to develop these events and festivals to further enhance the
scope for such activities in the nation.
Importance of Destination Branding/ Marketing
Within tourism, it is imperative that each destination which is prosperous for tourist
activities are marketed well. UK is being treated as one of the most amazing tourism destination
lately. With rise in social media, more regional as well as local level destinations are seeing the
light of the day and are attracting visitors from various parts of the world.
Destination marketing refers to all the activities which are associated with promoting a
destination. The sole agenda of such marketing is to attract more tourists to spend their holidays
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within these locations. Another purpose which it effectively accomplished is building up loyalty
within these visitors which enhances frequency of their visits in the country.
The most importance aspect of destination branding within the country is that it enhances
perception of cities and effectively. It enhances the possibility of acceleration in workforce and
tourism business development. London, Bath, Edinburgh, etc. are all effectively top destinations
within the UK which possess adequate tourism opportunities and attraction points. Destination
marketing would enhance the scope of visitors preferring these destinations above all.
On the economical front, destination marketing assists in creating jobs for local
individuals and generate appropriate tax revenue. This helps in creating an interests in visitors
which develops tourism activities in these areas. Moreover, to further enhance the effect, local
suppliers could help companies in creating interesting and valuable packages which interests the
travellers and tourists. Moreover, cross-promotional campaigns could appropriately be developed
which would further encourage tourists in spending time within that specific destination.
It also enhances the scope of competition. This is because various tourism destination
provides similar services to visitors which might be threatening in development of activities in
those destinations. Destination branding with appropriate and effective promotional activities
would develop the ability of these places to motivate further tourists towards the nation and its
destinations (Yolal and et. al., 2016).
Lastly, destination marketing strategies applied by the companies allows them to assess
available resources and required ones which would help generate maximum ROI. For instance,
various technologies related to tourism could help in attracting a huge number of tourists to
experience these activities. Moreover, it helps in festivals and event tourism too as it helps in
raising awareness of people in regards with cultural importance and emphasis of these events.
Thus, it is crucial for various cities and local spots to adopt destination marketing to enhance the
scope of tourism activities in their area.
Need to develop balanced and strategic event portfolios
Decades ago, tourism was only based upon hospitality, accommodation, entertainment
and transportation sector with a number of attractions for visitors such as amusement and theme
parks, museums, sports amenities being at the heart of this industry. People generally perceived
the meaning of tourism with that until festival and event managers and organizers understood
that there existed a scope for tapping an area which is not yet explored by any business or sector.
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In today's dynamic and modern world, tourists not only travel for relaxation or leisure but also
for entertainment purpose. They travel for the purpose of attending a workshop, meeting,
conference, event, festival etc. These are the personnel who have largely contributed towards the
development and growth of festival and event tourism industry across the globe (Todd, Leask
and Ensor, 2017).
Every year, innumerable events are planned for and organised across the world which
attract tourists towards the destination. In this regard, various festivals and events that take place
within United Kingdom are Notting Hill Carnival (London), Hogmanay (Edinburgh), Diwali
(Leicester), Robin Hood Festival (Sherwood Forest) (Geus, Richards and Toepoel, 2016). To
successfully organise these, destinations are now focussing upon figuring out the potential of the
events in relation to achievement of tourist and economic goals and objectives. In order to do so,
event managers or organizers need a strategic and developed portfolio approach. This is
moreover similar to the manner in which an organisation strategically and practically analyses
and develops their line of goods or services. This is a value-based as well as goal-driven
approach which is necessary for deciding upon what destinations desire and demand from
festivals and events.
The basic thought and idea associated with use of portfolio approach is that destinations
as well as tourist enterprises need to use a strategic and balanced strategy for the management of
events according to the perspectives of tourists and tourism. The contents of the festival and
event portfolio or the planning for developing the destinations as per the needs and demands of
tourists ought to be done owing to strategic planning instead of unrelated and random decision
making. Portfolio approach can be referred to as the set of sequenced events which any
destination has the capacity and audacity to offer while keeping in consideration the aspects such
as costs, cultural values, market share as well as profitability (Mariani and Giorgio, 2017). Every
event should possess the capability to meet different goals and objectives associated with
development of festival and event tourism. Destinations need to develop the portfolio approach
in accordance with the type, attraction and season of the tourism industry as well as the tourist
market. The aim here is to lead to achievement of specified tourist and tourism values.
Professionals and academicians are of the belief that the major significance and role of the
portfolio approach is to attract maximum number of new tourists in order to retain them for a
long time and look forward to the growth and sustainability of festival and event tourism.
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Balanced and strategic event portfolios are basically devised and developed on the basis
of one universal principle. All the events that are organised across the globe have local
importance and recognition as well as tourists yet only a few of them are actually able to create a
massive tourist demand. Thus, the hierarchy of events is going to be present in any type of
destination with majority of events possessing little or negligible direct tourists attraction
irrespective of the type or form of event. In this context, regional and local events which are
located at the lower part of the portfolio model can not be of excessive significance for the
destination reputation and stake while the mega and hallmark events that are at the higher part
have an enormous tourist attraction. Mega and hall mark events have a long term and massive
impact upon the attractiveness and brand image of the destination (Lundberg and et. al., 2017).
At the bottom of the portfolio triangle are local events which have incredibly low value
and demand. These events are generally small as well as organised periodically or at times only
once. The second group of events within this model are the regional events which have moderate
value and tourist demand. Regional events can also be organised periodically or just for a single
time. The third group in the portfolio is hallmark events which have higher value and tourist
demand. Situated at the peak of this triangle are mega events which possess highest value along
with tourist demand. This portfolio model devised and used by event organisers are capable of
demonstrating that the measures for value can be market share, quality, image, community
support, environmental significance, economic merits, adequateness, appropriateness and
sustainability. This is an effective tool for effective evaluation and planning. It renders
information about the ways in which planning can be done to improve and enhance their
portfolio of events so as to maximise tourist value (Laing, 2018).
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(Source: Portfolio Approach, 2019)
Critique a recognised strategic planning approach for the development of festival and events
tourism
One of the strategic planning approaches for the development of festival and events
tourism is the portfolio approach. Though this approach has many benefits, it also faces a lot of
criticism from academicians and professionals. This approach does not take into account the
action plan which is necessary for dealing with any unfavourable or adverse events that may take
place during the course of event or festival organisation or management (Bowdin and et. al.,
2011).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded that festival and event tourism have prominent role in enhancing
tourism activities within a country. Culture, heritage, festivals and events are all interrelated and
share a contributing and complimentary relationships. Festivals and event tourism have quite
extensive benefits on all local, regional and national levels. UK public sector policy too has a
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Illustration 1: Portfolio Approach

very crucial role in development of event and festival tourism. Moreover, destination marketing
is very important in enhancing these activities within a country. In addition, there is a vital need
of developing balanced and strategic event portfolios for tourism activities and lastly, critical
evaluation of strategic planning approach for development of events and festival tourism is
important to determine shortcomings and enhance the scope of overcoming the same.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akhoondnejad, A., 2016. Tourist loyalty to a local cultural event: The case of Turkmen
handicrafts festival. Tourism Management. 52. pp.468-477.
Getz, D. and Page, S. J., 2016. Progress and prospects for event tourism research. Tourism
management. 52. pp.593-631.
Geus, S. D., Richards, G. and Toepoel, V., 2016. Conceptualisation and operationalisation of
event and festival experiences: Creation of an event experience scale. Scandinavian
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. 16(3). pp.274-296.
Laing, J., 2018. Festival and event tourism research: Current and future perspectives. Tourism
management perspectives. 25. pp.165-168.
Lundberg, E. and et. al., 2017. The Value of Events. Taylor & Francis.
Mariani, M. M. and Giorgio, L., 2017. The “Pink Night” festival revisited: Meta-events and the
role of destination partnerships in staging event tourism. Annals of Tourism Research.
62. pp.89-109.
Todd, L., Leask, A. and Ensor, J., 2017. Understanding primary stakeholders' multiple roles in
hallmark event tourism management. Tourism management. 59. pp.494-509.
Yolal, M. and et. al., 2016. Impacts of festivals and events on residents’ well-being. Annals of
Tourism Research. 61. pp.1-18.
Bowdin, G. and et. al., 2011. Events manage.
Online
10 Surprising Things about the Bunkum. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.thebetterindia.com/55090/10-facts-kumbh-mela/>
Best UK Festivals 2019. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/gallery/best-uk-festivals-guide>
Burns Night. 2019. [Online]. Available Through: <https://www.scotland.org/events/burns-night>
Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth. 2013. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/bc_chig_report_final.pdf>
DEFINING THE ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF TRAVEL & TOURISM. 2017. [Online].
Available Through: <https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-
research/countries-2018/unitedkingdom2018.pdf>
Employment Opportunities and Challenges. 2016. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.longdom.org/open-access/employment-opportunities-and-challenges-in-
tourism-and-hospitalitysectors-2167-0269-1000256.pdf>
Fairs and Festivals of India. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.holidify.com/pages/fairs-and-festivals-of-india-1677.html>
THE IMPACT OF BRITISH MUSIC FESTIVALS. 2015. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://ahrc.ukri.org/documents/project-reports-and-reviews/connected-communities/
impact-of-music-festivals/>
Whopping 150 million expected to attend, greater than population of 100 countries combined.
2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/kumbha-mela-2019-whopping-150-
million-expected-to-attend-greater-than-population-of-100-countries-combined/
1417572/>
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THE MAYOR’S THAMES FESTIVAL. 2019. [Online]. Available Through: <https://www.sarova-
rembrandthotel.com/mayors-thames-festival-2014/>
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