Literature indicates that events like a wine festival have many role players involved that need each other for them to be successful. The more role players there are, the more complex the event becomes, as in the case of the Wacky Wine Festival which is spread over 48 wine farms. The most important role players are the visitors and wine farmers that represent the demand and supply side of the festival. Local enterprises, wine farmers and the festival organisers put a lot of effort into the event, such as their time, money and skills. It is essential for these role players to know that they will get a return on their investment and for the host community to know that the festival will make a contribution to their local economy. Furthermore, literature indicates that the festival can improve the economic position of the role players by targeting the high spending market through intensive marketing that focuses on this particular segment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of the Wacky Wine Festival to the local economy and to compile a profile of the heavy spender. To achieve the latter, a quantitative study was carried out by means of two surveys via questionnaires that were handed out to both the visitor and wine farmer. The data was then captured in Microsoft© Excel©. In Article 1 (Chapter 2) the sales multiplier effect and an analytical framework were used to determine the contribution of the festival to the host community. In Article 2 (Chapter 3) different tests and analyses were used to compile a profile of the heavy spender such as the K–means clustering, Chi–Squared, the Mann–Whitney non–parametric test and an ANOVA analysis. The results from Article 1 (Chapter 2) showed that the Wacky Wine Festival had an positive economic contribution of an estimated R29.9 million to the host community`s economy. From a demand and supply point of view, the visitors contributed R15.4 million and the wine farmers R6 million. From the results, it could be derived that the festival had low leakages in comparison with other festivals. iii The results from Article 2 (Chapter 3) indicated that the heavy and low spenders differ in terms of gender, language, age, occupation, number of people paying for in travelling group, residence and number of days spent at the festival. It was clear from the results that if the festival organisers and wine farmers focus marketing strategies on the high spending segment, this can lead to a R10 million increase in the Wacky Wine Festival’s revenue, thus improving the economic contribution of the event to the local economy of Robertson. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Literature indicates that events like a wine festival have many role players involved that need each other for them to be successful. The more role players there are, the more complex the event becomes, as in the case of the Wacky Wine Festival which is spread over 48 wine farms. The most important role players are the visitors and wine farmers that represent the demand and supply side of the festival. Local enterprises, wine farmers and the festival organisers put a lot of effort into the event, such as their time, money and skills. It is essential for these role players to know that they will get a return on their investment and for the host community to know that the festival will make a contribution to their local economy. Furthermore, literature indicates that the festival can improve the economic position of the role players by targeting the high spending market through intensive marketing that focuses on this particular segment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of the Wacky Wine Festival to the local economy and to compile a profile of the heavy spender. To achieve the latter, a quantitative study was carried out by means of two surveys via questionnaires that were handed out to both the visitor and wine farmer. The data was then captured in Microsoft© Excel©. In Article 1 (Chapter 2) the sales multiplier effect and an analytical framework were used to determine the contribution of the festival to the host community. In Article 2 (Chapter 3) different tests and analyses were used to compile a profile of the heavy spender such as the K–means clustering, Chi–Squared, the Mann–Whitney non–parametric test and an ANOVA analysis. The results from Article 1 (Chapter 2) showed that the Wacky Wine Festival had an positive economic contribution of an estimated R29.9 million to the host community`s economy. From a demand and supply point of view, the visitors contributed R15.4 million and the wine farmers R6 million. From the results, it could be derived that the festival had low leakages in comparison with other festivals. iii The results from Article 2 (Chapter 3) indicated that the heavy and low spenders differ in terms of gender, language, age, occupation, number of people paying for in travelling group, residence and number of days spent at the festival. It was clear from the results that if the festival organisers and wine farmers focus marketing strategies on the high spending segment, this can lead to a R10 million increase in the Wacky Wine Festival’s revenue, thus improving the economic contribution of the event to the local economy of Robertson. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.