The ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) is one of the biggest and most popular
Afrikaans arts festivals in South Africa, and since its modest beginnings in 1994, the festival has
grown significantly with an estimated 85518 visitors attending the festival in 2010. The festival
furthermore has a considerable economic impact on the host community of Oudtshoorn and the
surrounding regions. The direct spending by festival visitors during the 2010 festival was estimated
at R109.7 million, that consists of tickets bought at the festival, memorabilia, food, restaurants and
beverages, transport, accommodation and entertainment. Benefits associated with these spending
patterns include an increase in job opportunities for the residents, more entertainment
opportunities, improvement of residents’ lifestyles and opportunities for expanding businesses to
name but a few. However, the number of tickets bought for shows and productions at the KKNK
has decreased drastically over the last six years, visitor numbers have decreased and this will
result in a decrease in the total revenue and economic impact this festival has on the local
community of Oudtshoorn. Therefore, the festival needs to be managed in a sustainable way
through improving the entertainment offered at the festival. The festival guide and promotion
material should be designed in such a way that they meet the needs of visitors and offers the
necessary information services to create a unique festival experience for visitors. The specific
services visitors need must be provided, such as shuttle services and security.
The purpose of this research is to identify the key success factors (KSFs) in managing the visitors’
experience at the KKNK. To achieve this, a quantitative survey was done by distributing 500
questionnaires amongst the visitors to the festival in 2010 from the 1st to the 8th of April. A total of
443 completed questionnaires were received back.
In Chapter 2, an analysis on the background and different theories of event tourism, special events,
arts festivals, management and KSFs were investigated. Previous studies on the KSFs were also
identified which rendered valuable and proved that different tourism operations including events
and arts festivals have different KSFs. Furthermore, this analysis revealed that there exist different
markets with their own individual needs and reasons for attending the arts festivals and therefore
have their own expectations of what needs to be included in a unique festival experience.
Chapter 3 consists of Article 1, and the main purpose of this article was to identify the various key
success factors visitors to the KKNK see as important in satisfying their needs and providing a
unique festival experience. A factor analysis was performed and identified the following KSFs:
Safety and Personnel, Marketing and Accessibility, Venues, Accommodation and Ablutions,
General aspects and Social impact, Parking and Restaurants and Shows and Stalls. The results
indicated that professional staff, adequate safety and emergency services, clear indications, easy
accessible venues, quality accommodation, affordable children activities, quality food providers and
a variety of shows are important KSFs to provide visitors with an unforgettable festival experience.
Chapter 4’s (Article 2) main purpose was to divide or segment visitors to the KKNK based on their
travel motivation to attend the festival and their rating of the importance of the KSFs into separate
markets. This purpose was achieved by performing a factor analysis on the travel motivations to
identify the main travel motives for visitors to attend the KKNK, this was followed by a cluster
analysis based on the travel motives where three clusters were identified namely Escapists,
Festival Junkies and Culture seekers. The clusters festival organisers should focus their
management skills and resources on are the Festival Junkies and Culture Seekers. After
performing ANOVA and Chi–square tests the results showed statistically significant differences
between the three clusters based on age, years attended the festival, length of stay, total spending,
all the KSFs, gender and rock shows as visitors preferred type of show or production. The results
therefore reveal that there are three different markets based on their travel motives who attend the
KKNK, furthermore each of these three clusters has their own preferences, characteristics and
ratings on which KSF will contribute in enhancing their festival experience.
This was the first study of its kind in South Africa. Therefore, it contributes to the event
management literature. Festival organisers can also use the results of this research to improve the
KKNK’s sustainability and success by applying the KSFs and increase tickets sales for shows and
productions, attract a younger market and attract visitors who spend more at the festival, by
providing for the needs of specific markets and creating a unique festival experience for each
visitor. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/7335 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Erasmus, Lourens Johannes Jacobus |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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