A conjoint analysis of festival attributes for successful positioning of selected arts festivals in South Africa

Arts festivals are common happenings in South Africa. Despite the significant growth in the number and size of festivals and events, relatively little research is available on the arts festival package. This article determines which attributes and combination of attributes would drive the best practices of arts festivals. Three main arts festivals were studied, selecting like- minded respondents from among festival attendeeson a scenario basis. Five different attributes describing arts festivals were developed, namely festival brands, ticket prices, entertainment activities, food and beverages (refreshments) and transport to venues. Conjoint analysis was used in a linear regression model with individual ratings for each festival product averaging r-squares of 0.83 in the study. The results reveal similarities regarding the attributes of transport and ticket prices and differ regarding the attribute of entertainment activities. Festivals A and B favoured the attribute level quality music while Festival C favoured quality performances. The attribute of food and beverages (refreshments) indicated that Festivals B and C both prefer the attribute level value for money, while Festival A prefers the attribute level a wide variety of good quality as the best possible combination of attributes for successful positioning.