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And Then There Was Another Festival…

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Small Town Tourism in South Africa

Part of the book series: The Urban Book Series ((UBS))

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Abstract

Festivals have become a major tool in the tourism development of many small towns. This chapter gives a brief discussion on the conceptual facets of events and festivals, followed by a review of festival research conducted in a South African small town context. As most of the research concentrated on the economic impacts festivals have on towns, a review and a critique of the economic impact methodologies are provided in the last section of the chapter. A summary of the findings by a selection of event impact studies in South Africa is presented. In economic terms, the National Arts Festival (NAF) in Grahamstown is by far the most successful festival in the country, followed by the KKNK. National art festivals generally attract most of the visitors from their catchment areas (immediate province and nearby provinces). Most of the festivals are attended by Afrikaans-speaking persons. Festival organisers often assign unrealistic values to the consequences of their festivals, and in some cases, they discard the economic impact assessments done to determine their festivals’ worth to the small town. The ability to lure the power elite to attend festivals remains the most formidable challenge for success.

Now it’s festivals, festivals everywhere. Big ones, small ones, wild ones, silly ones, dutiful ones, pretentious ones, phony ones. Many have lost purpose and direction, not to mention individual profile. Place a potted plant near the box office, double the ticket prices and—whoopee—we have a festival. (Bernheimer, 2003, quoted in Quinn, 2005: 939).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Art, art and music, dance, drama, film, general arts, key arts, jazz, music, agriculture, food, food and wine, cheese and wine, wine, identity-based, tourism, sport, special interest, other.

  2. 2.

    Methodological problems with I-O tables are that “these tables are published on a national level although the application is needed on a regional level; published tables may be outdated; economic assessors of events should be aware of the possible hindrance where the geographical area for which the results are reported on and that of the I-O table has no relation; when applying these models, limited, if any, price movements and supply constraints are accommodated; these models do not allow for any changes in the relationship between sectoral inputs and outputs; no integrated economic effects are taken into account; the assumption is made that the consumption preference of the host region equals that of tourists; impact estimates are often overestimated due to multipliers used that include consumption effects; the employment impact is often misinterpreted; capital expenditure not directly attributable to tourism is often included in the analysis; and value-added multipliers can be applied to spending that is calibrated in output terms” (Van Wyk et al., 2013: 149).

  3. 3.

    Typically tourism policy regarding events includes principles to minimise negative economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts; aims to generate greater economic benefits for local people and enhance the wellbeing of communities; improves working conditions and creates employment; involves local people in decision making; embraces diversity and contributes to conservation of natural and cultural heritage; creates enjoyable experiences by enabling visitors to connect meaningfully with residents; provides access for physically challenged people; and is culturally sensitive, encourages respect between eventgoers and hosts, and builds local pride and confidence (www.icrtourism.org).

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  1. Geography and Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Ronnie Donaldson

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Donaldson, R. (2018). And Then There Was Another Festival…. In: Small Town Tourism in South Africa. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68088-0_7

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