An exploration into local resident attendance and nonattendance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Motivations and constraints
Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation is to explore local resident attendance and non
attendance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (EFF) in order to determine motivations
and constraining factors. While it has been identified in the literature that research is
lacking on constraints on attendance at events and festivals, research on festival
motivation is well established. Moreover, the studies surrounding festival motivation
have largely focused on the tourist visitor as opposed to the host community.
Therefore, this study focuses on the residents of Edinburgh. The methodological
approach taken for this study was quantitative and an online survey was employed as
it enabled a larger sample size to be attained from both groups of resident attendees
and non-attendees. The online survey was distributed on social networking sites and
a total of 228 responses were collected.
The results of this study confirmed links with previous literature of festival motivations
and constraints on resident’s attendance at festivals. Results indicate that overall, the
sample of residents overwhelmingly do attend the EFF. Additionally, results confirmed
that common motives were evident as the motivation dimensions for attending the
festival were event novelty, cultural exploration and family togetherness. Results
indicated that residents are constrained to attend the festival by external factors
including finance and transportation. The study concludes by offering
recommendations for future research and examining whether the research achieved
the objectives.
Although this study has assisted with providing an understanding of motivations and
constraints to local resident attendance at festivals, further research needs to be done
to compare these factors with demographic characteristics. This would offer greater
insight.