This study proposes an explorative model examining the visitors’ involvement during the participation to local food festivals held in small-sized peripheral destinations. A sample of 70 visitors attending to a popular event repeated annually in the municipality of Castellalto in Abruzzo region was surveyed and, through the application of three latent constructs borrowed by the experience economy theory, the active and passive involvement of event’s participants were tested on their overall perceptions. The application of a structural equation model reveals that the visitors’ overall perceptions are positively influenced by their active involvement during the event, where the most relevant determinants are those related to the hedonic and emotional dimension. The related policy implications are discussed.
Questo studio propone un modello esplorativo che esamina il coinvolgimento dei visitatori durante la partecipazione a eventi locali di tipo gastronomico realizzati in destinazioni periferiche di piccole dimensioni. È stato intervistato un campione di 70 visitatori partecipanti a un noto evento ripetuto annualmente nel comune di Castellalto in Abruzzo e, attraverso l’applicazione di tre costrutti latenti mutuati dalla teoria dell’economia dell’esperienza, è stato testato il coinvolgimento attivo e passivo dei partecipanti sulle loro percezioni complessive. L’applicazione di un modello di equazione strutturale rivela che le percezioni generali dei visitatori sono positivamente influenzate dal loro coinvolgimento attivo durante l’evento, dove i fattori determinanti più rilevanti sono quelli legati alla dimensione edonica ed emotiva. Si discutono le relative implicazioni di policy.
Tackling Territorial Fragilities: Does Visitors' Engagement Matter? The Active Involvement During Local Food Festivals
Di Matteo D
2020-01-01
Abstract
This study proposes an explorative model examining the visitors’ involvement during the participation to local food festivals held in small-sized peripheral destinations. A sample of 70 visitors attending to a popular event repeated annually in the municipality of Castellalto in Abruzzo region was surveyed and, through the application of three latent constructs borrowed by the experience economy theory, the active and passive involvement of event’s participants were tested on their overall perceptions. The application of a structural equation model reveals that the visitors’ overall perceptions are positively influenced by their active involvement during the event, where the most relevant determinants are those related to the hedonic and emotional dimension. The related policy implications are discussed.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.