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Networking is an important managerial skill and small businesses and businesses that are operated in informal settings, such as those of the festival entrepreneur, need to concentrate on building strong relationships with the role players in their networks in order to survive, thrive and to enhance their competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current level of networking skills and to determine the perceptions of entrepreneurs of their current networking relationships. The tourism industry, which is regarded as a people's industry, needs high levels of networking skills to meet customer needs and expectations. Networking can therefore be seen as a key success factor. The Grahamstown National Arts festival is South Africa's oldest arts festival and was chosen, first because of the economic impact it has and, second, tourism and entrepreneurship are considered as key developmental issues in South Africa.

A quantitative study (structured questionnaire) was used to achieve the goal of the study and 137 festival entrepreneurs participated. A factor analysis was conducted with an Oblimin rotation to determine the factors that correlate most strongly with each other.

The main findings indicated that becoming a festival entrepreneur is a career choice and, second, that relationships and trust are important aspects of networking behaviour.

It is very important to investigate entrepreneurial behaviour in terms of networking practices at festivals. This research might help festival organisers to better understand and support the entrepreneurs conducting their business at these festivals and the organisers can offer services to support these networking efforts by offering courses, networking opportunities and engagement on higher levels of festival management. This research might also assist in the development of tourism curriculums which focus on event tourism.

Community-run festivals are an emerging giant in the tourism industry. Nowadays many local festivals have emerged with the specific objectives of celebrating local culinary traditions, establishing business and trade of local products and developing sustainable destinations. Local events can influence the destination image, enabling the growth of tourist flows and stimulate destination marketing organizations to differentiate their own destination products from those of competitors. Two main aspects are analyzed: the main characteristics of local events and the influence of local festival on destination image. Moreover, the economic impact of festivals on the community and the main tourism management strategies adopted by managers are investigated. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications deriving from the chapter are discussed.

The tourism industry in South Africa today faces the dual challenges of finding ways to extend tourism spending into previously marginalised communities and to redress the imbalances in cultural representations of those communities. The legacy of formal racial segregation is extremely difficult to reverse. The study investigated the potential of Edu-tourism to fundamentally change tourism dynamics. This approach targets young, intelligent, ‘new tourists’ who choose different types of visitor experiences and contribute to changing the way South Africans value and use their own cultures. The method used included requiring students to design tourist packages, in consultation with tour guides, visitors and local community members. The outcomes provide stimulation for new research, widely distributed income generation and building bridges between divided communities.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of online communication by festivals regarding their sustainability practices using Cultivation Theory as the framework to determine perceived value creation.

A mixed method approach was utilized to achieve data triangulation through a content analysis of websites, content analysis of social media sites as well as interviews.

Findings indicated that 64% of festivals did not communicate any sustainable practices through their websites and only 6% communicated via social media. The most common sustainability practices communicated were waste management and sustainable transportation, yet few festivals engaged in effective, consistent and sufficient marketing of initiatives to festivalgoers. Best practice festivals (having communicated 5.47 initiatives or more) were found to have been significantly more likely than non-best practice festivals to be music festivals and have been in operation longer. Best practice festivals were also more likely than non-best practice festivals to have sustainability engrained into their corporate philosophy via a communicated sustainable vision and mission. Interviews revealed that most festivals did not have a designated role responsible for all sustainable initiatives and the responsibility was often taken on by volunteers or festival organizers. Festival organizers that communicated sustainability initiatives efficiently, consistently, and sufficiently perceived these efforts to benefit the festivals value amongst festivalgoers and host communities. Propensity to communicate sustainability initiatives was found to have been impacted by awareness, categorization, timing, policy and funding.

While the findings are limited to the country of Canada and the extent of communication on websites and social media platforms as well as those festivals who participated, interviews helped to overcome these limitations as they gained an understanding of what was undertaken but not necessarily communicated.

The findings generated from this study could be used as a guide for establishing a benchmark for festivals regarding sustainable communication as well as strategies for overall corporate responsibility. Content regarding sustainability at festivals is scarce, as is information on festival communication. As a result, this paper seeks to understand the sustainable initiatives that are being communicated by festivals.

This is the first time Cultivation Theory was used within a tourism context and may be a useful tool to determine value creation. Through Cultivation Theory, festival organizers believed to have the ability to impact perceived value of the festival by implementing efficient, consistent and sufficient communication of sustainability initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to describe a novel tool (conjoint analysis (CA)) for application by explaining the theory behind it; second, how the tool was developed; and third, how it can be used to ensure an optimal festival/event offering. In this way, the research needed on the individual behavioural and psychological factors of the events-tourism sector are addressed.

Planned events in this case the three largest arts festivals in South Africa (SA) (in Potchefstroom – Festival A, Grahamstown – Festival B and Oudtshoorn – Festival C) were studied. Five different attributes – festival brands, ticket prices, entertainment activities, food and beverages and transport to venues – were developed to describe arts festivals. The data were analysed using CA. CA was used in a linear regression model with individual ratings for each arts festival product. In addition, two techniques often used as complementary to and in conjunction with CA, namely, cluster and correspondence analysis were also used. K-means clustering constructed a four-factor solution, which categorised and labelled the attributes as, brand-, price-, activity- and transport-sensitive. The software package STATISTICA used the results for the correspondence analysis to draw maps between the arts festivals and attribute importance, age groups and festival attributes, arts festivals and language.

Festival A and B preferred the attribute level quality music, whilst Festival C preferred quality performances on the attribute entertainment. On the attribute refreshments, Festivals B and C preferred value for money and Festival A, a wide variety of good quality refreshments. On the attributes transport and ticket prices, all three festivals agreed for safe and secure parking and at the same price.

This paper demonstrates, by applying the recommended tool, how it can be used to distinguish festivals/events in an overcrowded SA market with the possibility of providing a competitive advantage. In that all three festivals researched preferred the attribute festival brand held in the region which destination marketing organisations (DMOs) can use to their advantage.

This paper demonstrates, by applying the recommended tool, how it can be used to distinguish festivals/events in an overcrowded SA market with the possibility of providing a competitive advantage. In that all three festivals researched preferred the attribute festival brand held in the region which DMOs can use to their advantage.

The description of the development of the model could illustrate how market positioning (by way of revitalizing older theories), in the arts festival context can be approached to ensure an optimal arts festival offering. By so doing the paper strives to make an academic contribution.

Previous studies on tourism input-output (IO) primarily focus on a single year’s snapshot or utilize outdated IO coefficients. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the multi-period development of regional tourism capacities and its influence on the magnitude of the industry’s regional economic contribution. The paper highlights the importance of applying up-to-date IO coefficients to avoid estimation bias typically found in previous studies on tourism’s economic contribution.

For the period 2008-2014, national IO tables are regionalized to estimate direct and indirect economic effects for output, employment, income and other value-added deffects. A comparison of Leontief inverse matrices is conducted to quantify estimation bias when using outdated models for analyzing tourism’s economic contribution.

On the one hand, economic linkages strengthened, especially for labour-intensive sectors. On the other hand, sectoral recessions in 2012 and 2014 led to an economy-wide decline of indirect effects, although tourists’ consumption was still increasing. Finally, estimation bias observed after applying an outdated IO model is quantified by approximately US$4.1m output, 986 jobs full-time equivalents, US$24.8m income and US$14.8m other value-added effects.

Prevailing assumptions on IO modelling and regionalization techniques aim for more precise survey-based approaches and computable general equilibrium models to incorporate net changes in economic output. Results should be cross-validated by means of qualitative interviews with industry representatives.

Additional costs for generating IO tables on an annual base clearly pay off when considering the improved accuracy of estimates on tourism’s economic contribution.

This study shows that tourism IO studies should apply up-to-date IO models when estimating the industry’s economic contribution. It provides evidence that applying outdated models involve the risk of estimation biases, because annual changes of multipliers substantially influence the magnitude of effects.

The Comrades Marathon is a world‐renowned ultra marathon that takes place yearly between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa. It attracts athletes from around the world, and boasts a participation of more than 14,000. The purpose of this article is to determine the impact that this marathon has on the provincial economy – a manufacturing‐based economy.

Spending data of participants and their accompanying spectators were compiled by means of surveys and participants were split into categories based on their origin. The provincial Social Accounting Matrix is used to quantify the impact of this spending stimulus on production, income and job creation within the province.

The results show that Comrades Marathon contributes significantly to the provincial economy and that more than 600 jobs are dependent on the event.

It has a larger impact on the local economy than many similar sport events and this is attributed to the specialised nature of the event as well as its status as an ultra‐marathon.

This research is one of few on ultra‐marathons and the focus is on participants’ spending behaviour during the event.

The play text, You Strike the Woman, You Strike the Rock, (Klotz, 1994) takes its title from a protest slogan ‘Wathint Abafazi’Wathint’. This slogan is associated with the Women’s Protest March in 1956, the largest mass gathering of women in South African herstory where women gathered to demonstrate peacefully against the imposition of pass laws on black South African women. The play recalls the story of the Women’s March and their courage as they fought against the imposition of the pass laws and is based on the lives of three women, Sdudla, Mampompo and Mambhele who sell chickens, vetkoek and oranges near a taxi rank in the squatter camp of Crossroads in Cape Town. Sdudla is the political activist who tries throughout the play to politicise both Mampompo and Mamphlele by making frequent references to the Women’s March and recalling the defiance and strength of the women who went on that March. What You Strike the Woman You Strike the Rock does is firstly to emphasise and explore the personal experiences, and perspectives of three women and, importantly, to represent a break from tradition, secondly to use consciousness-raising as a way for the women to talk about their experiences; to offer their testimony and, thirdly, to use the process as a bonding experience.