What is a Festival?

A Festival spans across nations and countries and continually occurs around the globe. Festivals are the quickest growing occasions. Festival occasions have just become an important section of tourism (hospitality)industry. (Y. H. Kim, M. Kim, and Goh, 2011) These occasions are a huge potential market which offers advantages to the travel industry. As indicated by Getz (2012), quoted by (Nordvall, Pettersson, Svensson, and Brown, 2014) "arranged occasions are live, get-togethers made to accomplish explicit results, including those identified with business, the economy, culture, society and climate" (p. 40).

The purpose for this report is to see whether there is a connection between fulfillment and the determination to revisit. That relationship can assist with characterizing which elements influence the customer’s satisfaction and in turn if their intention to return to the Taste of Newark. A survey of the attendee will be the data that is used to evaluate the relationship.

KEY WORDS

Satisfaction, Intent to Revisit, Food Festivals, Service.

INTRODUCTION

The hospitality industry is one of the world's largest industries today. According to the report of the World Tourism Organization, in 2015 there were about 1.186 billion international tourist arrivals around the world, an increase of 5% when compared to 1.133 billion in 2014. International tourism receipts increased to US$1,260 billion in 2015, corresponding to a rise in real terms of 4.4% from 2014 (World Tourism Organization, 2015).
In the case of that, food as an international topic attracts people around the world. The word " Foodie "is so in vogue. Events which provide food and beverage are prevalent. Food tourism has already taken place in the whole hospitality industry. Moreover, Socialization motivates people to attend events and interact with others. The growing number of people are willing to visit events.
Just like the rest of the world Newark, Delaware created their food festival called Taste of Newark. Every year for the past 13 years, Newark, Delaware, has held their annual Taste of Newark festival. The event was founded by Newark's then mayor, Vance Funk. The event is now co-chaired by the former mayor, Vance Funk, the current mayor, Polly Sierer, and the Chair of the University of the University of Delaware's Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, Dr Sheryl Kline. The Taste of Newark is held on Old College Lawn and provides vendors from nearly 50 of Newark's restaurants and wine distributors. The event even holds a cooking demonstration from a celebrity chef. Since this fifty dollar event started, it has supported the University of Delaware's departments of Hospitality Business Management and Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, The Downtown Newark Partnership, The Newark Alliance, and the restaurant in Attendance.
Since this event is such an essential part of supporting the Newark community we felt that researching the attendance of the festival would be a great way to ensure future Taste of Newark festivals for years to come. We decided that our research would be led by the following research objectives: What factors affect customer satisfaction? What factors affect the customer's intent to revisit the Taste of Newark? With the use of those objectives, we decided on the research question of What factors are most important to customer satisfaction that would encourage customers intent to revisit?
In this fiercely competitive market, organizations stakeholders and marketers need to avoid trapping themselves into the undifferentiated zone to meet various guest's' needs. Guests satisfaction is very crucial in the hospitality (tourism) industry because of hospitality industry marketers sale intangibles as well as tangibles.
Thus, It is necessary for stakeholders, hoteliers, and investors to know guests' behaviours to understand what the guest's satisfaction and intention to revisit.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction measurement plays an integral part in human's daily life and is one of the most significant parts when it comes to any business or organization. It can be described as the result of the subjective analysis that can exceed or meet personal expectations( Bloener & Kasper,1995).It is essential to understand different ways to boost customer satisfaction when it comes to food and beverage services. The overall American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) fell 0.3% for the third quarter--after almost two years of stalling scores--which brings the Index to a score of 75.7 on a 100-point scale. As a result, it appears it will be difficult for the US economy to look to strengthened consumer demand for a boost (ACSI, 2011). When it comes to food festivals, it is interesting to observe people's behaviours and how they react to the destination image. Service quality, behavioural intentions and satisfaction are correlated between each other and play a significant role in management field. One research found that there is a connection between overall visitors' satisfaction and behavioural intentions; they have also done the regression analysis of overall satisfaction as an independent variable affecting visitors' behavioural intentions as dependent variable. Satisfaction arises from the perceived attributes of the destination matching expectations(Ryan,1994).People who disliked the place and service are likely to spread negative comments around from attending the event or festival.
From the traditional tourism perspectives, food and its concept has grown into the ‘food
tourism’ and is now an important part for the tourist destination marketing and tourism as an industry (Kivela and Crotts, 2006; Kim et al., 2009). A great example of a food festival is Octoberfest, which takes place in Germany and is considered to be a tourist attraction of food and beverage consumption. Food and wine festivals can be considered one of the fastest growing types of tourism attractions and have an important impact on creating destination image. There can be various reasons that can influence customers' satisfaction like religion, mood, demographics, behaviour, motivators, an experience of others. The satisfaction level emerges from a sophisticated and complex data process with a comparison of expectation and actual experience in reality after purchasing or consuming a service or good (Oliver, 1980). Satisfaction can be viewed as the main forerunner of purchase-related feelings; it is known to result from positive stimulation and to affect following experiences(Oliver, 1993). Octoberfest is a great example of the festival where a huge amount of people attend and revisit every year. It brings a significant influence on the tourism industry as well as captured everyone's attention by having food, festivals, new trends being introduced, traditions and tastes.
Another research showed that one of the main reasons why people come back to the food festivals to hang out with their families and friends (47%); the second place was followed by relaxing and getting away from the daily routine(23.2%); the third was finished by tasting local food(20%)( Dorcic, Jelena & Suzana, Markovic & Pudić, Maria. (2015). Therefore, it is crucial to understand visitors' satisfaction to predict their intentions to revisit or repurchase, as well as increase the revenue of the business. Visitors are satisfied with attributes related to staff( helpfulness, kindness, knowledge, and promptness)and food( tastiness, quality, and price)(Dorcic, 2015).According to the research, improving the program, information and facilities are key factors that enhance visitors' satisfaction as it is connected with their behavioural intentions (Son & Lee 2011; Anil 2012; Esu,2014). It is not a secret that when guests have the high level of satisfaction, they are more likely to come back as well as spread word of mouth.

Intent to Revisit

Event organizers probably want to know how to participate with attendees to make them return to events (Y. H. Kim, M. Kim, & Goh, 2011). There is a research collecting data from various style visitors, and it illustrates the percentages of visiting food festival within twelve months. The research shows 56.8% of interviewees does not go to any food event in twelve months. 39.3% of them attends few times for the festivals, and 3.8% of them joins the festivals more than six times (Getz, Andersson, Vujicic, & Robinson, 2015). From the result, visitors less than half return back to festivals or attend other events in one year. On the other hand, people more than 50% do not join any food festival in a year. The study finds which factors impact on the revisiting of attendees. There are many factors influence the repeating of customers to food festivals. Satisfaction is one of the factors that effects on revisiting to the festivals and customer loyalty (Kim, Duncan, & Chung, 2015). Other factors influencing customers are probably the quality of product or service, festival atmosphere, festival value, motivation, etc. Moreover, visitors who have different demographics react in distinctive ways.
There is a case study about the relationship between sale promotion and customer's behaviours. The result shows the product quality is vital to customer's behaviours to increase their satisfaction (Kim, Duncan, & Chung, 2015). The promotion may attract customers for a short term, but the quality of the product can build customer's satisfaction for a long term. Also, the interaction between attendees possibly impacts on their festival satisfaction because many visitors tend to get benefits from connection and group entertainment. When they satisfy the overall festival, they are likely to return or recommend to others (Nordvall, Pettersson, Svensson, & Brown, 2014). Festival organizers should understand what visitors want to offer an excellent experience to them to reach customer's expectations.
Additionally, Kruger and Saayman (2013) demonstrate that difference between first-time and revisit attendees for an international jazz festival in South Africa relates to visitors' reaction to the festival. Their demography and their information about the festival also effect to their participation in various styles. The first-time attendees are quite younger and stay shorter. In contrast to revisiting attendees, they spend longer time, more purchase, more pleasure, and more knowledge about the festival. Moreover, returning visitors are more likely to have higher income, and they tend to repeat the festival. This result is similar to that of the Volksblad Arts Festival. Therefore, the result should be identical for visitors in food festivals. When the organizers understand who are revisit customers and what they want for events, planners can set those things to their events to retain those attendees.

The research studies several factors that affect to revisit to the Taste of Newark. There are tangible and intangible elements such as prompt service, food variety, engaging atmosphere, event staff helpfulness, event program and schedule, ticket price, and friendly service of event staff. &The research points out the most important factor influencing visitors to decide to return to the event for next time, and the study analyzes whether each factor relates to other factors. Numerous attendees tend to look at more than one criteria to decide for the festival.

Our hypothesis is as follows, based on our literature review and research objectives:

Hypothese 1: The helpfulness of the festive staff to the guests has a significant effect on their satisfaction of and future decision to revisit.

Hypothese 2: The quality of food has a significant effect on the satisfaction level of guests as well as their decision to revisit.

Hypothese 3: The general scheduling and programming of events in the festive highly affect the satisfaction of guests and their intent to revisit in future.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

All research works involve investigations, planning for the study needs to be done earlier for a sufficient research to be carried out. A method in a research proposal involves the selection of a method that will be used during the investigation and the actions that will be taken during the investigation of the research problem. When choosing the methodology, the following techniques and procedures are put into consideration; the way data is selected, the process of the data and the analysis of the information received about finding the solution to the problem.
Several studies on job satisfaction have been conducted using the same research methodology. For the research “Taste of Newark”, we used the qualitative approach, which included the data collection using the survey questions. The potential of survey research is that it enables the researcher to collect every kind of data to answer every question about the topic (Yin, 1994). Each group first created their own sample questions and afterwards fourteen final questions were chosen for the event. During the event, our group of five each had ten surveys which we had to give away during the festival; the questions consisted both of scale and multiple-choice answers. Guests participants were also sharing their experience as well as giving some verbal feedback on things that should be improved; along they were asked to drop their completed surveys at the end of the event in the box. The satisfaction part of our survey was based on scale 1(being least satisfied), 3(neither satisfied nor dissatisfied), and 5(being strongly satisfied). Add a summary of the satisfaction questions
In summary, the questions that we asked the guest participants revolved around the quality of the event. The primary objective was to gauge if the guests were satisfied to the extent that they would consider returning to the festive the next time it is held. Therefore, as we designed the questions, we were careful to ensure that the objective would be achieved. However, we ensured that the questions were comfortable and did not infringe on the privacy of the guests. We saw to it that they enjoyed participating in our survey and would gladly give us the leads that we required.
The first question regarded the services of the staff. We asked if, on a scale of one to five, they felt that the festive staff had satisfied them in their service. This was expected to offer valuable insights into the feeling on the staff’s helpfulness on the part of the guests. Secondly, we put a question regarding the scheduling and general organization of entertainment events. The guests were required to state on a scale of one to five their satisfaction with the schedule and the programming of the festive. This was identified as a significant issue and hence the importance to include it in the survey.
Lastly, there was a question regarding food. The guests were from diverse parts of the worlds that have different foods. Therefore, it was essential to know whether the food that was being sold by vendors around made the guests happy. All the questions were straightforward to ensure that their analysis would be easy to understand and time-saving. Aside from the scaled spaces on the survey, the participants were given space at the end of the paper to comment on their observations and provide recommendations.
The respondents' demographic information was based on the residence state, age, gender, education, income statement, a frequency of visit, motivations for visiting this particular event.
Quantitative research is a method of research that involves a systematic empirical study of the visible things. It is done through computational or mathematical analyses. The primary objective of using this methodology is to develop a mathematical theory or model hypotheses of the research problem. Measurements obtained from the study are an integral part of this method because they form the connection between the observable data and the mathematical theories that have been developed.
The quantitative data that is analyzed in this approach is numeric or in the form of percentages, and it is analyzed with the help of statistical tools. The research questionnaire survey is a systematic way in which information is gathered from a target population. The questionnaire survey is composed of a set of written or printed questions given to particular people in a bid to get their response to the research questions. Data collected from this group of individuals can be used for research analysis purposes and in carrying out statistical studies. In this method, data and solutions can be obtained faster as compared to other methods of research, and it is also efficient in collecting data from large populations.
Before conducting a survey, the researcher must know the purpose of the survey, its advantages and disadvantages, what is being studied and the plan to be followed in conducting the survey. The next step is to decide on the sample population to be studied and whether they will be the right people to answer the research questions. This is when the researcher prepares the questionnaire and administers it to the target population. The survey results are then processed and stored for analysis and interpretation. The results of the analysis are used to draw valid conclusions and reported through the appropriate channels.
Questionnaires for surveys can take different forms in terms of the kinds of questions included. Some researchers use closed ended questions, others prefer open ended questions. Majority of researchers, however, prefer to mix the different types of questions in one questionnaire depending on the desired nature of the response that is best for the research question. In closed ended questions, the researcher designs a question and gives a range of possible answers for the respondent to choose from. They are the easiest to analyze since the researcher can plan in advance how to organize the responses. In open ended questions, the researcher asks a question and the respondent has the liberty to give whatever answer they feel is best to answer the question. Analyzing such responses is a bit technical since the answers given usually differ widely.
In any given research, there are both dependent and independent variables. Independent variables are the factors that affect the outcome that is being investigated, while the dependent variable is the outcome or behavior that the researcher is investigating. In the proposed research, the independent variable is the resident or non-resident of the survey participant. The proposed research will evaluate how food tourism affects the satisfaction, intention of the respondent to recommend and the respondent’s intention to revisit the restaurant. Theory has it that non-residents or food tourists are usually more satisfied with the food service they receive at restaurants and are more willing to recommend and even to revisit the restaurant than residents of the locality. The proposed research will evaluate the validity of this claim. The dependent variables are therefore satisfaction, intention to recommend and the intention to revisit.
Customers who are more satisfied with the food and other restaurant services they receive are usually more willing to recommend the restaurant to their friends and relatives. Most of them are usually so impressed that they are willing to even go back to such restaurants. This area of the research will be best analyzed using the SERVQUAL.
Research that have been done previously on the topic of customer satisfaction and loyalty have discovered that the customers perceive quality based on whether they feel the service is authentic. Depending on the perceived quality, customers can either deem a service as valuable or invaluable, which in turn affects their satisfaction with the service (Akhoondnejad, 2016). It is only when customers are satisfied with a restaurant service that they can trust the provider and be loyal to them. When a food service provider, especially during food festivals, can effectively satisfy the needs of a customer in a quality and trustworthy manner, such customers are bound to have the intention to recommend as well as revisit the restaurant (Organ et al., 2015).
Food festivals have been discovered to significantly affect future food choices of the tourists attending them. When tourists remember the experience they had in the food festival, they will have the intention to purchase the same food product many months later (Organ et al., 2015). According to Organ et al. (2015) emotions and engagement are very useful in altering peoples’ choices about food purchases. The authors recommended that food festivals should be extensively utilized as a means of influencing food buying power. However, they suggest that it should be done in a socially and economically benign manner (Organ et al., 2015).

According to Tanford and Jung, organizers of festivals need to ensure that customers are provided with programs that are enjoyable, and within environments that are comfortable. The price of food should also be set lower so that customers can be impressed by the affordability (Tanford & Jung, 2017). Despite all the research that have previously been done, there is still need to understand how resident or non-resident of a customer affects his or her satisfaction, intention to recommend and intention to revisit, which is the focus of the proposed study.

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