I spent two years in Dalian China. We were able to collect some data, at what then an unusual event – a wine festival. While now, wine festivals have popped up all over China (as well as Hong Kong and Macau), there were few events in mainland China (especially in the North East).
Abstract
Wine festival research has primarily focused on tourism potential and economic impact in Western wine destinations, with few studies seeking to understand what motivates those to attend a festival in a “nontraditional” wine destination. An onsite survey study (N = 366) was conducted at the 2012 Dalian International Wine and Dine Festival, China. Factor analysis suggests a unique motivational factor structure with four motivational components identified among festival attendees. They were: wine festival—where the festival event itself is a primary motive, recover equilibrium at a novel event, family and known group togetherness, and cultural exploration through interaction/socialization. An independent t test and one-way ANOVA tests found statistically significant motivational variances between attendees based on gender, age, education, income level, and employment status. These findings offer important implications for festival and event organizations that have an interest in developing and organizing wine festivals in China, and attracting Chinese mainland tourists to overseas wine festivals.
A picture I took at the event!