Attendee motivations at an international wine festival in China

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.