Event Title

Parallel Session 17, Event and Festival Planning Track: Participating and Non-Participating Residents' Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Macao's Drunken Dragon Festival

Location

Classroom 207

Start Date

14-12-2017 1:15 PM

End Date

14-12-2017 1:40 PM

Description

Purpose

There have been calls for deeper understanding on event impacts, particularly in the socio-cultural aspects and their role in communities (Mair & Whitford, 2013). There are multiple reasons to gain a deeper understanding of festivals and events in communities. For example, many destinations around the world have adopted the ‘eventful city' strategy to unleash its unique proposition of attracting tourists and visitors who are otherwise choosing among similar destinations with similar offerings (Richards & Palmer, 2010). However, this is only possible with the support of the residents and other key stakeholders, in which their perceptions are often unclear. Understanding resident perceptions and their attitudes allows organisers, the government and stakeholders to make informed decisions about how to proceed with organising traditional cultural festivals that cause minimal disruptions and meet the needs and expectations of residents and stakeholders.

The Drunken Dragon Festival in Macao is a 100-year-old local festival that involves the distribution of longevity meal, a procession, rituals, and a traditional dance represented as the Drunken Dragon Dance. It is one of the few traditional cultural festivals listed as a National Intangible Heritage of China. In recent years, this festival has experienced drastic changes by incorporating more diverse participants and holding different types of events such as seminars and exhibitions. Most of the activities held as a part of the festival have been conducted in Cantonese, reflecting that Cantonese speakers are targeted. The Macao Government Tourism Office, the tourism bureau in Macao, has also been actively promoting this festival to attract cultural tourists into Macao by attracting media attention, and such efforts resulted in the transformation of the festival.

The origin and fundamental reason for organising traditional cultural festivals is to meet the needs of the community that organises the festival: as a need to celebrate, a need to get together, a need honour the gods, and so on. The involvement of tourists and media attraction may not necessarily be something desirable in this regard. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the participating and non-participating residents' perceptions and attitudes towards the Drunken Dragon Festival.

Design/methodology/approach

Two sets of data were collected in 2015 and 2017 respectively. The resident sample among those who participated in the Drunken Dragon Festival was collected on the date when the Drunken Dragon Festival was being held in 2015 (n=378). Non-participant resident sample was collected two years later during the Drunken Dragon Festival period. Trained student surveyors collected data in different venues during a three-day period in 2017 (n=312). The questionnaire were developed from the literature, which included screening questions, items to understand the level of participation and awareness of the festival, perceived impacts of and attitudes towards the transformation of the festival and the demographic profile. Descriptive analyses and independent samples t-tests were used for analysis. The responses from the festival participants and non-participants were used for the final analyses.

Findings

There were three general findings in our research. First, participants generally had higher awareness and willingness to participate in the festival than non-participants. Second, the non-participants were generally more wary towards the impacts of the festival than participants. Third, participants were more open to changes and diversification than non-participants in the festival.

Research limitations/implications

One of the interesting findings about this study is that, while the participants have positive perceptions about its cultural value and societal and environmental impact, they did not perceive that Drunken Dragon Festival is commercialised by now. However, when they were asked about their attitudes towards future transformation, they were relatively open-minded about sacrificing spatial authenticity and encouraging transformation by trying to promote the festival more extensively and to incorporate diverse groups of people.

Practical implications

The study implies that it would also be meaningful to develop promotional programmes to familiarize the festival for diverse groups of people. Future studies can be done not only on other different types of cultural festivals in Macao and overseas to see similar patterns can be found in other cases.

Originality/value

This study adds to the existing body of literature about the impacts of festivals and events, specifically, the role of traditional cultural festivals in communities and how residents perceive traditional cultural festivals.

References

Mair, J., & Whitford, M. (2013). An exploration of events research: event topics, themes and emerging trends. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 4(1), 6-30. doi: 10.1108/17582951311307485

Richards, G., & Palmer, R. (2010). Eventful cities: cultural management and urban revitalisation. London: Butterworth-Heinemann.

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Dec 14th, 1:15 PM Dec 14th, 1:40 PM

Parallel Session 17, Event and Festival Planning Track: Participating and Non-Participating Residents' Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Macao's Drunken Dragon Festival

Classroom 207

Purpose

There have been calls for deeper understanding on event impacts, particularly in the socio-cultural aspects and their role in communities (Mair & Whitford, 2013). There are multiple reasons to gain a deeper understanding of festivals and events in communities. For example, many destinations around the world have adopted the ‘eventful city' strategy to unleash its unique proposition of attracting tourists and visitors who are otherwise choosing among similar destinations with similar offerings (Richards & Palmer, 2010). However, this is only possible with the support of the residents and other key stakeholders, in which their perceptions are often unclear. Understanding resident perceptions and their attitudes allows organisers, the government and stakeholders to make informed decisions about how to proceed with organising traditional cultural festivals that cause minimal disruptions and meet the needs and expectations of residents and stakeholders.

The Drunken Dragon Festival in Macao is a 100-year-old local festival that involves the distribution of longevity meal, a procession, rituals, and a traditional dance represented as the Drunken Dragon Dance. It is one of the few traditional cultural festivals listed as a National Intangible Heritage of China. In recent years, this festival has experienced drastic changes by incorporating more diverse participants and holding different types of events such as seminars and exhibitions. Most of the activities held as a part of the festival have been conducted in Cantonese, reflecting that Cantonese speakers are targeted. The Macao Government Tourism Office, the tourism bureau in Macao, has also been actively promoting this festival to attract cultural tourists into Macao by attracting media attention, and such efforts resulted in the transformation of the festival.

The origin and fundamental reason for organising traditional cultural festivals is to meet the needs of the community that organises the festival: as a need to celebrate, a need to get together, a need honour the gods, and so on. The involvement of tourists and media attraction may not necessarily be something desirable in this regard. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the participating and non-participating residents' perceptions and attitudes towards the Drunken Dragon Festival.

Design/methodology/approach

Two sets of data were collected in 2015 and 2017 respectively. The resident sample among those who participated in the Drunken Dragon Festival was collected on the date when the Drunken Dragon Festival was being held in 2015 (n=378). Non-participant resident sample was collected two years later during the Drunken Dragon Festival period. Trained student surveyors collected data in different venues during a three-day period in 2017 (n=312). The questionnaire were developed from the literature, which included screening questions, items to understand the level of participation and awareness of the festival, perceived impacts of and attitudes towards the transformation of the festival and the demographic profile. Descriptive analyses and independent samples t-tests were used for analysis. The responses from the festival participants and non-participants were used for the final analyses.

Findings

There were three general findings in our research. First, participants generally had higher awareness and willingness to participate in the festival than non-participants. Second, the non-participants were generally more wary towards the impacts of the festival than participants. Third, participants were more open to changes and diversification than non-participants in the festival.

Research limitations/implications

One of the interesting findings about this study is that, while the participants have positive perceptions about its cultural value and societal and environmental impact, they did not perceive that Drunken Dragon Festival is commercialised by now. However, when they were asked about their attitudes towards future transformation, they were relatively open-minded about sacrificing spatial authenticity and encouraging transformation by trying to promote the festival more extensively and to incorporate diverse groups of people.

Practical implications

The study implies that it would also be meaningful to develop promotional programmes to familiarize the festival for diverse groups of people. Future studies can be done not only on other different types of cultural festivals in Macao and overseas to see similar patterns can be found in other cases.

Originality/value

This study adds to the existing body of literature about the impacts of festivals and events, specifically, the role of traditional cultural festivals in communities and how residents perceive traditional cultural festivals.

References

Mair, J., & Whitford, M. (2013). An exploration of events research: event topics, themes and emerging trends. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 4(1), 6-30. doi: 10.1108/17582951311307485

Richards, G., & Palmer, R. (2010). Eventful cities: cultural management and urban revitalisation. London: Butterworth-Heinemann.