Festivals as agents for behaviour change: A study of food festival engagement and subsequent food choices

Evaluations of festivals have concentrated on economic and cultural impacts, particularly within the immediate geographical area. Limited research has investigated festivals as vehicles for behaviour change in tourists who visit them. This paper studies food festivals which hold the potential for influencing future food choices. The study examines visitorsʹ prior involvement with local food, engagement at a festival, emotions evoked, and resulting future food purchasing intentions, as well as behaviour adopted six months later. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of remembered experiences on future purchasing, and this paper contributes to knowledge by extending these frameworks to incorporate engagement and emotions evoked at a food festival. Results indicate that engagement and positive emotions at a food festival are good predictors of food buying behaviour six months later. However, the influence of negative emotions reduces over time. The findings highlight the importance of emotions and engagement in changing food purchasing choices. Policy recommendations are made for further use of food festivals to influence food buying behaviour in a way that is considered socially and economically benign.