A CULTURAL PROFILE OF TOURISTS TO A JAZZ FESTIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

Tourism has experiencd growing internationalisation and much closer attention is now paid to the cultural characteristics of tourists and visitors and the influence thereof on the tourism industry. Culture affects travel motivation and behaviour and a better understanding of the cultural composition of tourists will enable the tourism industry to better satisfy tourist expectations. Understanding target markets from a demographic, geographic and psychographic perspective has been done in many research studies. However an attempt to define and understand the cultural characteristics of target markets and the effect of these characteristics is essential for the success and sustainable growth of the tourism industry in South Africa. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to determine a cultural profile of visitors to a jazz festival in South Africa. An exploratory survey of visitors was conducted by means of a structured questionnaire, which was completed by 127 respondents at a Jazz Festival held in Vanderbijlpark. The statistical analysis entailed descriptive statistics and more specifically a factor analysis as well as inferential statistics and more specifically Spearman’s correlations, t-tests and one-way ANOVA’s. The factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed on values (8 items), rules of behaviour (17 items), and perceptions of tourism service workers (25 items). The results revealed a demographic profile of visitors and identified specific cultural characteristics. Correlations were revealed between the identified factors and age as well as length of stay.