Pop Music Festivals in Poland - The Tourism Product Change

Abstract

Festivals are a powerful tourism product that offers a unique cultural experience, promotes destinations, generates economic benefits, increases the length of tourist stays, differentiates the destination, enhances the destination’s image, and engages the local community. Festivals have the potential to attract tourists, stimulate local economies, and contribute to the overall development and sustainability of a destination’s tourism industry. The aim of the study above is to investigate how the product of pop festival tourism is changing in Poland. This applies to the scale of the event, the nature of the performers, the place of organization, the tourist profile, the level of loyalty (returns) etc. The four largest pop music festivals in Poland were selected for the analysis: Pol’and’Rock Festival, Open’er Festival, Orange Warsaw Festival and Sunrise Festival. The results show i.e. that: i. the scale of music festival is increasing substantially – both regarding the number of viewers and duration of the event; ii- Festivals develop from “just music” into a full tourist product, iii- The festival tourist enjoy different type of non-music activities provided by the festival organizers more voluntary than then others, iv - The activities provided by the organizers are evaluating “together with the public”.

Keywords: Festival Tourism, The Pol’and’Rock Festival, Opener Festival, Orange Warsaw Festival, Sunrise Festival

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