The Influence of the Indy International Festival on Visitors' Attitudes Toward Diverse Cultures

Date
2016-04
Language
American English
Embargo Lift Date
Department
Committee Chair
Degree
M.S.
Degree Year
2016
Department
Tourism, Conventions & Event Management
Grantor
Indiana University
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Found At
Abstract

In this era of globalization, people have more opportunities to meet many ethnic groups in their daily lives whether it is in schools, in the workplace, or even in the private sector or in government. Interacting with people from other countries can enhance our knowledge of cultural diversity and provide us with an international perspective. There are many ways of enhancing cultural understanding such as attending international festivals. While research on festivals is fast growing, study on visitors’ attitudes toward diverse cultures is relatively unexplored. This paper used a visitor attitude scale, a modified M-GUDS-S, to investigate visitors’ behavioral, cognitive, and/or affective components of diversity attitudes. The research was conducted at the 2014 Indy International Festival and focused on measuring visitation frequency, stay-time at the event, similar event participation, cultural interest, and overseas travel experience contributing to any observed differences on visitors’ attitudes. Also, the visitors’ intention to travel overseas after attending this festival was investigated. A total of 195 visitors was surveyed on site with 176 providing usable data. The findings suggest that international festivals play an important role in improving visitors’ awareness, appreciation, and acceptance of diverse cultures. Specifically, visitation frequency, the time spent at the event, and personal interest in cultures have significant influence on attitudes.

Description
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
item.page.description.tableofcontents
item.page.relation.haspart
Cite As
ISSN
Publisher
Series/Report
Sponsorship
Major
Extent
Identifier
Relation
Journal
Source
Alternative Title
Type
Thesis
Number
Volume
Conference Dates
Conference Host
Conference Location
Conference Name
Conference Panel
Conference Secretariat Location
Version
Full Text Available at
This item is under embargo {{howLong}}