Food festival research review in contemporary tourism

PurposeFood festivals are prevalent for those passionate about food experience globally. More importantly, feedback from food reviewers on mass media platforms has been becoming a critical factor in facilitating the decision-making process of tourists in particular cities. Moreover, stimulating local tourism activities, thanks to food festivals, prove advantageous to the well-being of local habitants. The purpose of this paper is to provide readers with a general overview of food festival research trends in tourist cities, as tourism has the potential to contribute to targets in Goals 8, 12 and 14 on sustainable consumption and production and the sustainable use of resources, respectively, (UNWTO: World Tourism Organization).Design/methodology/approachThis study searched and filtered documents from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, as well as used bibliometric analysis and other mathematical and statistical methods, to better understand the food festival research context between 1970 and 2021. The carriers with mathematical and statistical methods. VOSviewer algorithm was used to identify critical input for visualizing bibliometric networks and to create a framework for this academic food festival research.FindingsThe findings are primarily related to pre and post-COVID-19 research on food festivals worldwide. Furthermore, using an inductive approach, this paper reveals the impact of food festivals in cities and tourist behaviors. According to the findings, the food festival research trends are about "food festivals,” "slow food festivals” and "local food festivals.” Factor analysis is one of the most common analyses in this type of research. Other studies could use the findings and limitations to select appropriate themes and analysis approaches for their research topics.Research limitations/implicationsResearch data sets are mainly from articles that may not account for all actual trends during this pandemic.Originality/valueThis review expects to provide insights into food festivals and help future researchers to recognize several research gaps such as the lack of research on food festival manufacturers and producers or the consistency in visitors' aspect research of quality service, visitors' loyal intentions, satisfaction and culinary experience. The tourism industry can find research trends of food festivals and issues following COVID-19 to find their management styles to fit the context of the post-COVID-19 pandemic, facilitating organizing a safe and effective food festival.

Technology Application in Tourism Festivals in Asia: Theoretical Discussions

Modern-day tourism festivals in Asia have greatly embraced technology to boost festival quality, attendee's experience and marketing potential. With this development, technology enhances tourism festival demand, innovation, and attendance. This in turn boosts the market value since it creates a modernized, industrialized, and commercialized industry that can compete favorably on the global tourism market. Although the application of advanced technology particularly in festivals has been anticipated to be associated with several technical challenges, financial and human resource constraints, it is important to note that if appropriate and acceptable models are identified and factors that influence technological applied, a long-lasting impression on the minds of the festival visitors can be created. This study was done to both offer a theoretical overview of the application of technologies in tourism festivals and to inform development of strategy in the Asian tourism festival industry. Effective integration of innovative digital technologies in tourism festivals in Asia is anticipated to create a unique leisure experience, particularly in a unique form of festivals known as ‘Smart Tourism Festivals'. Besides sustainability, these highly impact on the key experience outcomes such as satisfaction and memorability of the festival attendees. The COVID-19 pandemic has given momentum to the current technological application processes in various film, music, culture, sport, art and other related carnivals and festivals in the tourism industry especially amongst the leading Asian economies such as China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Thailand among others. This paper uses existing studies to provide a theoretical discussion of tourism festivals in the Asian context, areas of impact of digital technologies on festivals, emergence of smart tourism festivals, the underlying challenges and opportunities. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Post-pandemic intention to participate in the tourism and hospitality (T&H) events: an integrated investigation through the lens of the theory of planned behavior and perception of Covid-19

PurposeThis paper aims to predict the post-pandemic intention of Indian consumers to participate in tourism and hospitality T&H events by incorporating the perception of Covid-19 (PCOV) into the theory of planned behavior (TPB). It also examines the relationship among attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intention and PCOV.Design/methodology/approachThis research employed a quantitative research technique, with data collected using an online questionnaire-based survey from August 23 to October 29, 2021. The sampling approach is convenient, and the sample of this study is comprised of individuals who follow events pages on social networking sites.FindingsThe findings of SEM revealed that the proposed model has better explanatory and predictive power. The path analysis showed that all the variables of the TPB are significantly and positively associated with the post-pandemic intention to participate in the T&H events. However, the PCOV is negatively associated with the post-pandemic intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this study give an idea about the post-pandemic intention of Indian consumers to participate in T&H events. The results of this study revealed important practical implications for event management organizations, travel agencies that deal in events, the T&H industry, tourism planners and other stakeholders, as these findings may be used to develop effective marketing strategies.Originality/valueThere has been a lot of research on TPB in the context of coronavirus, but to the best of the authors' knowledge, there is a gap in the literature regarding the intention to participate in T&H events. Hence, this research fills that gap.

Post COVID-19 Pandemic: The New Technology and Tourism Revolution for Tourism Fairs, Festivals and Events

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has helped businesses in hospitality and tourism industry to reduce costs, improve customer services as well as customer experience, enhance the efficiency of business operational and increase customer retention. The impact of Internet on tourism has been widely discussed and analyzed in tourism research. However, specific study on tourism fairs, festivals and events are less touched. During post COVID-19 pandemic, Internet and marketing are the main element of ICT that has powerful impact on tourism fairs, festivals and events. Tourism fairs, festivals and events make people united and social media become a perfect channel for participant to get their first experiences and share it to the Internet users. In addition, mobile communication technology such as mobile tablets and smartphones become significant where ease for individual to keep updated about changes on festivals and events or offer deals from businesses. Thus, essential for business in tourism fairs, festivals, and events to utilize the element of IT effectively for business continuity. In nutshell, the application of ICT in tourism fairs, festivals and events will be helping to speed up businesses' operation and make festivals and events more enjoyable and efficient. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Guest editorial: Special issue introduction repurposing and repositioning events: real, responsible and revolutionary futures

Findings revealed that hygiene is not perceived as an integral part of event safety, but rather as a disconnected pillar beside traditional event safety measures and that event and health safety measures strongly influence each other, both positively, but often also negatively as event organisers are often concerned with how to get their events successfully through the approval process rather than focussing on the safety aspects. Acknowledging the prevalence of disability in its various forms in society and highlighting the fact that existing research exploring inclusive events and disabled people as event participants focuses mostly on the challenges faced by attendees, the author offers a refreshing perspective by exploring the potential that these events have and the opportunities they bring to people with disabilities and the wider community. [...]the author embraces the argument suggested in the call for papers of this special issue that events provide opportunities to determine new paths, make the future less fearsome, allow more positive outcomes and uses this description to define what they propose to be "revolutionary futures”. In an exploratory case study inspired by a hermeneutics approach and combining different methods of data collection, the author explores the perspectives of attendees, volunteers, event staff and organisers to investigate if the event can indeed create revolutionary futures.

Exploring the Role of Technology Application in Tourism Events, Festivals and Fairs in the United Arab Emirates: Strategies in the Post Pandemic Period

This chapter aims to explore the role of technology application in tourism events, festivals, and fairs in the The United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the post-pandemic period of COVID-19. The chapter specifically focuses on various technical Apps based on the latest technology that may affect tourism events, festivals, and fairs. Existing literature lacks the ubiquitous role of technology Apps in sustainable tourism development in collaboration with tourism festivals, events, and fairs. The study identifies how tourists are affected by technology application, revealing in particular an increased tourism development and how tourists are continually enthralled by and attracted to tourism festivals, events, and fairs due to the advancement of the latest technology application in tourism. In this chapter, the perspective of the UAE is brought into the discussion. The chapter reveals that technology application in tourism festivals, events, and fairs can ensure sustainable tourism development in the UAE, especially in the post-pandemic period of COVID-19. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Big challenges, small solution: Microcourses at the University of Oklahoma

[...]microcourses are an ideal vehicle for high-impact, cohort-building projects-experiences that can never substitute for study abroad but that can contribute to a cohesive learning community. [...]the writing assignments consisted of short response papers of 200-250 words in length in German that students posted on the course discussions page to elicit comments and questions from their peers. [...]microcourses provide an ideal workshop-like format for the development of particular linguistic skills that are sometimes overlooked in a language curriculum, such as translation, sustained listening, dramatic reading techniques, or explication of data (Grafikbeschreibung). [...]microcourses are exceptional at fostering a sense of community.

Festival hiatus, resilience and innovation during COVID-19: learnings from the Edinburgh festivals

PurposeIn this paper, the authors explore how Edinburgh's key Festivals have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their response presents the emergence of more innovative festival delivery models and a different imagining of the festival space.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a qualitative mixed methods research design involving 13 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Edinburgh's Festival Directors and other cultural and policy stakeholders as part of a University-funded stand-alone research project. The interviews were supplemented with participant observation at festivals virtually and in-person to experience new and emerging formats of festival content delivery, adherence to Scottish Government guidelines on COVID-19 safety, and to experience attending festivals during a pandemic.FindingsThe authors present findings on how Edinburgh's Festivals have responded to Covid-19 and how they have adapted – and in some cases reimagined – their business models to survive.Originality/valueThe authors propose a new theoretical framework that establishes a model for how festivals can approach risk management within their business model, focused on the ‘3R's' – respond, resilience and reimagine –with communication and support being central to this framework.

Reminiscence and wellbeing - reflecting on past festival experiences during Covid lockdowns

PurposeTo explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving wellbeing in socially isolated times.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses previous research on reminiscence, nostalgia and wellbeing to underpin the analysis of self-recorded memory narratives. These were gathered from 13 pairs of festivalgoers during Covid-19 restrictions and included gathering their individual memories and their reminiscences together. The participant pairs were a mix of friends, family and couples who had visited festivals in the UK, Finland and Denmark.FindingsFour key areas that emerged through the analysis were the emotions of nostalgia and anticipation, and the processes of reliving emotions and bonding through memories.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies could take a longitudinal approach to see how memory sharing evolves and the impact of this on wellbeing. The authors also recommend undertaking similar studies in other cultural settings.Practical implicationsThis study findings have implications for both post-festival marketing and for the further development of reminiscence therapy interventions.Originality/valueThe method provides a window into memory sharing that has been little used in previous studies. The narratives confirm the value in sharing memories and the positive impact this has on wellbeing. They also illustrate that this happens through positive forms of nostalgia that centre on gratitude and lead to hope and optimism. Anticipation, not emphasised in other studies, was also found to be important in wellbeing and was triggered through looking back at happier times.

Tourism Demand Prediction after COVID-19 with Deep Learning Hybrid CNN–LSTM—Case Study of Vietnam and Provinces

The tourism industry experienced a positive increase after COVID-19 and is the largest segment in the foreign exchange contribution in developing countries, especially in Vietnam, where China has begun reopening its borders and lifted the pandemic limitation on foreign travel. This research proposes a hybrid algorithm, combined convolution neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM), to accurately predict the tourism demand in Vietnam and some provinces. The number of new COVID-19 cases worldwide and in Vietnam is considered a promising feature in predicting algorithms, which is novel in this research. The Pearson matrix, which evaluates the correlation between selected features and target variables, is computed to select the most appropriate input parameters. The architecture of the hybrid CNN–LSTM is optimized by utilizing hyperparameter fine-tuning, which improves the prediction accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. Moreover, the proposed CNN–LSTM outperformed other traditional approaches, including the backpropagation neural network (BPNN), CNN, recurrent neural network (RNN), gated recurrent unit (GRU), and LSTM algorithms, by deploying the K-fold cross-validation methodology. The developed algorithm could be utilized as the baseline strategy for resource planning, which could efficiently maximize and deeply utilize the available resource in Vietnam.

Jitney by August Wilson, and: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (review)

See PDF ] Jitney, part of Wilson's American Century Cycle exploring African American life in each decade of the twentieth century, directly explores notions of community through its depiction of a group of jitney drivers, men who use their own vehicles to provide rides to those in need of them. While it initially seemed incongruous to see Jitney with its realistic interior setting in an outdoor performance venue, the sense of strangeness faded quickly as the production began. [...]performing outside a conventional theatre space made the production viable in a city in which the Delta variant precipitated a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases during its run. During the exorcism scene, for instance, Sir Toby drenched Malvolio with liquid sprayed from a large plastic container labeled "Holy Water," and Feste performed a toe-tapping number, "Devil Be Gone," backed by an enthusiastic red-robed gospel choir.

Infrastructures for Virtual Volunteering at Online Music Festivals

Volunteering benefits recipients, volunteers, communities, and society, while digital technologies establish new opportunities for virtual volunteering. We describe how volunteers transitioned the UK's long-established Oxjam grassroots music festival online in response to the COVID pandemic, delivering a local pilot before scaling up nationwide. We adopt an infrastructural perspective to reveal how two teams of volunteers defined a flexible festival format, knitted together diverse technologies into a technical platform, and operated this to deliver the festival. We highlight the need for teams of volunteers to orchestrate both audience and performer trajectories through festivals. We argue for deliberately designing in volunteer labour rather than automating it out by translating traditional roles online while defining new digital ones. We propose to make these roles rewarding through a more social volunteer experience, including privileged backstage access. We highlight the challenges of using social media for such events, including complying with algorithmic policing of rights. © 2023 Owner/Author.

Festivals in the COVID Age of Crisis

This article examines the impact of COVID on festivals and the future of the industry. Analysing more than 50 items of online news, scholarly reviews and reports, and governmental guidance, this article examines the immediate effects of COVID in the industry as a whole, and particularly on its precarious artists and workforce. It also explores the changing behavioural attitudes towards festivals. Importantly, the article looks at the long-term institutional changes that might emerge in the festival industry including the future of collaborative working, artistic support, precarious working, and diversity.

Lying Flat: Profiling the Tangping Attitude

Considering thetangping attitude as a political subject, this essay also takes the tone of a manifesto, praising its subversive potential to help us face our contemporary global crises. [...]its aim is not to depict the sociological landscape of tangping-ism but to underline the radicalism of tangping thinking. While the recent boom in the pet industry in China can be explained by the emergence of a wealthier middle class, it is also tempting to see this proliferation of domestic cats as a way to soothe one's anxiety as social pressure has intensified for younger generations. [...]it can be understood from a more urban perspective as part of the culture of cuteness expressed by the slang term meng(萌), influenced by kawaii culture in Japan. In this situation, house cats reveal for pet owners the absurdity of their painful human condition in comparison with the cat's comfortable and worry-free daily life.

Uncertain festival futures: how European music festival organisers navigate ‘loss'

Risk management and the navigation of loss are inherent to working conditions within the festival industry. With festivals cancelled, postponed or redesigned, the coronacrisis has deeply affected the already uncertain festival sector. Based on thirty-five interviews with Danish, Dutch and British music festival organisers, this article examines which losses organisers experienced when faced with a social trauma that disrupted their ontological security. Additionally, it analyses how they have coped and responded to this situation via organisational and emotional strategies. Three phases in how organisers cope with loss are identified, where organisational and individual responses play varying, complementary roles: (1) imminent short-term loss and its realisation, (2) acceptance of short-term loss and (3) moving beyond loss. The analysis reveals how managing potential personal loss and facing organisational crisis should not merely be seen in terms of a rational decision-making process but is also mediated by emotional losses organisers experience as not only their livelihood, but their work identity is existentially challenged. Implications are drawn on the nature of cultural work, with attention to the entwinement of personal and professional identities. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Disruption in times of COVID-19? The hybrid film festival format

The first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic had unprecedented implications for cultural sectors. With film festivals, music concerts and other cultural events being postponed or even cancelled, there was an urgency to respond to changing circumstances. Cultural events increasingly relied on hybrid or online formats to remain accessible for audiences. Because such formats caused controversy about programming and release strategies, they were easily conceived of as having a disruptive impact on cultural sectors. This paper puts such assumptions about disruption into question. It focuses on the film festival sector, which is increasingly invested in strategies of online accessibility and audience reach. The research is specifically based on the hybrid festival format. Drawing on case studies of hybrid film festivals such as London, Ghent and Rotterdam, it argues that their strategies and operations should be understood from the perspective of cultural change rather than disruption. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

"We need to keep making stuff, regardless of what the situation is”: creativity and the film festival sector during COVID-19

PurposeIn-person film festival experiences have faced uncertain futures since the spread of COVID-19. Snap-lockdowns, unclear and rapidly changing rules to public density allowances in theatres, distribution and challenges of "working-from-home” have become prominent issues to creative and cultural workers employed within the film festival ecosystem. The purpose of this paper, drawing from a series of interviews with film festival directors, organisers and workers within Australia, offers insight into the working lives of those employed within the film festival sector during 2020.Design/methodology/approachUsing the research team's existing professional networks and a targeted approach of participant recruitment, this paper draws upon interview data from 5 semi-structured interviews with participants located in various Australian capital cities, who were working in the film festival sector during 2020. Participants were all mid-career, having at least 5 years of employment experience within the film festival ecosystem (directors, programmers and content creators) as well as having experience in other adjacent cultural and creative work.FindingsThe results in this study highlight common concerns of the legacy precarity has on professional and creative practice for those engaged in creative and cultural work, but also of unusual and unexpected opportunities for creativity and new film festival delivery beyond the dominant mode of in-theatre only experience pre-COVID-19.Originality/valueThe originality of this study lies in its qualitative exploration of the various employment experiences of Australian film festival workers during COVID-19.

Phantom Sounds, Haunting Images

Powerful, imaginative, and long-lasting, the half-year mobilisation and its iconography are hard to forget, and the ongoing political crackdown keeps our memory alive with constant republications of photographs and video clips of the events. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the proclamation of the National Security Law (NSL) on 30 June 2020, protests have, however, almost disappeared from Hong Kong's public spaces. [...]many films, books, and artworks have vanished from screening venues, shops, and libraries. Soon after the end of the movement, two anonymous books documented these ephemeral displays challenging authorities and urban order (Abaddon 2020;Guardian of Hong Kong 2020). [...]in October 2021, the Film Censorship Ordinance was amended to align with the NSL (Ho 2021b).

A Hybrid Deep Neural Network Architecture for Day-Ahead Electricity Forecasting: Post-COVID Paradigm

Predicting energy demand in adverse scenarios, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, is critical to ensure the supply of electricity and the operation of essential services in metropolitan regions. In this paper, we propose a deep learning model to predict the demand for the next day using the "IEEE DataPort Competition Day-Ahead Electricity Demand Forecasting: Post-COVID Paradigm” database. The best model uses hybrid deep neural network architecture (convolutional network–recurrent network) to extract spatial-temporal features from the input data. A preliminary analysis of the input data was performed, excluding anomalous variables. A sliding window was applied for importing the data into the network input. The input data was normalized, using a higher weight for the demand variable. The proposed model's performance was better than the models that stood out in the competition, with a mean absolute error of 2361.84 kW. The high similarity between the actual demand curve and the predicted demand curve evidences the efficiency of the application of deep networks compared with the classical methods applied by other authors. In the pandemic scenario, the applied technique proved to be the best strategy to predict demand for the next day.

Digital audiovisual content in marketing and distributing cultural products during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece

PurposeThe aim of the present study is to reflect upon the use of digital audiovisual content for the marketing of cultural events in the relative organisations and foundations during the turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic by conveying experts' interviews. The main question that the study seeks to touch upon is whether the digital audiovisual techniques implemented by cultural foundations and festivals in Greece during the COVID-19 pandemic were efficient in promoting artwork and stressing on social presence and whether their marketing and distributing processes of the artistic and cultural products manage to attract audience engagement and further enhance the foundations' brand. What the research seeks to examine is issues such as digital content creation, arts marketing, use of digital media and new technologies, brand identity and strategy building. Particular digital campaigns of foundations will be reviewed from a closer focus.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative research is based on experts' interviews. The primary foundations that are in focus are the organisations of Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF), Dimitria Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece and a major cultural foundation in Athens, Greece the Onassis Foundation.FindingsA proper combination of interesting audiovisual content and precise brand aspirations in terms of identity and vision are what will lead a foundation to the audience it desires. Adaptability is the element that defined the foundations in the turbulence of the times of a pandemic, and creativity is what made some foundations differentiate themselves from others. The digitization that the pandemic brought can be considered as a positive dimension as well, since foundations can combine digital and physical spectacles in the near future so that they can always be relevant.Research limitations/implicationsThis study identifies certain limitations that could be investigated by future research, the main one being the small number of the organisations and foundations under research and the limited number of interviewees. Furthermore, the fact that the research was performed in cultural institutions and that audiovisual features were integral in the artwork they serve could be considered as a limitation.Originality/valueThe originality of this research lies in the examination and registration of the implementation of innovative digital audiovisual techniques by cultural foundations in Greece to reach their audience during the COVID-19 pandemic.