MARKET SEGMENTATION OF VISITORS AT THREE SELECTED ARTS FESTIVALS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Method of research: The research was conducted by means of structured questionnaires at the three arts festivals. The data was used to compile a profile of each Festival. The significance of the correlation between the three Festivals and their profiles were tested by using effect sizes and Chi-square. A sample size of 452 questionnaires for Volksblad, 573 questionnaires for Innibos and 201 for Oppikoppi was used.


INTRODUCTION
Since the dawn of history, Festivals and events have been important features of people's lives.Festivals and events evolved as celebrations to mark high points in the Christian calendar, for example, Saints' days and the like (Van Zyl, 2005:53).Arts Festivals have become important in the South African context because of a growing need among the broader public for various forms of art to accommodate the diversity of cultures within the borders of the country.Arts Festivals are generally important for a number of reasons, namely: to sustain different forms of art; to contribute to the livelihood of artists; to stimulate the growth of regional and local economies; to promote specific destinations; and to create specific images of these destinations (Saayman, Slabbert & Saayman, 2005:7).
According to Gursoy, Kim and Uysal (2004:172), Festivals and special events have, in recent years, become one of the fastest growing tourism attractions.Therefore, it is not surprising to see that the number of conceptual and empirical studies on Festivals and special events has increased rapidly (Hughes, 2000:2).Festivals and other events have the ability to spread tourism both geographically and seasonally.Special events allow a region or community to celebrate its uniqueness, to promote itself, develop local pride and enhance its economic well-being (McIntosh, Goeldner & Ritchie, 1995:157).
Currently, at least 211 annual Festivals take place in South Africa (Visser, 2005:165).Visser (2005:166) states that 28% of the 211 Festivals focus on performing and visual arts and, more generally, on a

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Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa combination thereof.Since 1995, Festivals seem to have taken root in every community in need of economic or social upliftment.Some towns host Festivals in order to emphasise their unique character, and to share their customs, natural environments and local produce with visitors (Kitshoff, 2004: 65 andVisser, 2005:155).Festivals form part of tourist attractions, which are arguably the most important component in the tourism system.Tourist attractions are the main reason for tourist trips and so form the core of the tourism product.Without attractions to draw the tourists, there would be no need for other tourism services.Swarbrooke (2002:1) states that tourism as such would not exist if it were not for attractions.
One important issue concerning market segmentation is how best to subdivide travel markets (Jang, Morrison & O'Leary, 2002:367).Segmentation is important because it can assist the marketing team to target the best segment for the attraction.With segmentation information, the needs and wants of the Festival attendees can be specified and provided.
The purpose of this article is to undertake market segmentation research of visitors to selected Arts Festivals in South Africa.In order to achieve this goal, the paper is structured as follows: an introduction precedes the literature review, which is then followed by a description of the method of research and the results of such research.Finally, conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Market segmentation is the process of subdividing customers into different groups, or segments, within which customers with similar characteristics have similar needs.By doing this, each one can be targeted and reached with a distinct marketing mix to increase the number of tourists and the resulting sales (McDonald & Dunbar, 1995:10).In other words, market segmentation is the way in which tourism companies divide a market into smaller, more clearly defined groups that share similar needs, wants, and characteristics (Lancaster & Reynolds, 1999:8;Kotler, 2003:549 andGeorge, 2004:125).
Segmentation is important in order for a destination to target the right kind of visitor.The marketing of events and the marketing of tourism offerings have an essential difference.The difference lies in the fact that events are usually an annual occasion.This implies that organisers in most cases have only one chance per year to be successful in their marketing activities.Tourism offerings, on the other hand, are there to be enjoyed all year and so different marketing approaches can be used.Lee, Lee and Wicks (2004:62) emphasise the importance of analysing visitors' motives for attending Festivals and events.Identifying such motives is therefore a prerequisite for planning and marketing event programmes effectively.Segmentation can assist event and Festival planners to carry out effective marketing for the right target group (Saayman & Saayman, 2006).
Based on findings by Bennet and Strydom, (2001:64); Dibb and Simkin, (2001:230); McDonald and Dunbar, (1995:16); Saayman, (2002:85);George, (2004:135) and Marx et al. (1998:535), the benefits of segmenting a market can be identified as follows: • Market segmentation allows marketers to concentrate on consumer needs and wants; • Market segmentation helps marketers to develop an effective marketing mix; • Market segmentation enables more efficient market positioning; • Recognising customers' differences is key to successful marketing, as it can lead to a closer matching of customers' needs with the products and services of the company; • Segmentation can lead to niche marketing, where applicable.The organisation could meet most or all of the needs of customers in that niche segment; • Segmentation can lead to concentration of resources in markets where competitive advantages are great and returns are high; • Through segmentation, a competitive advantage may be gained by having a different approach than that of the market competition;

PISSOORT V Market Segmentation of Visitors at Three SAAYMAN M Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa
• By means of segmentation, the organisation can be marketed as a specialist in the selected market segments with a better comprehension of customers' needs; thus giving the products/services a perceived advantage over the competitors' products; • Segmentation promotes new product ideas; • A long-term relationship can be established with a specific customer group The division (or segmentation) of the market can be carried out in a number of ways.Depending on the situation, a marketer may experiment with a variety of segmentation variables (Burke & Resnick, 1999:41).These could include geographic, socio-demographic, psychographic and/or behavioural characteristics (Slabbert 2002:2).A brief description of these variables is shown in Table 1 below.& Resnick, 1999:41;Lubbe, 2000:77;Saayman, 2002:94;George, 2004:126;Kotler &Armstrong, 2004:240 andLamb et al., 2004:168).
With regard to Arts Festivals, the following studies were previously conducted.Hauptfleisch (2001) and Silva (1998) researched Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK), Grahamstown Arts Festival studies were undertaken by Snowball and Willis (2006:43).Williams (1997);Van Zyl (2002), Van Heerden (2002), Van Zyl and Botha (2003) used Aardklop as a topic.Van Niekerk, Saayman andSaayman (2004 and2005) researched the economic impact of Innibos Arts Festival.In addition to these, Strydom, Saayman and Saayman (2007) (2005:160).Snowball and Willis (2006:43) add that more detailed information (research) will help organisers to allocate resources more effectively.Little research has been carried out on smaller Arts Festivals in South Africa one reason why smaller Festivals are neglected in terms of research could be because they do not get as much exposure, and are regarded as being overshadowed by the bigger Festivals such as Aardklop, KKNK and Grahamstown.Nevertheless, Saayman and Saayman (2004) confirmed that, from an economic point of view, these Festivals provide a significant economic injection to the local community.Hence, this research will attempt to use visitor profile variables at the Volksblad, Innibos and Oppikoppi Festivals to define the different profiles of each of the Festivals.

METHODOLOGY
Based on the estimated visitor numbers of the Festivals, a sample size of 400 questionnaires for Volksblad, 400 questionnaires for Innibos and 200 for Oppikoppi was anticipated.According to Cooper and Emory, (1995:207); as well as Krejcie and Morgan (1970:608), for a population of 100 000 the recommended sample size is 384.
A brief background of each Festival reveals the following: Innibos is held annually at Nelspruit during June.The Festival was three years old in 2007 (Innibos, 2005:1) and attracts approximately 30 000 visitors annually.
Oppikoppi is held in Northam during August.The Festival attracts approximately 10 000 visitors (Oppikoppi, 2005) and will have its 13 th birthday in 2007.
The Volksblad Arts Festival takes place annually in Bloemfontein.It attracts approximately 30 000 visitors and is 6 years old (Volksbladfees, 2005).
The variables used in the questionnaire were: • age distribution, • language, • marital status, • occupation, • travel group size, • nights spent, • province of origin, • expenditure, • type of accommodation used, • other Festivals attended during the year, • transport, • attendance of free shows, and • main reason for visiting the Festival.
These variables were chosen because they gave sufficient information to draw up profiles of the various Festivals.
Data collection was undertaken by field workers who distributed questionnaires to the festinos at the Festivals.The research instrument (questionnaire) was similar to that used in studies conducted at other Arts Festivals in South Africa, for example, those by Van Heerden (2002) and by Saayman and Saayman (2004).
As recommended by Walpole and Goodwin (2000), the surveys were conducted amongst tourists to estimate the demand of products and services during three Arts Festivals.A destination-based survey

PISSOORT V Market Segmentation of Visitors at Three SAAYMAN M Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa
was undertaken, where interviews were held on-site during the event.Different sites at the Festivals were chosen to limit response bias towards any specific group of Festival attendants.The surveys followed a non-probability sampling method, thus respondents were chosen randomly and the survey was conducted throughout the duration of the Festival.At each of the three Festivals, questionnaires were interviewer-administered The questionnaires were distributed throughout the duration of the three Festivals.The questionnaires were handed out in increasing increments each day in order to ensure that the sample population was a true reflection of Festival attendees.Day one = 10%, Day 2 = 20%, Day 3 = 30% of the questionnaires and Day 4 = 40% of the questionnaires were distributed.At Innibos, 573 reliable questionnaires were collected, at Oppikoppi, 201 and at Volksblad, 452.
The programmes Microsoft Windows Excel and the SAS statistical package (version 9) were used for the execution of the data analysis.The raw data was first captured in Excel and then the SAS program was applied.
Once a profile exists, comparisons can be made to determine whether these three Festivals attract the same type of tourist.When this too has been determined, comparisons can be made how this profile varies (or not) from other established Festivals.An ANOVA-analysis (analyses of variance) that measures the variance that exists between groups and Tukey HSD (honestly significantly difference test) was determined.Furthermore, a two-way relationship was done in order to determine if certain variables have a large impact on a Festival.A relationship with w 0.5 is considered to be practically significant.

RESULTS
Firstly, the tourist profile of each Festival is reviewed.Secondly, the relationship between the Festival and various variables will be discussed.

Tourist Profiles
With all the data gathered from the Festivals and the results thereof, an average profile of festinos to the three Festivals was determined (Table 2).

PISSOORT V Market Segmentation of Visitors at Three SAAYMAN M Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa
From Table 2, it is evident that most festinos at each of the Festivals were Afrikaans-speaking.The host province of each Festival generated the greatest number of festinos to the Festival.Festinos spent more at Oppikoppi than either of the other Festivals.The main reason for attending the Festivals was to socialise, and to meet new people.Free shows attended were about the same for Volksblad and Innibos.The question was not applicable for Oppikoppi because the entrance fee covered all the shows for the duration of the Festival.The main differences between the three Festivals were that Oppikoppi was attended by mainly students, and that Volksblad and Innibos were mainly attended by families.The festinos at Oppikoppi also spend more money on food and drink, and camping at the venue.Volksblad and Innibos attract mostly locals, and other festinos tend to stay with friends and family.

Relationship between Variables
In this section, the relationship between the three Festivals and the demographical data was determined.
The statistical significance of such relationships is determined with the Chi-square test but one actually wants to know whether the relationship is large enough to be important.This will indicate if there is a relationship between the variables of a certain Festival, and finally will assist with drawing up a profile of the Festival.
In this case the effect size is given by w= (x²/n), where x² is the usual Chi-square statistic for the contingency table and n is the sample size (Steyn, 2000).In the special case of a 2x2 table, the effect size (w) is given by phi ( ) coefficient.Note that the effect size is again independent of sample size.Ellis and Steyn (2003:51) give the following guidelines for the interpretation of the effect size in the current case: (a) small effect: w = 0.1, (b) medium effect: w = 0.3, (c) large effect: w = 0.5.A relationship with w 0.5 is considered practically significant.
The practical significance of results is not only important when the results of population data are reported but also will enable comment on the practical significance of statistical significant results in the case of random samples from populations (Ellis & Steyn, 2003:53).
Another method was used to analyse the data for travel group size and days spent at Festivals.The ANOVA table measures the differences in average.The Tukey HSD (Honestly Significant Different) test is done where the Cohen d is calculated (www.blackwell-synergy.com, 22 November 2006).Cohen (1988) gives the following guidelines for the interpretation of the effect size in the current case: . is considered as practically significant.

Relationship between Gender and Festivals
Table 3 indicates the relationship between gender and the different Festivals.The phi coefficient (0.12) indicates that there is a small effect, which means there is no significant relationship between Festivals and the gender of Festival attendees (Table 3).In research done (Optimum market-positioning models for South African Arts Festival scenarios) by Van Zyl (2005:211) the gender distribution for Aardklop, Grahamstown, and KKNK was similar.Hence, it can be concluded that the gender of festinos is not greatly significant.

Relationship between Occupation and Festivals
Table 4 gives an indication of the relationship between the Festivals and various occupations.

PISSOORT V Market Segmentation of Visitors at Three SAAYMAN M Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa
According to Table 4 the phi coefficient of 0.35 indicates a medium effect.At Innibos the variable that is notably higher than the rest is the other occupation variable.This does not specify the type of occupation.At Oppikoppi, the student variable plays a large role and at Volksblad, the most significant variables are the other occupation, professional and student categories.This could be because the Festival is held at the University and because there are various academic institutions in the vicinity.The higher the income of attendees the more disposable income they have and the more they will spend (Lubbe, 2000:241).

Relationship between Language and Festivals
Table 5 shows the relationship between the Festivals and language of the attending visitor.The phi coefficient (0.65) indicates that there is a significant relationship between the language that tourists speak and the Festivals they attend.A majority of attendees at each of the three Festivals are Afrikaans speaking.In other words, this variable is significant.This could be because the primary market of these Festivals is Afrikaans speaking people.

Relationship between Province and Festivals
Table 6 shows the three Festivals and the relationship with the province of origin of the Festival attendants.The phi coefficient of 1.016 indicates that there is a significant relationship between the Festivals and province of origin of the festinos.Most of the tourists are from the same province in which the Festival is held.The two variables that play a large role at Innibos are Mpumalanga and Gauteng.At Oppikoppi, Gauteng is dominant.Free State is the variable that influences Volksblad.

Relationship between Travelling Group and Days At Festival
From the table below, it can be noted that both the travelling group and the number of days spent at the Festival are significant.The following tables will explain how significant:

PISSOORT V Market Segmentation of Visitors at Three SAAYMAN M
Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa

Relationship between Travelling Group and Festivals
With reference to the table below, if the d of the various Festivals is calculated, the following is the d (where d interprets the effect size of a variable on the different Festivals): Between 1 and 2 = 0.79 (medium to large) Between 1 and 3 = 1.02 (large) Between 2 and 3 = 0.30 (small to medium) The difference in travelling group size between Oppikoppi and Innibos as well as that of Oppikoppi and Volksblad is large.Innibos and Volksblad do not differ significantly.

Relationship between Days at Festival and Festivals Attended
In Table 8 the different Festivals and the average number of days that attendants stayed, are measured.The results as captured in Table 8 can be explained as follows: Between 1 and 2 = 0.35 (small to medium)

PISSOORT V Market Segmentation of Visitors at Three SAAYMAN M Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa
• Province as a segmentation variable is also very significant and is seen as important from a marketing perspective.This finding supports the research conducted by Cannon and Ford (2002).
• Travelling group and days spent at the Festivals are also significant especially in the case of Oppikoppi.The lesson learnt with regard to the latter was in the composition of the Festival where festinos buy a package for the duration of the Festival.The implication is that it makes it more economically viable to stay longer.
• Expenditure at Festivals shows that visitors spend almost twice the mount spent by locals supporting research by Cannon and Ford (2002) and Saayman and Saayman (2007).Therefore, it is paramount that Festival organisers and marketers attract more visitors from outside the local area if the intention is to create a greater economic impact regionally.

CONCLUSION
The goal of this study was to examine market segmentation of visitors to three Arts Festivals in South Africa.The results indicate a variety of variables that can be used by Festival marketers to help develop a marketing strategy.
From the results gathered, it could be concluded that the average Volksblad and Innibos festinos differ primarily in terms of province of origin.Oppikoppi and Volksblad also have a few similarities -this could be because of Volksblad being held at Bloemfontein, which has a large student community, and because Oppikoppi also attracts mostly students.These tailor-made characteristics can assist marketers to develop effective marketing strategies, which could include product and service development, pricing and advertising.
The results show that gender and occupation have a medium to small effect on the Festivals, which implies there is no relationship between festinos and their gender or occupation.
Languages, the province from which festinos come, days spent at Festivals and travel group size all have a large effect on the Festivals.This means that the phi coefficient is higher than 0.5.The three Festivals under scrutiny are located in areas where Afrikaans is the language spoken by the majority.The provinces of the three Festivals generate a large number of attendants to the Festivals, which could mean one of two things.Firstly, that local marketing or word of mouth is effective; and secondly, that the festinos decide, on the spur of the moment, to attend the Festivals.From the results gathered above, it is clear that a large number of the attendants to the Festivals are local residents.This can be changed by means of improved marketing in neighbouring provinces.
The travel group size is larger for Oppikoppi than for Innibos and Volksblad.This information can be useful as students tend to travel in larger groups to save transport costs.Volksblad and Innibos seems to be Festivals that attracts families.This research contradicts some studies in this regard, but, as can be seen in the discussions, also supports a variety of other research projects.
From this research, it is recommended that a comparative study should be done with the larger Arts Festivals.Researchers could also conduct and analysis of the motives for attending these Festivals in greater depth as proposed by Lee, Lee and Wicks (2004:62).

PISSOORT V Market Segmentation of Visitors at Three SAAYMAN M Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa that
completed an economic analysis of Volksblad Arts Festival.However, Visser states research and published research of Festivals in South Africa has been neglected by researchers

PISSOORT V Market Segmentation of Visitors at Three SAAYMAN M Selected Arts Festivals in South Africa
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