Spiritual attitudes and visitor motivations at the Beltane Fire Festival, Edinburgh

Matheson, Catherine M; Rimmer, Russell; Tinsley, Ross

Abstract

Outside the peak season for tourism to Edinburgh, Scotland, during the evening of April 30th, visitors attend a festival with ancient Celtic overtones. Frequently, the evening is cold and windy. Our objectives are to: identify motivations for attending the festival; trial questionnaire items on spiritual attitude; and assess whether spirituality might be relevant in assessing visitor intentions. The method of investigation involved exploration and confirmation phases to test structures in distinct subsamples. Further, a strict approach was applied to identify factors that had theoretical value. Spirituality attitude is found to be a factor, as well as the motivations of cultural adventure and escape. Given the nature of the event, the time of year and composition of the audience, encouraging repeat visitation and using this to develop and manage Edinburgh's tourism strategy has potential. Recommendations are made to management.

Citation

Matheson, C. M., Rimmer, R., & Tinsley, R. (2014). Spiritual attitudes and visitor motivations at the Beltane Fire Festival, Edinburgh. Tourism Management, 44, 16-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.01.023

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 30, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Mar 12, 2014
• Publication Date: 2014-10
• Deposit Date: Feb 4, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 29, 2017
• Journal: Tourism Management
• Print ISSN: 0261-5177
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 44
• Pages: 16-33
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.01.023
• Keywords: Motivation; Spiritual attitude; Unconventional festival; Tourism development
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/9502
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.01.023