Back to nature: Festivalgoer environmental beliefs and camping experience at non-urban festivals

The purpose of this paper is to explore festivalgoer/camper perceptions of and responses to the non-urban festival service environment (blended festivalscape).

For this exploratory study a quantitative approach was adopted. A self-administered online survey was administered to recipient members of an Australian non-urban festival e-newsletter database resulting in 398 usable responses from festival campers.

Environmental beliefs held by festival campers’ influenced their perceptions of naturescape, socialscape and overall satisfaction. Festival campers’ who attended more than once were found to have stronger pro-environmental beliefs than those who attended once. Festival camper perception of naturescape has a positive moderating influence leading to greater overall satisfaction and the likelihood of repeat attendance and positive word-of-mouth.

It is very important to know how festivalgoers perceive and relate to their festival service environment. Critical to the appeal and success of the non-urban festival is the alignment of festivalgoer environmental beliefs to the natural setting in which they are held. Limitations include use of a single case study context.

This paper responds to lack of research on non-urban festivals when compared to urban festivals and the surprisingly little interest shown in the central role of natural settings and the camping experience. A closer understanding of the environmental beliefs of campers at non-urban festivals has the potential to provide beneficial outcomes for people, profit and planet.