Cultural festivals can attract cultural tourists, extend the tourist season and add vibrancy to the cultural scene. However, there is relatively little research on how festivals affect tourist experience of the destination or outcomes such as satisfaction or repeat visitation. This study used the Event Experience Scale to measure tourist experiences at three cultural festivals in Hong Kong – the Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and the Cheung Chau Bun Festival. The findings show that tourist experiences of these festivals are distinct, and they positively affect destination image and behavioural outcomes. Relative to permanent attractions and tours, festival experiences elicit stronger affective, conative and novelty responses. Festivals also convey a stronger impression of Hong Kong as a destination exhibiting Chinese and traditional culture, but less as a global city. The festival experience is associated with positive outcomes, namely greater satisfaction, intention to recommend and intention to return.
This paper proposes that tourism research needs to explore the potentially lasting psychological benefits of tourism by implementing a eudaimonic perspective of well-being. Consequently, this study adopted a eudaimonic approach to tourist well-being by investigating the reported psychological well-being of pilgrims and the concepts involved in the pilgrimage experience via the exploration of 74 personal narratives. Pilgrims’ self-transcendent peak experiences encompassed spiritual moments of revelation, healing and epiphany. These experiences led to spiritual growth that seems to have impacted participants’ religious spirituality, also long after their pilgrimage, which can be perceived as a potential long-term effect of the pilgrimage experience. The self-transcendent peak experience of the pilgrims can be explained via enhanced autonomy, the experience of positive relationships, achieved personal growth, a sense of purpose in and of life, their character development and a state of self-acceptance.
