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Festival Economics in the Caribbean: Challenges and Prospects
Dr. Jo-Anne Tull [email protected]
Conceptualising Festival Economics and Festival Statistics
represents an element within the evaluation function of events management. In this regard, festival statistics can comprise a range of data including the quantum of retail commercial activity during the festival period; media value generated by the festival; festival attendance levels; gate receipts; visitor arrivals for the festival; festival visitor expenditure; festival merchandise sales and so on. Data can also be generated on the festival s environmental impacts to determine their relevance to the local tourism sector. Festival statistics can therefore be crossfunctional, i.e. they may be collected to develop a macro understanding of the role and impact of festivals on society. In turn these can inform the prescription of policy on culture, cultural development and cultural diversity. In the context of project management, tourism development and cultural industries development, the success and sustainability of the festival may also be determined by these factors. This is whether or not the festival is commercially-driven or not-for-pro?t. There is, therefore, much to be gained from gathering festival statistics (see Table 1).
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Festivals have become a key feature of the heritage and cultural landscape of many countries around the world. With the global economic shift towards cultural goods and services, it is increasingly being recognized that festivals can impact on their environs in myriad ways (see for example Chouguley et. al. 2011; Bowdin et. al. 2008). This has brought into sharp focus the need to better understand and give better account of the signi?cance of festivals to their respective host societies, particularly in socioeconomic terms (Tull, 2011). While there have been varying approaches and mechanisms utilized to gather information on festivals, festival economics and the gathering of festival statistics, remains an emerging practice globally5. The burgeoning global trade in cultural goods and services gives impetus to developing country regions such as the Caribbean to develop the requisite capacities and capabilities in festival economics. This could notably contribute to building more e?ective policy mechanisms for festivals to become sustainable pillars of the region s economic development platform. The substantive underpinning of Festival Economics is the process of gathering festival statistics, which can be deemed to be a specialized area of data gathering and analysis on festivals as cultural phenomenon. It additionally Festival Economics refers to the study of festivals using qualitative and quantitative research methods. It aims to determine the economic, socio-economic and ?nancial impacts of festivals on their host locations, whether at the community, national or regional levels. Festival Economics can therefore be regarded as a body of analysis (not necessarily derived exclusively from the ?eld of economics such as econometric models) that seeks to prove the economic value and relevance of cultural events. Thus, Festival Economics can be viewed as a subset within the ?eld of economics like cultural economics. However, it can also draw on a range of other disciplines such as management studies, tourism and hospitality studies, environmental studies, and cultural studies to generate analysis.
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A recent UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) study Global Survey of Festivals (Tull 2011) shows that festival statistics generally emanate from government commissioned
studies and the festival coordinator s initiatives to gather basic data on the festival to prove its ?nancial viability and/or socio-cultural relevance. This practice however, is not widespread ? it is mainly limited to a few developed country contexts. It is also not a frequent occurrence - few countries and festival management teams are able to conduct or commission annual festival data collection exercises. The main reasons advanced are: lack of monetary resources; shifting political interests; shifting stakeholder interests; host community apathy; and the festival s loss of global appeal. The study also notes that only a few national statistical departments have websites from which such data, when collected could be accessed. In sum festival statistics are generally not considered a priority.
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Volume 5: July - September 2013