| dc.description.abstract | Evaluations of festivals have concentrated on economic and cultural impacts, particularly within the
immediate geographical area. Limited research has investigated festivals as vehicles for behaviour change
in tourists who visit them. This paper studies food festivals which hold the potential for influencing
future food choices. The study examines visitors' prior involvement with local food, engagement at a
festival, emotions evoked, and resulting future food purchasing intentions, as well as behaviour adopted
six months later. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of remembered experiences on future
purchasing, and this paper contributes to knowledge by extending these frameworks to incorporate
engagement and emotions evoked at a food festival. Results indicate that engagement and positive
emotions at a food festival are good predictors of food buying behaviour six months later. However, the
influence of negative emotions reduces over time. The findings highlight the importance of emotions and
engagement in changing food purchasing choices. Policy recommendations are made for further use of
food festivals to influence food buying behaviour in a way that is considered socially and economically
benign. | vi |
