Understanding the motivation for event participating - a prerequisite for sustainable event planning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivation for event participating in the context of event attendees (visitors) and event participants. Objectives: 1) to identify motivations for event participating 2) to analyze if event motivation vary depending on the type of event, 3) to analyze if the motivation of event attendees differs from that of event participants, 4) to analyze if event motivations differ depending on the sex of attendees and participants, 5) to determine the intensity of the experience of participants and visitors on the events, and 6) to analyze if different event attendance motivations affect the event experience. Methodology – Data was collected though two different self-complete questionnaires on a sample of 185 visitors and 276 participants of events held in tourist destination Vrsar, in Istria County. Research was conducted from March through September 2015. The SPSS package version 22.0 was used to analyze the data. Findings – The prevailing event attendance motivation is “leisure and entertainment”, followed by “spending quality time with friends” and “the cultural offering of events”. The analysis of the experience of visitors and participants of the events shows that memorable experience dominates. This means the experience has positive impact on visitors and participants, yet it is not strong enough to have durable changes on an attitudinal or behavioral level. Research results show that event motivations vary depending on the type of event, that the motivation of event attendees differs from that of event participants that the event motivation of attendees and participants not differ depending on whether the respondents are male or female, and that different event attendance motivations do not affect event experiences. Contribution – Understanding the decision making process, event motivation and event experience, could be useful tool for event managers for develop and manage event program, in order to achieve event sustainability.