Abstract
The emergence of tourism events as a developmental tool for destinations has grown significantly over the last few decades. These events have been strategically used to fast-track development especially in the areas of economic growth and development of destinations. It is well documented in the international and local tourism scholarship that such events have the ability to bring forward longer term developmental plans around infrastructure, tourism, marketing and local branding as well as socio-economic growth. Similarly, tourism events are appreciated for the close ties that they share with local economic development and urban regeneration. Regrettably, focus on the analysis of the cause and effect of such events has been placed on large scale events that predominantly occur in urban settings. Despite recent emergence of rural events and festivals, existing literature has neglected the leveraging opportunities that accompany such events, especially when considering the impacts that such events have on transforming rural spaces.
This research focuses on Keiskammahoek Music and Art Festival [KMAF] in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa as a case study to critically examine the leveraging of a rural festival event for community benefit. Using a sequential mixed method research design, data was collected from a cross section of stakeholders of KMAF. The first phase of data gathering was qualitative involving a series of semi structured interviews with purposefully selected stakeholders of the event (n=9). From that set of data, key themes regarding leveraging of the event were obtained which were then tested with a questionnaire survey administered to Keiskammahoek residents (n=326) using a simple random sampling technique. Findings from this study show that rural festival events can be used to effectively promote local participation in tourism and further enhance domestic tourism opportunities in rural areas. Additionally, a need for better collaboration between stakeholders of tourism and festival events in rural spaces exists particularly to strengthen their relationships so that those events can be effectively leveraged to have a big impact on the local community on which they are hosted. The study argues that for events to play a developmental role, such collaboration and purposeful planning for leveraging this festival should take place. Recommendations are made for better cooperation, better stakeholder management and ultimately effective leveraging for the promotion and socio-economic development of rural spaces in South Africa. The study makes a contribution to the existing tourism event literature, through the application of the stakeholder theory and leveraging in a rural context.